Jane Edwards
The U.S. Space Force and the Defense Innovation Unit have awarded contracts to Rocket Lab’s national security business and True Anomaly to support a mission under the Tactically Responsive Space program.
The Victus Haze mission under the TacRS program intends to harness commercial capabilities to rapidly address on-orbit threats, Space Systems Command said Thursday.
Rocket Lab secured a $32 million contract from DIU. True Anomaly will receive a $30 million contract from SpaceWERX and will contribute $30 million of private capital.
The two vendors will build, demonstrate and deliver rendezvous and proximity operation-capable spacecraft and command and control centers no later than the fall of 2025.
The spacecraft from Rocket Lab and True Anomaly will demonstrate characterization and space domain awareness capabilities once on orbit.
“The commercial space industry is advancing at an unprecedented pace that will provide the Space Force additional options to quickly respond to adversary aggression,” said Lt. Col. MacKenzie Birchenough, SSC’s materiel leader for Space Safari.
“VICTUS HAZE will demonstrate and prove capabilities to be used for future TacRS operations in direct support of urgent Combatant Command on-orbit needs,” added Birchenough.
Rocket Lab will use its Electron vehicle for the mission, which could launch from a launch complex in New Zealand or Wallops Island in Virginia.
True Anomaly plans to launch its Jackal autonomous orbital vehicle from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida through a rapid rideshare arrangement.
DIU and the Space Force partnered on the Victus Haze mission in August 2023.
