Space Force slates $1.8B for commercial sats to replace GSSAP neighborhood watch birds

(Theresa Hitchens – Breaking Defense) The Space Force has set up a pool of 14 vendors to compete for $1.84 billion over the next decade to provide future space monitoring satellites and/or services, the service announced Wednesday. The first task order under the new indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract vehicle for the newly dubbed Andromeda program (formerly known as RG-XX), will buy commercial birds to replace the service’s venerable Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) constellation of neighborhood watch satellites that can snuggle up close to and inspect adversary spacecraft. Geosynchronous Earth orbit, some 36,000 kilometers (22,369 miles) in altitude, is where many high-value military and intelligence community satellites are stationed. – Space Force slates $1.8B for commercial sats to replace GSSAP neighborhood watch birds – Breaking Defense