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cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/27631025

“We’re excited to bid this time round for NSSL Lane 1, and we think Neutron is a really good vehicle for it,” Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO Peter Beck told SpaceNews.

The U.S. Space Force last week released a request for proposals from launch companies seeking to challenge SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin in the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program.

The NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 program is structured as an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract, enabling the Space Force to on-ramp providers on a yearly basis, and award individual task orders as needed.

The Space Force requires the next round of Lane 1 bidders to be ready for a first launch by December 2025, a timeline Beck says Neutron can meet.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/27630358

Chojnacki said SpaceX is looking at March 2025 to begin that fueling campaign and “hoping (the) first half of ’25 to be able to see that work.” He said two launch towers at the Starbase facility near Boca Chica Beach will be needed to do that work.

In order to make this work long-term, Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will need to come into the picture. Chojnacki added that the pace of launch will have to greatly increase, potentially to a bi-weekly cadence.