DIU Awards First Contract Under Novel Space Delivery Program

The Defense Innovation Unit announced that The Spaceport Company has received the first of multiple contract awards under the Novel Responsive Space Delivery project.

Under the deal, the vendor will deliver a mobile sea-based launch platform, a vital capability that increases equatorial launch access while avoiding high-traffic airspace by enabling responsive launch coordination.

The NRSD project aims to develop a commercial solution-powered prototype that will allow responsive and precise point-to-point delivery to orbit using novel reentry vehicles and methods. It is also expected to produce a set of solutions that address logistic issues, ensuring the competitiveness of space forces, DIU said.

Austin Baker, deputy portfolio director for the agency’s space portfolio and a past Potomac Officers Club event speaker, said the project provides the Joint Force with a new method to address warfighters’ needs, allowing them to gain a competitive advantage when logistics pathways on Earth and in space are contested.

DIU first solicited replies on NRSD in July 2023, seeking proposals from vendors experienced and capable of delivery “from Earth to a mission-designed orbit or trajectory in space, orbital return from space to Earth to a precise point of recovery and through space from one orbit to another.”