Saber Austronautics to Develop Cislunar Space Monitoring Software Under Space Force Contract

Australia-based space flight technology provider Saber Astronautics has secured a 15-month, $1.2 million Small Business Technology Transfer Phase 2 contract from the U.S. Space Force for data visualization software development.

The contractor will work with Purdue University to develop Space Cockpit, a visualization platform the company started working on in 2019. Under the contract, Saber and Purdue will work on the technology so it can track and predict the trajectories of satellites operating in the cislunar region.

Jason Held, CEO of Saber, said the company will develop a sandbox for modeling cislunar orbits, a new feature that will be integrated into Space Cockpit.

The Australian Space Agency, U.S. and allied military space operators and private organizations currently use Space Cockpit, SpaceNews reported.

The Saber contract follows the U.S. government’s efforts aimed at cislunar space research and awareness.

In mid-November, the White House released the National Cislunar Science and Technology Strategy, highlighting the U.S. government’s research targets on space economy, situational awareness and communications and navigation. Earlier in the month, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Advanced Space a $72 million contract to build an experimental spacecraft to track objects in cislunar space.