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The Spaceport Company (TSC), a US-based space launch company, has been awarded a contract by the US Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to develop a prototype for a sea-going mobile space launch complex.
TSC said the prototype will be developed to demonstrate delivery to a mission-designed orbit and to test autonomy-like features of the sea launch vessel.
In phase one of the Novel Responsive Space Delivery (NRSD) project, TSC will construct and demonstrate foundational maritime launch technologies within the next 12 months. Depending on TSC's phase one outcome, the DIU may award future modular phases to TSC.
DIU's objective in this phased approach is to work with TSC as the latter constructs its self-contained, ocean-going space launch complex and creates the complex's capability to quickly deliver satellites to orbit from wide swathes of the ocean on a regular, commercial basis.
In the latter half of May 2024, TSC conducted a series of sounding rocket launches in the Gulf of Mexico (pictured). The rockets were launched from an offshore platform as part of a proof-of-concept testing phase.
