Slingshot Aerospace is building space simulation and analytics products. Photo: Slingshot via Business Wire

The U.S. Space Force is awarding Slingshot Aerospace a $25.2 million contract to support development of the company’s Digital Space Twin, which simulates scenarios in space. The Digital Space Twin “reflects the current state of space at any given moment” by combining combines real-time mapping and space weather data, with physics-based simulations 

The 39-month contract announced Thursday, is funded by Space Systems Command and SpaceWERX, a recently established innovation arm of the Space Force. 

This contract will fund expansion of the Digital Space Twin to encompass Space Force missions. The Space Force could potentially use the Digital Space Twin for wargaming, mission planning, and spacecraft and constellation design — to simulate various scenarios. Digital Space Twin will also launch as a commercial product before the final government deployment. 

Also under the contract, Slingshot Aerospace will develop and deploy pilot programs to four different U.S. Space Force education organizations with its Slingshot Laboratory, which is a space simulation platform that teaches the fundamentals and advanced concepts of astrodynamics. The four Space Force organizations involved are Basic Military Training, National Security Space Institute , the 319th Combat Training Squadron, and the 533rd Training Squadron.

“Each year, the [strategic financing] program places its ‘big bets’ on the most innovative technologies that meet critical mission gaps. Slingshot’s space education and simulation products have garnered support from across the Space Force operational and acquisition community as we see tremendous value in the technology,” commented Lt. Col. Walter “Rock” McMillan, director of SpaceWERX.