Three Competitors Qualify for DAPRA Launch Challenge

Vector Launch, Virgin Orbit, and VOX Space are the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) qualifying competitors for the Launch Challenge, which aims to enable the military to launch on-demand small payloads into space. DARPA awarded $400,000 to each competitor that completed the qualification phase, and now the competitors will attempt to launch to low-Earth orbit from two different locations in the United States in the coming weeks. Teams will receive $2 million for successfully delivering the payloads to orbit upon their first launch. For a successful second launch, the top three teams will receive either $10 million, $9 million, or $8 million depending on factors like mass, time to orbit, and orbit accuracy.