Washington, DC (May 28, 2024) - The ability to rapidly re-constitute space-based capabilities or re-supply time-sensitive cargo at precise locations on-orbit or terrestrially is a critical but presently under-developed capability. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) is leveraging commercial solutions for responsive delivery of cargo to, through, and from space.
In response, DIU launched the Novel Responsive Space Delivery (NRSD) project to prototype commercial solutions that enable responsive and precise point-to-point delivery to orbit, between vehicles in orbit, and to precisely to Earth via novel reentry vehicles and methods. Collectively, the NRSD project will deliver a diverse set of solutions to contested logistics problems, sustaining competitive advantage for deployed terrestrial and space forces.
"We curated and launched this project in response to a diverse set of needs we were hearing within the DoD. Responsive and reliable logistics and sustainment lines of communication are essential to the Warfighter,” said Austin Baker, Deputy Portfolio Director for DIU’s space portfolio. “By prototyping commercial solutions for the delivery of cargo and other supplies to, through, and from space, we will equip the Joint Force with new methods for sustainment that directly address this need and provide a unique competitive advantage, particularly in instances in which conventional logistics pathways on Earth and in space are contested. The response from industry to this area of interest was tremendous.”
DIU recently issued the first of multiple awards under the NRSD project to The Spaceport Company, which is developing a novel method for mobile sea-based launch. A sea-based launch platform is a strategically significant capability that increases equatorial launch access while enabling responsive launch coordination by avoiding high-traffic airspace.
This page will be updated as additional NRSD awards are made.