Redwire Corporation ($RDW) landed a $44M Phase 2 contract from DARPA, which tasks Redwire to manufacture and deliver a VLEO satellite with air breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) technology.
The contract is part of DARPA’s Otter program, which aims to validate the tech in VLEO through a flight lasting more than a year at an orbital altitude between 90 and 250 km.
Low rider: Gravity and atmospheric drag can mean the early demise of low-flying satellites with conventional propulsion systems. But Otter has a proposed solution: ABEP harvests the low-density air in the upper atmosphere and uses electric power to generate thrust, theoretically making long-duration flights in VLEO a reality.
In 2024, DARPA awarded a $6.7M contract to Colorado-based Electric Propulsion Laboratory to supply the propulsion system for the demonstration mission. Redwire will integrate this technology onto its SabreSat platform to perform the demo.
How low can you go? The DARPA mission isn’t Redwire’s only foray into VLEO, however. Redwire has spent years eyeing the unique orbit for its benefits in technologies that are critical to US commercial and defense applications.
Flying satellites closer to the Earth offers lower latency for comms payloads, and higher resolutions for EO sats. And organizations beyond the US government are taking notice.
In July, Redwire partnered with LA-based EO startup DeepSat to help develop a VLEO constellation. Then, in September, Thales Alenia Space and ESA awarded Redwire the prime contract for ESA’s Skimsat mission, where Redwire will use its Phantom spacecraft to demonstrate VLEO capabilities.
“VLEO represents an exciting new frontier for defense, intelligence, and communications missions. Through our work with DARPA, we are accelerating the development of cutting-edge capabilities that will define the future of this domain,” Tom Campbell, Redwire president of space missions, said in a statement.
