As part of its efforts to be more nimble in space, the US military has been pushing satellite and launch companies to become more “responsive” in their ability to put spacecraft into space. Essentially, the military is concerned about other nations damaging or destroying its assets in orbit during a conflict. Military officials believe one way to guard against this would be to have the capability to rapidly replace those satellites—whether they’re for spying, communications, or other purposes. The US Space Force took a step toward this goal two years ago with a mission called Tactically Responsive Launch-2, or TacRL-2. This small satellite was built in less than a year by taking existing components and putting them together to create a space domain awareness satellite. The mission was then launched within 21 days, on June 13, 2021, by a solid-fueled Pegasus rocket built by Northrop Grumman. With its latest attempt at tactically responsive launch, the Space Force took a big step further. It contracted with the US launch company Firefly to put a spacecraft called “Victus Nox” into orbit within 24 hours of receiving the go command from the military. At the end of August, this Victus Nox mission entered what was called the “hot standby phase,” placing satellite-maker Millennium Space Systems and launch provider Firefly Aerospace into a six-month period during which they were to wait for a launch command. On Wednesday, the US Space Force told the companies to go. After this point, Firefly encapsulated the Millennium satellite into a payload fairing, mated it to Firefly’s Alpha launch vehicle, and completed all final launch preparations. The small launch rocket then successfully lifted off at 7:28 pm local time (02:28 UTC Friday) from Space Launch Complex 2 West at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Full report : The US military just proved it can get satellites into space super fast.
