Overview
- The Space Force announced on Thursday that it added $28 million to an existing SBIR Phase 3 contract with Impulse Space, raising the deal to about $62.8 million to fund Victus Salo 2 and Victus Salo 3.
- Victus Salo 2 and 3 will use Impulse’s Mira vehicles to carry government‑provided payloads and demonstrate rapid maneuvers in low Earth orbit for the Tactically Responsive Space program.
- The first Victus Salo mission is expected to launch in 2027 and will fly a payload supplied by MIT Lincoln Laboratory as part of the program’s initial on‑orbit tests.
- Impulse says Mira is a high‑thrust chemical‑propelled spacecraft that can host and deploy payloads up to about 300 kilograms and has flown on three missions; the company was also added last month to the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 pool to compete as an upper‑stage provider.
- The contract expands the Pentagon’s shift from simply speeding launches to proving agile, re‑taskable spacecraft on orbit, which could change how the military buys and operates space systems and open more pathways for small commercial suppliers.