APOGEE STAFF
U.S. Space Force is getting new tools suitable for war gaming, mission planning and designing satellite constellations as part of a program to incorporate private sector innovation into the training of warfighters. Slingshot Aerospace Inc., which specializes in situational awareness technology, will deliver to Space Force its Slingshot Orbital Laboratory (SOLab) and Digital Modeling and Advance Visualization Environment (DMAVE) under a $25.2 million, 39-month contract with the service’s Space Systems Command (SSC) and SpaceWERX.
“Slingshot’s space education and simulation products have garnered support from across the Space Force operational and acquisition community as we see tremendous value in the technology,” Lt. Col. Walter McMillan, director of SpaceWERX, said in a March 2022 news release from SSC. SpaceWERX is the venture arm of Space Force that works with the service’s Strategic Financing program.
The SOLab is a space simulation platform providing visualization and integration of data. It will help streamline education and training in fundamental and advanced concepts of astrodynamics for Space Force Guardians throughout their careers, SSC said. DMAVE builds upon the SOLab modeling and design, creating a “digital twin” environment that can integrate simulated data with real-time data, such as space objects and weather conditions, to help project planned missions and enable users to respond to threats. A digital twin is an integrated representation that uses models, simulations and data to help make decisions.
Slingshot Aerospace, created in 2017 and based in Austin, Texas, and Los Angeles, has been developing a digital space twin. Now, with the new Space Force contract, Slingshot will adapt a version for government use.
SOLab was developed by Slingshot in partnership with The Third Floor, a visualization studio and contributor to movies and TV shows including “Gravity,” “The Martian” and “The Mandalorian.” In April 2021, Slingshot also was awarded a $1.2 million contract to develop a tool for the Space Force that, among other things, streamlines visualization of enemy missiles.