Brenda Marie Rivers
KBR has teamed up with interplanetary architecture design company XArc to support the latter’s partnership with SpaceX and the U.S. Transportation Command to assess the potential of space-based cargo delivery.
KBR said Monday it will use its logistics and ground-support expertise to help the San Antonio, Texas-based conceptual architecture company conduct work under the cooperative research and development agreement.
Transcom first announced plans to partner with SpaceX and XArc through the CRADA in late 2020. The command envisions space vehicles to deliver 80 tons of payload around the world in an hour, KBR noted.
Currently, KBR is studying existing operations involving ground infrastructure, equipment, supplies, materiel handling and intermodal transfer, according to the company.
Gen. Stephen Lyons, commander of Transcom, said in a keynote address at the National Defense Transportation Association’s annual meeting with Transcom that the command is looking to leverage space as a means to rapidly deliver personnel and cargo for time-sensitive contingency operations.
Ella Studer, senior vice president of logistics at KBR's U.S. government solutions business, noted that the company has significant experience in the space domain as well as worldwide military installation logistics support.
Conversations are in place between the CRADA participants and other experts to evaluate concepts such as suborbital launch sites, space vehicle requirements, orbital depots and space drop operations, KBR said.
