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NASA awarded Omitron Inc. an indefinite-delivery contract worth approximately $23.5 million over five years for orbital safety analysis services. The contract covers conjunction assessment screening for all NASA uncrewed spacecraft, human spaceflight support, and orbital safety analysis for NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce.
NASA has awarded Omitron Inc. a contract worth approximately $23.5 million over five years to provide orbital safety analysis services, including conjunction assessment screening for all of the agency’s uncrewed spacecraft and support for human spaceflight activities, the agency announced September 29, 2026. NASA described the work as providing for the critical protection of NASA spaceflight assets and astronaut lives.
The contract, announced in contract release C26-002 from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, is an indefinite-delivery contract with a five-year period of performance. Under the arrangement, Omitron will carry out conjunction assessment screening services for all NASA uncrewed spacecraft, according to the agency’s announcement. Conjunction assessment is the process of tracking potential close approaches between spacecraft and other objects in orbit, such as debris or inactive satellites.
Beyond NASA’s robotic missions, the contract includes support of human spaceflight activities. It also extends the company’s orbital safety analysis work to an external agency: the contract entails orbital safety analysis support to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce, the announcement stated. NOAA’s Office of Commerce has responsibilities related to space situational awareness and civil space traffic coordination.
The work will be performed across multiple government and contractor locations, NASA said. These include Omitron’s facility in Beltsville, Maryland; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston; Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren in Virginia; and Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Why Orbital Collision Screening Matters
The contract covers a function NASA characterizes as protecting both spacecraft and astronaut lives. As Earth orbit becomes more crowded with active satellites, defunct hardware, and debris, the task of identifying and evaluating potential close approaches has grown in operational importance for every NASA mission, from science observatories to human spaceflight.
The inclusion of NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce in the contract reflects the division of responsibilities for civil space traffic management, in which NOAA handles space situational awareness services for non-national security missions while NASA manages safety for its own fleet and crewed programs. A single contractor supporting both streams indicates coordination between the two agencies on orbital safety analysis.
The award also represents a modest but sustained commitment — roughly $4.7 million per year on average across the five-year period — to maintaining continuous screening coverage rather than a one-time procurement.
Omitron’s Role at Goddard
The award was issued through NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which manages the agency’s conjunction assessment and collision avoidance support for its missions. The contract release was signed by Rob Garner, Goddard’s news chief.
Omitron Inc. is a Beltsville, Maryland-based aerospace company whose work location is named as one of the performance sites in the announcement. The company’s role under this contract is the acquisition of orbital safety analysis services, which NASA said provide for critical protection of its spaceflight assets.
The involvement of Johnson Space Center, home of NASA’s astronaut corps and mission control for crewed missions, and Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren and Peterson Space Force Base — sites associated with Department of Defense space operations — points to the multi-organization nature of the orbital safety enterprise the contract supports.
Details Not in the Announcement
NASA’s announcement did not specify the start date of the five-year performance period, whether the contract includes option years or task-order ceilings, or the value of any prior contract it may replace. The release describes the total as “approximately” $23.5 million, leaving the exact figure unstated.
The announcement also does not detail how the work will be divided among the five performance locations, what specific deliverables or task orders are planned first, or whether Omitron competed against other bidders and on what basis it was selected. Procurement records beyond the press release were not included in the announcement.
Task Orders and Performance Rollout
Because the award is an indefinite-delivery contract, actual work will be assigned through individual task orders over the five-year period of performance. Omitron is expected to begin conjunction assessment screening and orbital safety analysis work across the named sites in Maryland, Texas, Virginia, and Colorado.
NASA typically publishes additional procurement details through its contracting portals; further information about task orders or modifications may appear in subsequent contract releases. Readers seeking official updates can follow announcements from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which issued the release.
Key Questions
What is the value and duration of the NASA–Omitron contract?
The indefinite-delivery contract is valued at approximately $23.5 million over a five-year period of performance, according to NASA’s September 29, 2026 contract release.
What services will Omitron provide under the contract?
Omitron will provide conjunction assessment screening for all NASA uncrewed spacecraft, support for NASA human spaceflight activities, and orbital safety analysis support to NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce.
What is conjunction assessment?
Conjunction assessment is the process of detecting and analyzing potential close approaches between a spacecraft and other objects in orbit — such as debris or other satellites — so that avoidance actions can be evaluated. NASA describes this work as protecting its spaceflight assets and astronaut lives.
Where will the contract work be performed?
At Omitron’s facility in Beltsville, Maryland; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Johnson Space Center in Houston; Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren in Virginia; and Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Why is NOAA involved in a NASA contract?
The contract includes orbital safety analysis support to NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce, which handles civil space situational awareness responsibilities. The arrangement indicates the two agencies coordinate on orbital safety analysis through shared contractor support.
Source: primary
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