Loft Federal and Microsoft Partner with Ball Aerospace for SDA NExT Contract.

Loft Federal and Microsoft Partner with Ball Aerospace for SDA NExT Contract.

Ball Aerospace has announced that it is partnering with Loft Federal and Microsoft to work on its Space Development Agency (SDA) contract for the experimental testbed NExT. The contract, worth up to $176m, was awarded to Ball Aerospace in October 2022 and involves building 10 satellites and accompanying ground systems to serve as the experimental testbed of the SDA’s constellation. Loft Federal, the government subsidiary of Loft Orbital, will perform spacecraft integration and testing, procure commercial launch services, oversee the launch campaign, and operate the constellation on orbit. Meanwhile, Microsoft will provide Azure Orbital Ground Station services and Azure Government to give the SDA a secure cloud environment.

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