Google continues to grow as a key player in the DoD. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) selected Google Cloud’s Secure Cloud Management (SCM) solution to implement organization-wide, setting the stage for potential broader adoption across defense agencies worldwide. The production contract award comes after DIU deployed three separate, year-long prototypes by Google and two other commercial vendors—with the goal of providing DIU with fast, secure, and controlled access to software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications directly over the internet.
Google Cloud’s solution, which was developed in partnership with Palo Alto Networks, embraces zero trust principles and the idea that implicit trust in any single component of a complex, interconnect system can create significant security risks. Google Cloud’s SCM offering also aligns with the White House’s May 2021 Executive Order and the recent memorandum by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget calling on the federal government to improve national cybersecurity. This SCM solution is available for acquisition by other DoD agencies, through Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements, as they adopt their respective zero trust plans.
“In today’s new cybersecurity paradigm, it’s critical that government agencies see the benefits of adopting a zero trust security strategy and have the option of selecting more modern, cloud native solutions that meet their unique needs,” said Lynn Martin, vice president, North America Public Sector, Google Cloud. “We are honored to partner with DIU as the organization undergoes the next phase in its zero trust journey, as we believe other DoD agencies can benefit and learn from this security approach.”
Contract Opportunities to Watch
| Lockheed Martin | NASA has awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin Space of Littleton, CO, to build the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), a small, lightweight rocket to launch rock, sediment, and atmospheric samples from the surface of the Red Planet. The award brings NASA a step closer to the first robotic round-trip to bring samples safely to Earth through the Mars Sample Return program.
“This groundbreaking endeavor is destined to inspire the world when the first robotic round-trip mission retrieves a sample from another planet – a significant step that will ultimately help send the first astronauts to Mars,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said. “America’s investment in our Mars Sample Return program will fulfill a top priority planetary science goal and demonstrate our commitment to global partnerships, ensuring NASA remains a leader in exploration and discovery.” Set to become the first rocket fired off another planet, the MAV is a crucial part of a campaign to retrieve samples collected by NASA’s Perseverance rover and deliver them to Earth for advanced study. NASA’s Sample Retrieval Lander, another important part of the campaign, would carry the MAV to Mars’ surface, landing near or in Jezero Crater to gather the samples cached by Perseverance. The samples would be returned to the lander, which would serve as the launch platform for the MAV. With the sample container secured, the MAV would then launch. Once it reaches Mars orbit, the container would be captured by an ESA (European Space Agency) Earth Return Orbiter spacecraft outfitted with NASA’s Capture, Containment, and Return System payload. The spacecraft would bring the samples to Earth safely and securely in the early- to mid-2030s. “Committing to the Mars Ascent Vehicle represents an early and concrete step to hammer out the details of this ambitious project not just to land on Mars, but to take off from it,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We are nearing the end of the conceptual phase for this Mars Sample Return mission, and the pieces are coming together to bring home the first samples from another planet. Once on Earth, they can be studied by state-of-the-art tools too complex to transport into space.” Returning a sample is complicated, and MAV faces some complex development challenges. It must be robust enough to withstand the harsh Mars environment and adaptable enough to work with multiple spacecraft. It also must be small enough to fit inside the Sample Retrieval Lander. The Sample Retrieval Lander is planned for launch no earlier than 2026 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Lockheed Martin Space will provide multiple MAV test units and a flight unit. Work under the contract includes designing, developing, testing, and evaluating the integrated MAV system, and designing and developing of the rocket’s ground support equipment. The cost-plus-fixed-fee Mars Ascent Vehicle Integrated System (MAVIS) contract has a potential value of $194 million. The performance period begins no later than Feb. 25 and will extend six years. NASA’s Mars Sample Return Campaign promises to revolutionize our understanding of Mars by bringing scientifically selected samples for study using the most sophisticated instruments around the world. The campaign would fulfill a solar system exploration goal, a high priority since the 1970s and in the last two National Academy of Sciences Planetary Decadal Surveys. This strategic NASA and ESA partnership would be the first mission to return samples from another planet and the first launch from the surface of another planet. The samples collected by Perseverance during its exploration of an ancient river delta are thought to present the best opportunity to reveal the early evolution of Mars, including the potential for life. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the MAV project for the agency’s Mars Sample Return program, managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. |
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Key Employer in the Cleared Industry
| Microsoft | Are you ready to take on big challenges? Learn more about more about joining Microsoft’s community and explore careers with impact. If you’re a transitioning military service member, explore Microsoft Software and Systems Academy (MSSA).
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Cleared Opportunities
The goal of MINC is to ensure that critical data finds a path to the right user at the right time in highly contested, highly dynamic and heterogeneous communications environments. Peraton Labs’ solution will replace static configuration of individual tactical networks with automated, mission-driven, and secure control across diverse networks of networks.
“Peraton Labs will develop and deliver an automated network discovery and control solution that can dynamically compose data pathways across multiple warfighting and networking domains to support missions in all-domain warfare,” said Petros Mouchtaris, Ph.D., president, Peraton Labs. “With intelligent, mission-driven control and the ability to interoperate across a heterogeneous mix of legacy and future systems, our solution will provide reliable communications capability to our warfighters.”
Peraton Labs’ solution will orchestrate control across all available resources – communications, compute, and storage – by combining novel technologies, including:
- A secure, always-on control overlay to discover network resources
- A distributed orchestration framework that reasons over battlespace resources
- A framework for automatically translating mission intent to networking objectives, and
- An intuitive, flexible interface to deliver rapid situational intelligence and reduce the cognitive load on operators.
A critical part of this work effort will be to develop a software development kit to provide for the sustained development of “MINC-enabled applications” beyond the program.
“To build this capability, Peraton Labs leverages deep expertise and extensive experience in machine learning, virtualization, software-defined networking, and tactical communications,” said Mouchtaris. “Our solution will not only enable joint all-domain operations, but also provide a “leave-behind” capability for continued development, integration, and use by third parties.”
