Impulse Space, a company in the development of in-space transportation services, announced it has been awarded a $34.5 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract by the United States Space Force’s (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) Space Safari Office, in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). The contract is in support of the VICTUS SURGO and VICTUS SALO TacRS missions.
These two missions, the next in a series of TacRS demonstrations, will focus on how prepositioned capabilities can improve responsiveness to on-orbit situations, enabling the dynamic operations aspect of space domain awareness (SDA). For VICTUS SURGO, Impulse will provide a Mira vehicle to operate in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and will transport the Mira to GTO from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) on a Helios kick stage. Additionally, Impulse will deliver a Helios rideshare payload to GEO for DIU as a demonstration of novel responsive space delivery. Helios and its payloads will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. For VICTUS SALO, Impulse will provide a Mira vehicle to operate in LEO, launched on a future SpaceX Rideshare mission.
The two Mira vehicles for the demonstration will feature the updated design to enable operations in orbits beyond LEO. Mira’s high delta-v capability (e.g., 500 m/s for a 300 kg payload or 1,200 m/s for a 10 kg payload) and 6DOF control provide unparalleled maneuverability, making it ideal for in-space operations supporting SDA. Mira’s powerful chemical propulsion leverages nontoxic, storable propellants to simplify operations, and is one of several flight-proven systems—along with star trackers, core avionics, flight software (FSW), and guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) capabilities—developed in-house.
In addition to providing solutions to address future TacRS needs, the VICTUS SURGO and VICTUS SALO demonstrations will also enable the development of new tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) that include dynamic space operations to respond to situations which can leverage maneuverable space vehicles.
"We’re proud to join Space Safari’s strong legacy of Tactically Responsive Space demonstrations by extending the TacRS philosophy to taskable, on-orbit assets with the VICTUS SURGO and VICTUS SALO missions,” said Impulse Space CEO and founder Tom Mueller. “Our selection for these missions reflects our ongoing commitment to providing highly maneuverable and responsive space capabilities.”
This award builds on Impulse’s momentum in the government sector, with $15M of the contract serving as matching funds to support the recent Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) award, which totals $60M across all sources, that Impulse received from SpaceWERX, sponsored by Space Safari. It also follows Impulse’s selection earlier this year for two SBIR Phase II contracts via the 2023 SpaceWERX Tactically Responsive Space Challenge. The DIU funding recognizes and seeks to advance dual use, both commercial and military, technology as specified by DIU’s Novel Responsive Space Delivery area of interest. These VICTUS missions are currently planned to launch in 2026.
Click here to learn more about Impulse Space's MIRA Orbital Transfer Vehicle
