Space News
WASHINGTON — Muon Space has secured a $1.9 million contract to develop an infrared sensing payload for missile detection and tracking, the startup announced Dec. 9. The award is a Small Business Innovation Research Direct to Phase 2 contract from SpaceWERX, the U.S. Space Force’s technology arm. The Direct to Phase 2 path lets companies skip an initial feasibility study and move straight to prototype development.
Although announced this week, the contract was issued over the summer and was not affected by the lapse in SBIR authorization that began Sept. 30.
Under the award, Muon will build a high-sensitivity variant of its multispectral electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) payload for the Space Force’s Space Development Agency.
SDA is developing the Tracking Layer, a constellation in low Earth orbit designed to provide continuous detection and tracking of advanced missile threats. The payload will draw on Muon’s Quickbeam scanning architecture, originally created for thermal detection.
