Phase II SBIR Contract Awarded to Orbital Assembly
The U.S. Space Force has awarded a Phase II SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) contract valued at $1.7 million to Orbital Assembly. The award will be used by the company to demonstrate rapidly deployable, on orbit structure technologies for on orbit servicing and manufacturing initiatives.
“This SBIR Award is a strong validation of OA’s place in the On Orbit Servicing Assembly and Manufacturing sector by the U.S. Space Force.”
Rhonda Stevenson, CEO of Orbital Assembly.
In the Direct to Phase II SBIR Award, Orbital Assembly will develop an efficient, lightweight structure to support solar panels, large power and communications antenna arrays, as well as other space infrastructure functions.
Stevenson: Phase II SBIR Contract Represents a Tremendous Opportunity
“This SBIR Award is a strong validation of OA’s place in the On Orbit Servicing Assembly and Manufacturing sector by the U.S. Space Force,” said Rhonda Stevenson, chief executive officer of Orbital Assembly. “Robust, sustainable in-space infrastructure is a national strategic imperative, and energy transmission will be essential for space stations, commercial and defense applications. This is a great opportunity for us to advance on-orbit systems, commercialize our proprietary technology, and secure future Phase III SBIRs.”
Orbital Assembly (OA) designs and develops space systems for a sustained space presence in the orbital and cislunar domains and beyond. OAs modular, feed-forward architecture and versatile platforms, combined with commercial off-the-shelf partnerships (COTS), provide automated and habitable structures with variable, hybrid gravity.
Its Pioneer-class space station currently under development is designed to offer a framework for access and utilization of space that will streamline an affordable path to hosting the first payload and enabling subsequent missions to achieve on-orbit program goals.
The Pioneer-class stations are the first and largest hybrid space stations under development, and are scheduled to be the first free-flying, habitable, privately-operated facilities in orbit. OA’s station configuration will offer orders of magnitude more volume than is currently available for hosted payloads. And as additional modules are added to Pioneer stations customers can continue to affordably expand their footprint significantly.
The United States Space Force, a part of the Department of the Air Force, is the space service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and the world's only independent space force.
(Source: Orbital Assembly news release. Images from file)