American aerospace and defense company Orbital ATK is suing the Department of Defense over a contract the Pentagon awarded to a Canadian company, The Washington Post reports.
Orbital ATK’s contends that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is breaking the law by supporting development of technology already available in the commercial marketplace with a $15 million contract for robotic space-station repair to a company, according to the company’s lawsuit filed Tuesday.
“The U.S. National Space Policy explicitly directs government agencies to avoid funding activities that are already in development in the commercial marketplace,” Orbital ATK said in a statement. “Orbital ATK will continue to pursue all available options to oppose DARPA from moving forward with this illegal and wasteful use of U.S. taxpayer dollars.”
DARPA allegedly awarded a $15 million contract to Space Systems/Loral (SSL), which is part of U.S. branch of Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates. The contract announcement was posted online, then quickly removed. DARPA spokesman Jared B. Adams said the announcement was posted in error, and that the agency was still working on some details.
The contract would be part of DARPA’s Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program, an ambitious project to create robots that can install new equipment, correct small technical issues and even move satellites in geosynchronous orbit 22,000 miles away from earth. DARPA awarded a $20 million contract to SSL July, 2016, to work on the robotic arms that would interact with the satellites.
Several members of Congress have written to DARPA arguing that the agency is interfering in the commercial aerospace market. Virginia Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, whose district includes Orbital ATK’s Dulles, Va., headquarters, said the DARPA’s program “seems to duplicate efforts of other government agencies and commercial industry.”
“Without considering a pause in the program for appropriate review and justification to Congress, your agency is demonstrating intransigence and is acting in bad faith,” Comstock said in the letter.
Orbital ATK is working on a Mission Extension Vehicle designed to connect with satellites robotically to perform maintenance, but DARPA apparently believes that the technology is not sufficient for its program.
“No existing or planned commercial servicing systems address this full set of capabilities,” DARPA said in a response to the letter, though it did not mention Orbital ATK specifically.
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