Space Force orders two more Impulse Space vehicles for maneuvering demonstrations

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The U.S. Space Force has added $28 million to an existing contract with Impulse Space to provide two more maneuverable spacecraft for tactically responsive space missions, expanding the startup’s role in an effort to give military operators faster options for responding to activity in orbit.

The contract modification will fund Victus Salo 2 and Victus Salo 3, which will use Impulse’s Mira spacecraft to host government-provided payloads for missions in low Earth orbit, according to the Space Force.

The award increases the value of the contract to about $62.8 million. The original $34.8 million Small Business Innovation Research Phase 3 agreement, awarded in 2024 by Space Systems Command’s Space Safari office in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit, covered the Victus Surgo and Victus Salo 1 missions.

Victus Salo is part of the Space Force’s broader Tactically Responsive Space, or TacRS, effort to shorten the time needed to deploy and operate spacecraft.

Under Victus Salo, the Space Force is moving beyond its earlier focus on rapid launch to also test spacecraft that can be positioned in orbit and maneuvered quickly when circumstances change. The first Victus Salo mission calls for a Mira vehicle to operate in low Earth orbit carrying a government payload supplied by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory. 

Victus Salo 1 is currently expected to launch in 2027. Victus Surgo is more ambitious: an Impulse Helios high-energy kick stage is intended to carry another Mira spacecraft from low Earth orbit toward geosynchronous transfer orbit, where Mira would maneuver independently. 

Mira is a high-thrust spacecraft that can host and deploy payloads and make relatively rapid orbital maneuvers using chemical propulsion. Impulse says the vehicle can carry payloads of up to 300 kilograms and uses eight thrusters burning nitrous oxide and ethane. The company has flown Mira on three missions. 

Impulse, founded in 2021 by former SpaceX propulsion executive Tom Mueller, is building spacecraft and propulsion systems intended to provide transportation after a payload has separated from its launch vehicle.

Impulse has been moving deeper into the Pentagon’s launch and space-mobility market. The Space Force last month added the company to the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 contract, allowing Impulse to compete as an upper-stage provider.

Reporting from SpaceNews contributed to this story.