The point is to get missions out the door as fast as possible. Two to three years is too slow."

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Ars Technica

A senior Space Force acquisition official, Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, stated at a Dallas space finance conference that the Pentagon is satisfied with its launch industry but sees satellite payloads as the critical bottleneck. With over $24 billion in R&D oversight, Purdy emphasized the need to shift focus toward mass-produced, affordable payloads, noting that mission timelines must shrink from two to three years down to roughly one week. SpaceWERX has funded 23 startups focused on sensors, software, and spacecraft components since 2020, with only one launch company receiving similar support. Commercial players like Starlink and Amazon Kuiper have solved communications at scale, but other payload categories still lag behind.

Pentagon buyer: We’re happy with our launch industry, but payloads are lagging

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