The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is the primary research and development center for the Department of the Air Force, playing a key role in developing warfighting technologies for air, space, and cyberspace. As an integrated lab, AFRL supports both the Air Force and the Space Force, providing solutions ranging from satellites and rocket fuel to advanced materials and manufacturing processes. AFRL partners with organizations like NASA, other government agencies, academia, and industry to conduct research, develop technologies, and test new concepts for space-based capabilities, including space weather observation and data transport. Key areas of focus include space vehicles, rocket propulsion, directed energy, and advanced materials for aerospace systems.
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The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Exosonic, Inc. a $1,250,000 contract to initiate the design and development of a supersonic, fifth-generation target.
Under the AFRL contract, Ursa Major will build and test a prototype of its Draper engine for hypersonics.
Ursa Major won a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory contract on 2023-05-23 to support the development of two of the company’s rocket engines.
Under the Air Force Research Laboratory contract, Ursa Major will build and test a prototype of its Draper engine for hypersonics and will further develop its 200,000-pound-thrust Arroway engine for space launch.
Ursa Major’s contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory is an eight-figure agreement and is larger than a $3,600,000 Air Force contract the company received last year for development of its Hadley engine for small launch vehicles.
Zeno Power Systems pitched its RPS concept to the Air Force Research Laboratory in 2019 and won several Small Business Innovation Research contracts.
Momentus was selected for funding from the Space Development Agency via a Small Business Innovation Research Phase 2 award that SDA is collaborating to complete with the Air Force Research Laboratory Technology Directorate AFWERX.
Lunar Flashlight was the first spacecraft beyond Earth orbit to use the Advanced Spacecraft Energetic Non-Toxic (ASCENT) green propellant developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Momentus was selected for funding from the Space Development Agency for a Small Business Innovation Research Phase 2 award in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory Technology Directorate AFWERX.
Daniel Cavender has worked extensively with ASCENT, the non-toxic propellant developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
A U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory cubesat equipped with a Link 16 tactical communications radio will launch to low Earth orbit as early as June on the SpaceX Transporter 8 rideshare.
Viasat built the XVI satellite for the Air Force Research Laboratory under a $10,000,000 contract awarded in 2019.
The NTS-3 program is a $250,000,000 experiment led by the Air Force Research Laboratory to deliver novel space-based positioning, navigation, and timing technologies.
AFRL will use commercial ground antennas for NTS-3 to increase opportunities for contact time while reducing dependence on government antennas.
The NTS-3 ground control system was developed by Parsons Corporation and will be operated at the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate headquarters at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.
SatixFy Communications completed a contracted demonstration with OneWeb Technologies and the Air Force Research Lab under the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) initiative.
The Air Force Research Laboratory has sponsored Orbit Logic a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract to develop the Satellite Onboard Fault Attribution and Response (SOFAR) solution.
Applications for the APS include autonomous operation of heterogeneous constellations of Low Earth Orbit satellites with DARPA and AFRL.
Orbit Logic was awarded a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory to develop the Satellite Onboard Fault Attribution and Response (SOFAR) solution.
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate plans to launch an experiment in 2025 to track objects in cislunar space.