(Laconia, New Hampshire) – Rogue Space Systems Corporation announces its recent award through SpaceWERX – the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force and a unique division within AFWERX – for the development of its extensible E-Bus technology suite. The contract is valued at $1.25M and will go towards making the Rogue spacecraft platforms widely and quickly adaptable to mission needs by accommodating all communications between payloads and bus-sub systems as well as power distribution and thermal control support.
The “E-Bus” is a “Low Size, Weight, and Power” (low-SWaP) device that functions as both a power distribution module and as a networking switch with software configurable data and power ports. These ports can receive any number of common power and data interfaces used by spacecraft payloads and sub-systems.
This system has the added benefit of being highly scalable, able to support many payloads with a single device, and expandable through the use of multiple devices. Additionally, redundant devices could be used for resiliency and the nature of the design allows dynamic interconnection between any two devices on the network, allowing for straight-forward fail-over or reconfiguration on orbit.
“This investment and development for standardized and extensible bus technologies will remove the need for hardware NRE when adapting payloads. This allows Rogue to build the data infrastructure needed to make dynamically configurable crafts to support a cost-effective space logistics operation,” said Michael Pica, Rogue’s CTIO.
Rogue Chief Executive Officer Jon Beam states, “For space commerce to become as ‘normal’ to us as e-commerce became twenty years ago, spacecraft will need to become more plug-and-play and software-defined. Gone will be the days of ‘wooden shoe making’ of satellites, and components and subsystems will simply be plugged in. I’m thrilled that Rogue Space is at the forefront of this evolution in spacecraft development!”
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government.
About SpaceWERX
As the innovation arm of the U.S. Space Force and a unique division within AFWERX, SpaceWERX inspires and empowers collaboration with innovators to accelerate capabilities and shape our future in space. Headquartered in Los Angeles, SpaceWERX employs 40 military, civilian and contractor personnel executing an annual $457 million budget. Additionally, SpaceWERX partners with Space Systems Command’s Commercial Space Office (COMSO) as a collaborative program. Since it was aligned under AFRL in Aug. 2021, SpaceWERX has executed 1,106 contracts worth more than $897 million to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: spacewerx.us.
About AFRL
The Air Force Research Laboratory is the primary scientific research and development center for the Department of the Air Force. AFRL plays an integral role in leading the discovery, development, and integration of affordable warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace force. With a workforce of more than 12,500 across nine technology areas and 40 other operations across the globe, AFRL provides a diverse portfolio of science and technology ranging from fundamental to advanced research and technology development. For more information, visit www.afresearchlab.com.
About AFWERX
As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. AFWERX employs approximately 370 military, civilian and contractor personnel at four hubs and sites executing an annual $1.4 billion budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has executed over 6,200 new contracts worth more than $4.7 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: www.afwerx.com.
Company Press Contact:
F. Brent Abbott
CRO
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