Designing affordable, flexible, and resilient small sats utilizing innovative acq strategies and standards

The Department of Defense (DoD) Space Test Program (STP) was created in 1965 to provide access to space for DoD research and development activities. STP provides spaceflight opportunities for payloads vetted through the DoD Space Experiments Review Board (SERB). Small spacecraft acquisition is one of STP´s key areas of excellence; it is a key aspect to the program that enables the program to fly multi-payload missions for low costs and provides flexibility to fly on a variety of launch vehicles. To facilitate the space flight of these experiments, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Secondary Payload Adaptor (ESPA) was developed and flown under the direction of STP. The same payload interface requirements and environments defined for ESPA are now being applied to other multi-payload adaptors (MPAs) for other launch vehicles. To fully utilize the capabilities and opportunities presented by ESPA opportunities, STP is looking to take advantage of the ESPA form factor and success of the Standard Interface Vehicle (SIV) Program through lessons learned and innovative acquisition approaches. STP´s goal is to access capable, low cost spacecraft buses through partnering and utilizing the pre-existing industry base while encouraging standardized mechanical and data interfaces where appropriate to maximize responsive spaceflight opportunities. These principles are at the foundation of STP and are influencing the future of small spacecraft acquisition and access-to-space across the space community.