What Happened
New Entrants Bring Innovative Solutions To Military Launch Market
The US Space Force has added Impulse Space and Relativity Space to its launch competition, expanding the pool of eligible bidders for its launch contracts. Impulse Space, which specializes in building spacecraft for in-space operations, is developing a kick stage called Helios that can boost payloads to geostationary orbit. The company will contract with the Space Force to provide end-to-end service, procuring a launch vehicle and stacking the Helios stage and designated satellite into the payload fairing of the rocket. This development was first reported by Ars Technica.