Rocket Lab And Stoke Space Join U.S. NSSL Lane 1 Vendor Pool

With its Vulcan rocket newly certified for U.S. national security missions, United Launch Alliance secured its immediate future in the military space launch business. Competitors, though, are lining up.

Certification by the U.S. Space Force, announced March 26, fulfilled a decade-long effort by United Launch Alliance (ULA) to transition its National Security Space Launch (NSSL) business from the retired Delta IV and soon-to-be-retired Atlas V launch vehicles to the heavy-lift Vulcan rocket.

“We are grateful for the collaboration and excited to reach this critical milestone in Vulcan development,” President and CEO Tory Bruno said in a joint statement with the service’s Space Systems Command (SSC).

• ULA’s Vulcan secures Pentagon certification
• NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2 awards are expected in April

ULA, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, expects to fly its first mission on a Vulcan this summer, continuing work under its 2020 NSSL Phase 2 contract. ULA flew its final NSSL mission on an Atlas V last July. Twenty-four Phase 2 missions are assigned to the Vulcan, five of which are slated to launch this year, the SSC says.

“Vulcan certification adds launch capacity, resiliency and flexibility needed by our nation’s most critical space-based systems,” Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, program executive officer for the SSC’s Assured Access to Space (AATS), said in the statement. “The SSC and ULA teams have worked together extremely closely.”

ULA expected the Vulcan to be certified for NSSL flights in 2024 but encountered delays, including analysis of a solid rocket booster anomaly on the Oct. 4 Cert-2 demonstration mission. Post-flight assessments revealed a manufacturing defect in the nozzle’s insulator.

The Vulcan’s certification followed completion and review of 180 discrete tasks, two flight demonstrations, 60 payload interface requirement verifications, 18 subsystem design and test reviews, as well as 114 hardware and software audits by ULA and the SSC.

ULA has about 70 missions on its Vulcan manifest, including 38 for Amazon’s planned Kuiper broadband satellite network. ULA intends to launch 12 missions this year—about half on Vulcans and half on Atlas Vs—for a mix of national security space and commercial customers, says Gary Wentz, company vice president of government and commercial programs.

With the Vulcan’s Jan. 8, 2024, Cert-1 debut flight, ULA became eligible to compete for missions under part of the SSC’s follow-on Phase 3 program.

Phase 3 is divided into two pools: Lane 1 for new entrants, less demanding missions and lower-priority payloads; and Lane 2, a follow-on to the existing Phase 2 program that requires full vehicle certification as well as the ability to reach any orbit and mission criteria for NSSL payloads.

The Space Force selected ULA, SpaceX and Blue Origin last June for inaugural Lane 1 awards under a $5.6 billion indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. Lane 1 covers a five-year base ordering period of 2025-29 with at least 30 missions expected, plus an additional five-year option. Lane 2 awards are pending; an announcement is expected in April, Col. Doug Pentecost, deputy program executive officer for the AATS, tells Aviation Week.

The day after announcing the Vulcan’s certification, the Space Force unveiled two more potential vendors for Lane 1 missions: Rocket Lab and Stoke Space, both of which were required to provide a credible plan to fly their new rockets by December. Three bids were submitted in total, the SSC said.

Rocket Lab and Stoke Space will each receive a $5 million firm, fixed-price task order for an initial capabilities assessment and to “develop their approach to tailored mission assurance,” the SSC said March 27.

Rocket Lab pitched its in-development Neutron medium-lift reusable launcher, while Stoke Space offered Nova rocket flights. Both companies bid on the inaugural NSSL Phase 3 Lane 1 contract but were not selected.

The service awarded SpaceX the first two Phase 3 Lane 1 task orders in October, worth a cumulative $733.6 million. At the time, only ULA and SpaceX could compete for such missions. Blue Origin is now eligible to bid for Lane 1 task orders, following the successful launch to orbit of its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket on Jan. 16, although it did not land its booster.

Lane 1 vendors are required to achieve one successful flight prior to being awarded any NSSL task orders.

Rocket Lab’s debut Neutron launch is scheduled for the second half of 2025 from Launch Complex 3 at Wallops Island, Virginia. It would be the first launch vehicle to support the NSSL program from that region, the company said March 27. Stoke Space’s plan for the Nova’s debut was not disclosed but would have to take place by December for the startup to qualify for Lane 1. The company is developing a Nova launch site at Cape Canaveral SFS.

The Space Force plans to release solicitations for new Lane 1 launch services in the coming weeks and has “several more missions we will compete” in fiscal 2026, Lt. Col. Douglas Downs, SSC materiel leader for space launch procurement, said in the statement. The next Phase 3 Lane 1 launch service task order is in source selection, and an award is expected this summer, Pentecost says. The task order will cover launch services for the Space Force’s second of two new operational environmental monitoring satellites under the Weather System Follow-On Microwave program.

The SSC said the next chance for providers to compete to be added as a Lane 1 vendor will be the first quarter of fiscal 2026—Oct. 1 to Dec. 31.

At least one more contender may throw its hat into the ring at that point. Northrop Grumman and Firefly Aerospace are developing a two-stage, partially reusable booster called the Medium Launch Vehicle to support the NSSL Phase 3 program as well as civil and commercial missions. A first flight is scheduled for “no earlier” than the second half of 2026, a Firefly spokesperson tells Aviation Week.

The Space Force is continuing source selection for Phase 3 Lane 2, which has 49 launches scheduled over five years for more exquisite missions that will be awarded only to providers with rockets that have completed two successful flights and are certified by the SSC. SpaceX’s Falcon family and ULA’s Vulcan meet those requirements. Blue Origin, which has completed one flight of the New Glenn, also is expected to compete. The company must achieve a second successful flight for Phase 3 Lane 2 certification. New Glenn flight 2 is expected this spring.

It is unclear if and when SpaceX’s new offering, the reusable Starship-Super Heavy launch system, will play a role in the NSSL launch portfolio. As of April 1, the company has conducted eight Starship-Super Heavy integrated flight tests from Boca Chica Beach, Texas, but none have reached orbit.

NASA’s interest in the Starship is growing, however. In November 2023, the agency contracted with SpaceX to develop a Starship variant for the Artemis lunar exploration program. A Starship Human Landing System is expected to ferry two astronauts to and from lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon as part of the Artemis III mission, currently targeted for mid-2027.

The agency modified its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with SpaceX on March 28 to add the Starship to its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch service offerings. NLS II contracts are awarded for NASA planetary, space, Earth observation and other missions.

NASA considers NLS II missions high-priority and low-to-medium-risk-tolerant. They include full agency technical oversight and mission assurance. Under the contracts, NASA also can provide launch services to other federal government agencies.

Like the Space Force’s Phase 3 Lane 1 program, the NLS II initiative includes a provision to on-ramp new launch service providers annually. It also allows existing contractors to introduce additional launch services.