Space Force Awards 19 SBIR Phase 2 Contracts in Virtual Pitch Event

Nineteen startups and small businesses each received $1.7 million Small Business Innovation Research Phase 2 contracts from the Space Force during a virtual pitch event held on Aug. 19.

The SBIR awards were announced as part of the launch of SpaceWERX, an innovation hub created to leverage commercial companies’ expertise in building cutting-edge space technologies.

Projects selected in the pitch event will spur the development of technologies in the areas of positioning, navigation and timing, cybersecurity, target monitoring and satellite maneuvering, SpaceNews reported.

Lt. Col. Walter McMillan, SpaceWERX director, said in a statement that the 19 contract awardees were chosen from an initial pool of 24 companies.

One of the awardees, Archaius, will focus on developing PNT devices for use in GPS-denied environments. The Durham, North Carolina-based startup is a government contractor also working on precise alternative PNT for agile eVTOL/UAM operations for the Air Force.

Kestrel Corp. secured an SBIR Phase II contract to further research on 2D hyper-spectral imagery and data analytics for tracking moving targets. Previous government work by the startup focused on the development of a differential spectroscopic technique to help airmen detect volatile organic compounds.

Colorado-based Caliola Engineering was also awarded SBIR Phase II funding to develop cybersecurity technology for hybrid government-private sector communications networks. The woman-owned small business is also under contract with the Air Force to enable high frequency mesh networking at scale.

Another awardee, Rocket Communications, was selected to create advanced visualization tools to simplify satellite maneuvering and for training operators.

Other SBIR Phase II contracts announced after the pitch event aim to further the development of a multilevel-security planning system to share data collected by satellites, autonomous software for satellite proximity operations and docking, and an open standards platform to track supply chain materials and participants.