WASHINGTON — The first launch of the Space Development Agency’s low Earth orbit satellites that had been scheduled for late September is slipping to no earlier than mid-December.
Speaking at the Washington Space Business Roundtable Sept. 14, SDA Director Derek Tournear said the launch of the agency’s Tranche 0 satellites had to be delayed due to supply chain problems that have affected all vendors in the program.
The 28 satellites in Tranche 0 include 20 communications payloads made by Lockheed Martin and York Space; and eight missile-tracking infrared sensor satellites made by SpaceX and L3Harris.