Fwd: SpaceX “Close” to Launch Certification

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: January 7, 2015 at 8:37:44 PM CST
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: SpaceX "Close" to Launch Certification

 

 

SpaceX "Close" to Launch Certification as Air Force Re-examines Process

by Mike Gruss — January 6, 2015

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force said Jan. 6 it will review the certification criteria for new entrants in the national security launch market as it acknowledged that SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket had yet to clear the process despite a Dec. 31 deadline set by both parties.

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said she has ordered an independent team to review the new entrant certification process Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is undergoing in the hopes of winning hundreds of millions — if not billions — of dollars of Defense Department launch contracts.

Air Force officials had repeatedly said they wanted to certify SpaceX's Falcon 9 in time to allow the company to compete for a mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, which operates the nation's spy satellites. Bids for the NRO launch were due in August.

Both SpaceX and the Air Force had said they were expecting Falcon 9 certification by the end of the year.  SpaceX must earn certification before it can launch operational national security missions.

"Although no new entrants were able to be certified by December 2014, a new entrant is close and we will continue to invest significant resources in a close collaborative effort on the certification process in 2015," Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, said in a press release. Greaves did not identify SpaceX by name in the release, but the Hawthorne, California-based company is the only business known to be pursuing Air Force certification.

The release did not explain the reason for the delay.

Gen. John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command, told SpaceNews Dec. 16 that Greaves was reviewing the last of the information needed for certification.

As part of its plan to reduce its satellite launching costs and mollify critics of United Launch Alliance's current monopoly in the national security launch market, the Air Force in 2012 ordered a large batch of rockets on a sole-source basis from ULA while setting aside an additional seven to eight missions for competition.

SpaceX, a likely bidder for those competitive missions, is also challenging ULA's  $11 billion contract in a lawsuit filed in federal court in April.

SpaceX has submitted data from three of its most recent launches — as required — for certification and finished a series of 19 engineering review boards as part of the process, Air Force officials have said.

SpaceX and the Air Force formally agreed to that process in 2013, but James now says she intends to take another look.

"The Air Force is committed to reintroducing competition into the extremely complex Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program and getting new entrants certified as soon as possible," James said. "As with other periodic looks we've done over the years, we will further assess whether we can streamline and improve the certification process while protecting launch mission assurance. To that end, I am directing a review of our new entrant certification process by an independent team to capture the lessons learned so we can enhance competition for launch services."

In a 2013 report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress' watchdog agency, said certification has been complicated by Air Force changes to the technical requirements for integrating satellites with their launch vehicles.

 

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