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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Deployable Space Systems tested a ROSA lightweight flexible blanket array on the International Space Station in 2017 with support from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and NASA.
The Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles directorate awarded Viasat a $10,000,000 contract in May to test whether a Link 16 terminal on a small satellite could serve as a communications network relay in a program called XVI.
DSX was designed and built at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.
AFRL’s DSX satellite, spanning nearly the length of a football field, was deployed on 2019-07-12.
The Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Innovation Unit produced a 2019-05-30 report titled "State of the Space Industrial Base: Threats, Challenges and Actions."
China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, through its subsidiary Expace, will provide the Kuaizhou-11 at a rate of $5,000 per kilogram to LEO, which the AFRL-DIU report characterizes as five times less expensive than comparable launch capabilities.
The $10,000,000 contract awarded to Viasat is for a pilot program led by the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles directorate to test a Link 16 terminal on a small satellite in low Earth orbit as a network relay.
Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) was awarded a contract by the Administrator of the Space Enterprise Consortium under the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles XVI program to deliver and test a Link 16-capable Low Earth Orbit spacecraft.
Space Plug and Play Architecture Research CubeSat-1 (SPARC-1) is sponsored by the Air Force Research Laboratory in cooperation with the Swedish military to test modular spacecraft avionics.
The Air Force Research Laboratory will launch the experimental PNT satellite NTS-3 in 2022.
AFRL’s ESPAStar bus was used for the ESPA Augmented Geostationary Laboratory Experiment (EAGLE) that launched on an Atlas 5 rocket.
AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate awarded an $80,400,000 contract for NTS-3 to Harris Corporation in December.
AFRL awarded Braxton Technologies a Small Business Innovation Research contract in 2017 to develop the ground system for NTS-3.
The Air Force experimentation office is part of the Air Force Research Laboratory and works directly with Air Force and Department of Defense leaders at the Pentagon.
The Space Environment Testbed payload is part of the Demonstration and Science Experiments (DSX) satellite from the Air Force Research Laboratory and is included in the Space Test Program 2 mission launching on a Falcon Heavy.
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s S5 satellite will ride to near geostationary orbit with Nusantara Satu before deploying from the parent satellite.
The Beresheet lander and the Air Force Research Laboratory smallsat are riding onboard Nusantara Satu and will separate from the satellite using techniques SSL developed as part of DARPA’s Payload Orbital Delivery System experiment.
The 2019-02-21 Falcon 9 mission will include the Israeli lunar lander Beresheet and an Air Force Research Laboratory smallsat as rideshare payloads alongside Nusantara Satu.
Blue Canyon Technologies won a contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory in September 2017 to build two smallsats intended to operate in geostationary orbit.
The Orbital Test Bed mission hosting the Deep Space Atomic Clock and the AFRL modular solar array payload is scheduled to be launched in 2019.