The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will provide its optical space domain awareness payload to the U.S. Space Force for use during a new mission aimed at evaluating the latter’s capabilities to rapidly identify on-orbit threats and deploy satellites in response to them.
LLNL said Wednesday Space Force’s Victus Haze mission is planned for a 2025 launch and will involve two spacecraft — one each from Rocket Lab and True Anomaly — demonstrating maneuvers in close proximity. Of the two satellites, Rocket Lab’s vehicle will carry the Lawrence Livermore space imaging payload.
Victus Haze marks the second time that an LLNL payload will be used for tactically responsive space missions. In 2021, the lab provided a three-mirror reflective telescope and sensor for the Tactically Responsive Launch-2 mission payload.
The new mission payload will utilize the LLNL monolithic telescopes, which are built by lab employees Willem de Vries and Brian Bauman and former lab employee Alex Pertica out of a single piece of fused silica. The technology’s robustness, along with its ability to work immediately after launch, makes it suitable for responsive space missions.
“We are grateful to LLNL for providing their advanced optical payload for this pivotal demonstration,” said Lt. Col. Jason Altenhofen, director of operations for Space Force’s Space Safari Program Office. “Agile integration and rapid on-orbit initialization of external payloads are key enablers to meet the Victus Haze mission objectives.”
Rocket Lab’s national security business and True Anomaly were awarded contracts in April to support the Victus Haze mission. Rocket Lab secured a $32 million award from the Defense Innovation Unit, while True Anomaly will receive a $30 million contract from SpaceWERX.