The US wants to drive down lead times and costs by increasing the scale of its space production capacity.  

The US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) will engage with industry to address production rate and capacity challenges in the country’s space supply chain under a new project, a 14 November DIU announcement has revealed.  

Commercial solutions to prototype and demonstrate responsive and adaptive production methods are sought under the project, the DIU said, such as design for manufacturing, AI, 3D printing, computer numerical control, automated moulding, and software-defined manufacturing.  

While the current domestic supply chain is geared towards low-volume production of bespoke components for highly specialised spacecraft – which lengthens lead times and heightens cost – this project will look to improve the supply chain for large scale production.  

“The goal is to establish a resilient and agile space supply chain that can meet the burgeoning demand for proliferated satellite constellations”, the DIU said. 

Key objectives include achieving economies of scale in the US space supply chain, reducing dependence on equipment sources with long lead times, and demonstrating on-demand production rates of hundreds of units per month to thousands per year.  

Other objectives include teaming commercial suppliers, advanced manufacturers, and defence integrators to address critical supply chain shortfalls as appropriate, as well as employing an agile iterative process to maintain technological relevance.  

How can industry get involved? 

Companies are encouraged to submit solutions to the project by a deadline of 21 November, with those downselected by the DIU then arranged into teams to collectively work on the challenge. 

Those applying should identify as one of three key roles, the DIU said, with the first being defence integrators. This constitutes defence contractors with a successful history of completing US Department of War contracts.

Adaptive manufacturers are also sought,specifically established companies experienced in scaling design and production, as well as“disruptive innovators”. For the latter, companies of any size which have developed solutions to enable economies of scale are encouraged to apply. 

Desired attributes for a particular solution include that it must be designed for autonomous operation, produced domestically or via friendly foreign supply chains, cost-effective, and commercially viable independent of this government use case.