Operationally Responsive Space Office

The Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS Office) is a joint initiative of several agencies within the United States Department of Defense (DoD). The "stand up" of the office took place 2007-05-21 at Kirtland Air Force Base.^[1] The first director of the ORS Office is Col. Kevin McLaughlin, who is also commander of the Space Development and Test Wing located at Kirtland. The ORS Office will focus on smaller satellites, such as the Tactical Satellite Program, smaller launch vehicles, and on making the capabilities they provide available to DoD users quickly.

Organizations that have been involved in ORS activities to date include the United States Army, the United States Navy, DARPA, the National Reconnaissance Office, the Missile Defense Agency and NASA.^[1]

Leadership

Dr Peter Wegner took over as the ORS Director in May 2008. Dr Wegner is in charge of responding to the urgent needs of the Joint Force Commanders and establishing the enabling infrastructure to complement the existing space architecture.

History

The Joint ORS Office is working with the broader space community to provide “assured space power focused on timely satisfaction of Joint Force Commanders’ needs.” The end state of the ORS concept is the ability to address emerging, persistent, and/or unanticipated needs through timely augmentation, reconstitution, and exploitation of space force enhancement, space control, and space support capabilities.

The ORS Office is implementing a rapid innovation process using a Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) to facilitate rapid assembly, integration, and test (AI&T), deployment, and operations of space assets into the current space architecture in operationally relevant timelines. The ORS Office focuses on material (spacecraft, launch, range payloads) and non-material solutions (business model, acquisition, policy, industrial base, training, command and control, tasking, exploitation, processing, & dissemination, concept of operations), and collaborates with national and international agencies to leverage existing investments and develop long-term relationships.

Mission

The Joint ORS Office is taking a new approach to risk and mission assurance to rapidly deploy capabilities that are good enough to satisfy warfighter needs across the entire spectrum of operations, from peacetime through conflict.

Jumpstart

On May 29, 2008 SpaceDev announced its Trailblazer spacecraft bus had been selected by the ORS Office as the primary payload to fly on its Jumpstart mission.^[2] The Jumpstart payload was carried by the third Falcon 1 flight, which launched from Kwajalein in August 2008 but failed to reach orbit.

ORS-1

June 29th, 2011 ORS-1 was launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island. . ORS-1 Launch

TacSat-3

TacSat-3 is the first on-orbit Department of Defense intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability delivered to U.S. Strategic Command for their direct imagery support to worldwide combatant commanders. TacSat-3 complements the wide array of Intelligence Community Combat Support Agencies and other space-based ISR systems which provide information to warfighters.

TacSat-4

September 27, 2011. The Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) Office and Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) provided the launch on a Minotaur-IV from Kodiak, Alaska.Navy Press Release

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Rupp, Sheila. "Operationally Responsive Space". USAF. http://www.kirtland.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123054292. 
2. ^ "SpaceDev Satellite Chosen for Inaugural U.S. Defense ORS Jumpstart Mission". SpaceDev. http://www.spacedev.com/press_more_info.php?id=242. 

Official Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS) Site ORS Facebook Page ORS Twitter Page