Blackjack Program C
BlackJack game rules. Most people should be familiar with the concept of the game BlackJack. But if not, here is a quick overview. Essentially, players are dealt a starting hand of 2 cards with the hopes of getting to the magical number of 21, or to get as close to 21 as possible. This is my first real program, though it has gone through a few major revisions. Anyhow, I am sure that there is a lot I could have done better, cleaner or safer. Can anyone see anything I really.
Later this year, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is expected to launch a series of risk reduction payloads into orbit to help pave the way for an experimental program known as Project Blackjack.
With Blackjack, DARPA wants to demonstrate the military utility of a large constellation of small satellites operating in low earth orbit. These satellites will connect with each other on orbit over optical intersatellite links, forming a mesh network in space. That network will be able to deliver sensor data collected on orbit to terrestrial war fighters in near-real time.
And while Blackjack won’t transition to a program of record, Defense officials have made it clear that the technologies it will demonstrate will pave the way for a DoD-specific mesh network on orbit being built by the Space Development Agency.
COVID, OneWeb and how the Space Development Agency has coped
Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear says the industrial base will be able to support the rapid launch cadence needed to build its proliferated constellation of hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit.
WASHINGTON — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Lockheed Martin a $5.8 million contract for satellite integration work for the Blackjack program, the company announced April 24.
Blackjack is a project to deploy a constellation of 20 satellites in low Earth orbit by 2022 and demonstrate that a LEO system can provide global high-speed communications.
Lockheed Martin will define and manage interfaces between Blackjack’s satellite buses, payloads and the so-called Pit Boss autonomous data processor. The work will be performed at the company’s satellite manufacturing plant in Sunnyvale, California.
“This is an exciting new approach to plug-and-play design for LEO,” said Sarah Reeves, vice president of missile defense programs at Lockheed Martin.
With Blackjack, DARPA seeks to demonstrate key technologies needed for a global high-speed network in LEO that the Defense Department can use for broadband communication and can adapt for other purposes like missile defense or navigation.
During the satellite integration phase of the program, multiple types of payloads provided by different vendors will be evaluated for use in communications, missile defense, PNT (positioning, navigation, timing) and ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance).
Blackjack Counting Program
For the Blackjack program, DARPA has selected buses from Airbus, Blue Canyon Technologies and Telesat. Payload suppliers include Collins Aerospace, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Trident, SA Photonics, Airbus, Systems & Technology Research, Sky Quantum and L3Harris. Scientific Systems Company, SEAKR Engineering and BAE Systems are developing Pit Boss concepts.
DARPA wants to make plug-and-play satellites where new payloads can be added without having to redesign the bus. That approach would allow the military to speed up the production and lower the cost of satellites compared to traditional acquisitions of custom-built spacecraft.
The plan is to launch the first two satellites in 2021 and 18 more in 2022.