Stephen Forbes, the Program Manager for DARPA’s Blackjack project, joins me to talk about DARPA and its interaction with the rest of the Department of Defense, how they approach space initiatives, where Blackjack came from, where it’s going, what they hope to accomplish with it, and how it fits into the near-future of the industry.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 40 executive producers—Brandon, Matthew, Simon, Lauren, Melissa, Kris, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Ryan, Donald, Lee, Chris, Warren, Bob, Russell, Moritz, Joel, Jan, Grant, David, Joonas, Robb, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Frank, Julian and Lars from Agile Space, Tommy, Matt, The Astrogators at SEE, Chris, Aegis Trade Law, and seven anonymous—and 589 other supporters.

Topics

• Blackjack
• Lockheed Martin wins $27 million contract modification for integration of DARPA’s Blackjack satellites - SpaceNews
• Northrop Grumman to supply navigation payloads for DARPA’s Blackjack satellites - SpaceNews
• SEAKR wins $60 million DARPA contract to demonstrate autonomous satellite operations - SpaceNews
• DARPA orders six satellites from Blue Canyon Technologies for Blackjack program - SpaceNews
• Raytheon wins $37 million DARPA contract for Blackjack payloads - SpaceNews

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• Music by Max Justus
• Artwork photo by NASA