An RS1 missile booster undergoes acceptance tests.
ABL Space
Rocket builder ABL Space signed a long-term multi-launch deal with Lockheed Martin and agreed to supply the defense giant with as many as 58 missiles by the end of the decade.
Lockheed Martin will purchase up to 26 of ABL’s RS1 rockets through 2025, with an option for up to 32 additional launches through 2029, ABL announced Monday.
“Having this guaranteed access to space will accelerate our ability to demonstrate the spacecraft and associated payload technologies that we are developing to meet our customers’ future mission needs,” said Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space. in a press release.
ABL’s RS1 rocket fits in the middle of the launch market, between Rocket Lab’s small Electron and SpaceX’s large Falcon 9 vehicle. RS1 is nearly 28 meters long and is designed to launch a whopping 1,350 kg (almost 1½ tons) of payload into low Earth orbit.
Lockheed Martin’s venture arm is one of ABL’s first investors, with the company raising approximately $ 220 million in private capital to date – most of which came from T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Management last month with a valuation of $ 1.3 billion.
ABL declined to comment on the financial terms of the contract. Based on ABL’s $ 12 million price tag for an RS1 missile, the Lockheed Martin deal is estimated to be close to $ 700 million over eight years, assuming maximum launch rates.
A fully integrated RS1 second stage in test firing at Edwards Air Force Base in 2020.
ABL Space
Notably because ABL’s missiles utilize a mobile ground system called GS0 that can be packed into a pair of shipping containers, Lockheed Martin can make use of a variety of launch facilities around the world – including US Space Force facilities at Vandenberg in California and Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Although the defense giant did not specify which missions it plans to launch with ABL’s missiles, Lockheed Martin announced earlier in February that it had selected ABL to launch a mission from Scotland in 2022. In addition, Lockheed Martin signed a mission last month. strategic partnership with satellite launch. -up Omnispace, with the latter company planning to launch a constellation of satellites to build a 5G communications network in space.
The big contract marks a coup for ABL in the mid-range segment of the launch market, where the company competes with Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit, which reached orbit a few months ago.
Other competitors in that arena include Relativity Space and Firefly Aerospace, which plan to launch for the first time later this year. Meanwhile, Rocket Lab is developing a medium-lift rocket called Neutron, which is expected to be launched by 2024.
ABL continues to work on the inaugural launch of the RS1 from Vandenberg.
While ABL had previously hoped to be ready for launch in March, President Dan Piemont said the company is now aiming to “be ready for flights in June.” The rocket builder recently completed acceptance tests on the first RS1 fuel tank, but Piemont said ABL expects the required launch site approvals to delay its first launch attempt until the third quarter of this year.