Rocket Lab has secured its first orders for two Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites from the U.S. Space Force for a space domain awareness (SDA) mission. Rocket Lab announced a $90 million award on May 21 from Space Systems Command (SSC) to build and operate two GEO satellites hosting the Heimdall space domain awareness payload.
Payload provider GEOST, which Rocket Lab acquired last year, previously won a prototype contract for two SDA payloads in 2021. This new award transitions the program from payload prototyping to space vehicle delivery. GEOST, now part of Rocket Lab as Rocket Lab Optical Systems, will produce the payloads.
The mission will contribute to the Space Force’s ability to maintain custody of objects in the GEO belt.
Rocket Lab said the satellites will be built on its Lightning bus platform, adapted for GEO. Lightning is a roughly 3 kW bus designed for high-power, long-life missions. The Lightning bus is the basis for the company’s work for the Space Development Agency and Globalstar’s satellite refresh.
“The award represents Rocket Lab’s first satellite production program for geostationary orbit and extends the Company’s vertically integrated mission model into a new orbital regime,” Rocket Lab said in a statement.
