That area “presents unique challenges from a mobility perspective that I think applications like rocket cargo could really help solve,” said Horne. “When you think about the situation in the Indo-Pacific Command area of operations, there’s a tyranny of distance issue where you’ve got a vast desert of water … and you have island chains like we saw in World War II.” Space Systems Command, said there are “compelling use cases” for shipping cargo around the world on rockets. James Horne, deputy director of operations at U.S. “The cost element of this is going to be pretty compelling, and it’ll happen soon,” Henry said.Ĭol. “If Elon gets his way, you’re at $20 per kilogram.” With regard to Starship, Henry said, SpaceX is forecasting mass to orbit costs falling from $2,000 a kilogram to $200 a kilogram, or even lower, he said. “To make this a success, we need a very high launch rate, and we need to have systems that reenter and that can bring a high down mass,” he added. In a national security or humanitarian crisis, a launch vehicle would fly from Cape Canaveral, for example, and either land on an austere field to deliver cargo or airdrop it.įor the rocket cargo program to be viable, Spanjers said, DoD expects to use launch providers that fly frequently so they can offer competitive pricing. Greg Spanjers, program manager for rocket cargo at AFRL, said the military envisions a future when it could be cheaper to send cargo via rocket than by transport aircraft. Transportation Command to explore rocket cargo concepts but only SpaceX has won a large contract.

Other space companies have signed agreements with U.S. Air Force officer, is working with the Air Force Research Laboratory on potential concepts for using rockets for point-to-point cargo delivery under a $102 million five-year contract awarded in 2020. Henry, a former Boeing executive and U.S.

military better understand how to employ it for cargo delivery and other missions.

21 at the Space Mobility conference, Henry said the experience SpaceX will gain launching Starlink satellites on Starship and developing the vehicle for NASA’s Artemis program will help the U.S.

military, said Gary Henry, senior advisor for national security space solutions at SpaceX. Starship holds the potential to become a mobility platform for the U.S. ORLANDO - As SpaceX prepares to attempt Starship’s first orbital flight, the company is contemplating military applications for the super-heavy launch vehicle.

Starship by Editorial Planeta S.A.U.