Development of Close-In SSA Inspection Capabilities in Support of On-Orbit Asset Protection Operations

Free Space is building a complementary suite of hardware and software solutions to revolutionize On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (OSAM) operations and other tangential mission sets in the space domain for the United States, its allies, and their commercial space industry partners. Free Space’s AI Infrastructure software backbone will serve as the connective tissue for our hardware in space and ensure they have the critical information they need to conduct their missions on operationally relevant timelines. Free Space AI will deliver groundbreaking tipping and cueing, threat characterization, and space sensor fusion solutions for government and commercial remote sensing satellite constellations that look both up and down from space. Free Space’s two classes of satellite will work in unison to conduct a broad range of in-space Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and OSAM mission sets including inspection, rendezvous and proximity operations, and object acquisition. These two satellite constellations will work in unison to deny, disrupt, and degrade hostile adversary actions against U.S.-aligned satellites at an extremely low price point.   The proposed STTR effort initiated in this Phase I will consist of 1) the technical development, testing, and prototyping of an SSA-Inspection capability that will be deployed as a payload on Free Space satellites, and 2) a system engineering effort to mesh our Free Space AI software, as the key enabling element, with our satellite hardware to conduct these on-orbit inspection missions. In this Phase I, Free Space will conduct a technical feasibility study and kickoff our SSA-Inspection payload development, as well as a customer discovery effort with relevant System Program Offices (SPOs) and end users/operators to ensure the broader Free Space hardware and software portfolio is deployed based on the needs of the U.S. Space Force and the Department of Defense.