Budget drama could snag Pentagon’s satellite launch award

The Pentagon’s new satellite launch competition between SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin could be delayed if Congress passes a long continuing resolution instead of a full budget for 2025, a space acquisitions official said Wednesday. 

Congress is scrambling to avert a government shutdown by Sept. 30 as House Republicans are poised to reject a proposed six-month continuing resolution funding bill for fiscal year 2025. Continuing resolutions, or CRs, are stopgap funding solutions that fund the government and programs at the same level as the previous year, to keep money flowing in the absence of full-year appropriations. 

Source selection for “Lane 2” of the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 program is continuing despite budget concerns, with the intent to award later this year. But work may be delayed if there’s no permanent funding for 2025. 

“The source selection is still underway. It’s been underway for a while, it’s a big important contract so we’re definitely going to do a lot of due diligence on that. Anticipate the source selection being complete, being ready to award towards the end of this calendar year. But we need a budget,” said Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, commander of Space Launch Delta 45 and program executive officer for Space Systems Command’s assured access to space office. 

“I can’t do the mission assignments and actually put the specific launch on contract if I don’t have that money. So while I would like to be able to do that at the beginning of the year, have a full budget, do it at the beginning of the fiscal year, give the companies the maximum amount of time to make sure integration and everything is ready to go, I have to wait until I have the funding to actually be able to put specific missions on contract,” she told reporters Wednesday at the annual Air, Space & Cyber conference.

A continuing resolution could mean a monthslong waiting period and then “sprinting to try to get everything done, which is not the most efficient cadence that we could be operating at,” said Panzenhagen, who later added the command hasn’t determined how it will handle award announcements if Congress agrees to a long CR. 

The Space Force has already signaled it wants to do more launches this year. Space Systems Command buys launches about two years in advance to give companies time to work on satellite integration. 

For “Lane 2,” there will be one large contract award for the annual mission assignments. Up to three companies can be awarded, with the third best provider getting seven missions and the top two splitting the rest 60-40, Panzenhagen said, without specifying how many total missions there would be. 

Companies must go through a certification process before they’re eligible to bid on the contract. Some rocket providers are still going through that process, which has several components, including different reference orbits and launch bases. 

But the bottom line is: “We also need an FY25 budget to award that contract,” Panzenhagen said.