Swales Aerospace received a contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide the platform for the TacSat-3 mission, the company announced June 2. The task order was made under Swales’ existing contract with the Air Force Material Command, Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate.
Swales will design, build and test the Operationally Responsive Space Modular Bus for the mission and also provide support spacecraft integration and test, launch and orbit operations.
The TacSat-3 mission, intended to demonstrate the ability of a tactical satellite to collect data over a theater of interest and provide it directly to the warfighter in real time, is funded partly by the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Force Transformation and the Air Force Research Laboratory. The mission is scheduled to be launched in 2007.
