POWAY, Calif., 30 May 2008. The U.S. Department of Defense Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS) has selected SpaceDev Inc.'s Trailblazer spacecraft bus as the primary payload to fly on its inaugural mission, Jumpstart.
Jumpstart is designed to fly a responsive payload on the SpaceX Falcon 1 Flight 003 mission, scheduled for a late June 2008 launch from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The spacecraft was built and assembled on schedule and budget at SpaceDev's Poway, Calif., facility in less than five months. It has been delivered to the ORS Office at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico for final testing and integration.
"Our extraordinary team has put in many hours of hard work in support of this historic effort. We believe that this launch will help usher in a new era of responsive space and lead the way as a standard in low cost, modular, and flexible small satellites," says Mark N. Sirangelo, chairman and CEO of SpaceDev.
ORS drector Dr. Peter Wegner indicated that the selection of Trailblazer was made after the Jumpstart Pre-shipment Review, conducted on May 20, 2008.
The bus serves as a risk reduction for a flexible, modular bus design using off-the-shelf components and could support a variety of future ORS missions. Jumpstart illustrates the responsive capability combatant commanders are looking for -- spacecraft buildup to launch vehicle integration in just months, says a representative.
Jumpstart demonstrates several key ORS enabling models: rapid call up of a mission to launch; rapid development, integration, and checkout of spacecraft; a concept of operations that allows flexibility late in the payload processing flow to determine which mission will fly; efficiencies in processes and procedures to reduce payload integration timelines; and identification and assurance of payload technical readiness.
