Space Systems Command’s Front Door For Industry Is Opening a Little Wider

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.—Front Door, the one-stop shop for companies and contractors to introduce  themselves to Space Systems Command, is getting a rebrand and a leg-up, becoming the first point of contact for the whole service, Space Force leaders said at AFA’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference this week.

The organization will now be known as the Space Force Front Door and will facilitate contact between the private sector and all of the acquisition and research organizations in the Space Force, not just Space Systems Command, Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman announced Sept 22.

“Your concepts are now vetted against the needs of organizations beyond just SSC, including all Space Force equities, broader department needs, other government agencies, and allies,” Saltzman said in keynote remarks. “Every bit of new technology that gives us an advantage is a win for the Space Force and the nation.”

The Front Door team “will absolutely have to grow to keep up with the demand that I know they’re going to get,” Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, SSC commander, told reporters the following day.

Since its formation in 2023, more than 1,400 companies have sent Front Door details of their innovations and  technology, in hopes of being connected to potential customers in the Space Force, according to SSC. The command, the main acquisition element of Space Force, said the connections Front Door made have “contributed to more than 750 contracts for new space capabilities that SSC awarded during the first half of this year.” Front Door has also held 30 industry days—where Space Force personnel brief businesses on upcoming contract opportunities—or reverse industry days, where companies tout their technology or other wares for interested USSF organizations.

The new broader reach will give Front Door the chance to expand its research activities, Garrant said, where it checks companies out to ensure they don’t pose security or failure risks. “We get a chance to do some foreign influence vetting. We get a chance to do some fiscal viability vetting. We get a chance to marry up a company with a transition partner, and perhaps a [program executive office], or someone like a SpaceWERX or an AFWERX.” He called it “a great opportunity to match traditional providers, new providers, entrepreneurs” with elements of the Space Force who are interested in partnering.

Front Door will continue to be part of SSC’s Commercial Space Office, which is responsible for commercial partnerships with private sector vendors. “Space Force Front Door will continue to grow in its integral role of coordinating across combatant commands and syncing with partnership initiatives across the U.S. Space Force, Department of War, and agencies involved with space capabilities and development,” SSC said in a statement.

Front Door will also continue to operate Orbital Watch—effectively a kind of neighborhood watch for space. For the time being, Garrant said, Orbital Watch will continue to circulate quarterly unclassified or declassified intelligence briefings about on-orbit threats like cyberattacks and potential collisions. Within “a year or two” though, Garrant said he wants two-way information sharing, even of classified intelligence if companies were cleared to receive it. 

The rebranding also includes some new functionality for the Front Door’s website. It now has a section where Space Force elements and other government agencies can share challenges, desired capabilities, or requests for information from vendors.