Elon Musk’s SpaceX Wins $149 Million Govt Contract To Build Missile-Tracking Satellites For The Pentagon

The US Space Development Agency (SDA) is acquiring satellites to detect the Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can travel a long distance and are difficult to track and intercept.

In the first phase of this initiative, they have handed out a $149 million contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Indian Express reports. The aerospace manufacturer will be building missile-tracking satellites for the Pentagon, which is the headquarters of the US Department of Defence. This is SpaceX’s first-ever government contract to create satellites.

The Elon Musk-led space-tech firm is also enhancing satellite production for Starlink, a growing constellation of hundreds of internet-beaming satellites that chief executive Elon Musk hopes will generate enough revenue to help fund SpaceX’s interplanetary goals.

SpaceX has an assembly plant for the same in Redmond, Washington. They will use the same base to build four satellites for the US-SDA. Wide-angle infrared missile-tracking sensor supplied by a semiconductor is one of the features of these satellites.

L3 Harris Technologies Inc has also attained a funding of $193 million to construct another four satellites. Both the companies are expected to deliver their products for launch by September-December 2022.