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The building of the R3D2 satellite, which launched without incident in March, for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) has been discussed here previously.
However an interesting facet of the little satellite is that not only was it, of course, a satellite proving out a new technology (a membrane antenna) while in space, it was also a proof of concept that demonstrated faster, leaner processes on the ground.
Northrop Grumman completed the construction — from concept to spaceflight — in only 20 months, far shorter than the traditional timeline of years, Northrop Grumman representatives said in a statement. To reach that speed, the company said, the defense agency allowed for "greater levels of risk than is typical for an operational system," according to the statement; DARPA worked with Northrop Grumman to accept fewer requirements, reviews and deliverables during the construction than on a usual project.
"Our team's success with the R3D2 program is a strong proof of concept that the rapid development of future space capabilities is possible," Scott Stapp, the company's vice president of resiliency and rapid prototyping, said in the statement. "Taking thoughtful risks and eliminating bureaucracy allowed us to streamline our processes to achieve rapid timelines," he added.
Northrop Grumman plans to continue applying the fast construction lessons learned on R3D2 for future missions related to national security going forward, and to "lead the cultural change necessary in the industry".
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 12 2019, @08:26PM (5 children)
20 months could be cut down even further. The smallsat launchers are going to enable a lot more entities to send small payloads into space. In the case of DARPA, they could skip lengthy testing, launch a payload for $5-10 million and just eat the cost if it fails.
Rocket Lab is apparently planning to build satellites [soylentnews.org] for launch, probably using a standardized design for all customers that gets slightly customized. DARPA could just focus on the novelties (sensors, membrane antenna) and put it onto a standardized satellite body for immediate launch.
We now know that SpaceX will attempt to launch 60 Starlink satellites [teslarati.com] in the Falcon 9 fairing, providing a great value per satellite. But they have the potential to launch perhaps 500+ satellites in a BFR/Starlink, while lowering total launch cost. That could steamroll the smallsat launcher market and enable new ways of thinking about satellites (such as sats made with bulky and mass-inefficient materials, but cheaper and with lots of capability).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by crafoo on Sunday May 12 2019, @10:03PM (2 children)
Hmmm, given your comment, maybe a different spin could be, "Northrup, realizing the newcomers to the market are about to eat their lunch, will offer their product at only 3x the schedule and 100x the budget of competitors. This is down VASTLY from previous Northrup products."
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday May 12 2019, @10:13PM
If an entire space economy blossoms with no help from the Beltway bandits, there will be savings that can be passed down to government. Of course, gov can still fuck it up like with computer procurement.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Monday May 13 2019, @12:30AM
So rather than leading the pack, it is more they are running scared in front of it?
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 13 2019, @07:43PM (1 child)
My plan is to pitch for a satellite to go through and remove all this crap that SpaceX and other are going to dump out. 500 in one launch? The only silver lining here is that perhaps some of this crap will take out the space tourists as they try to get through the debris shell.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday May 13 2019, @08:02PM
All of SpaceX's satellites will deorbit after several years. And they are in a very low orbit anyway. That is the norm for approved launches. Take your Gravity/Kessler syndrome fantasy elsewhere.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]