Denver, Colorado. July 15, 2014 – Three Colorado companies were recently selected to help deliver key Air Force payloads into space. Lockheed Martin, Surrey Satellite Technology, and Exoterra Resources were among 14 companies selected under the Hosted Payload Solutions (HoPS) program.
The HoPS program is designed to create a pool of qualified vendors to meet the government’s needs for various hosted payload missions. Government payloads are expected to vary from payload to payload and will be documented in each mission Task Order. By hosting payloads on commercial vehicles, the Air Force hopes to make its satellite launches more affordable.
Hosting Government payloads on commercial aircraft will help meet this need by leveraging commercial best practices for affordable mission assurance processes and utilizing already established commercial ventures.
The maximum value of the contract is $494,900,000 over 5 years for each company. The award is firm-fixed, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity, covering products and services related to satellite payloads. It covers space and ground systems and related on-orbit support for data transfer from the hosted payload to the government end-user(s). The contract will cover work that is completed through January 31, 2029.
The complete list of HoPS contracted companies: