Here's a pattern we see constantly: a startup wins SBIR and maybe a Tipping Point, builds real hardware — and then hits the 'valley of death' between a demonstration and a production business. For dual-use space tech, the Department of Defense is where the next rung of money lives.
These programs unlock much larger funding by matching your dollars. TACFI runs roughly $375K–$15M; STRATFI roughly $3M–$15M and up. The catch is in the name of the game: you must bring committed matching funds — from a government program office, a Phase III contract, or a private investor — before they'll match it. You also need a prior/active Phase II. See SpaceWERX.
Defense customers scrutinize reliability hard — solder fatigue, thermal cycling, EMI. We can arrange an Ansys evaluation to build the reliability case they'll demand.
See if you qualify for an Ansys eval The MVP playbook →The Space Development Agency buys proliferated LEO satellites for its Transport and Tracking Layers, largely through Other Transaction Authority (OTA) awards on a fast, tranche-based cadence. This is production money — $10M to $100M+ — for companies that can actually manufacture flight-qualified hardware on schedule.
Not every off-ramp is cash. The DoD Space Test Program can manifest and fly an experiment with national-security relevance at little or no launch cost to you — you provide the payload, they provide the ride.
None of this is guaranteed, and a defense pivot changes your ITAR, security, and customer picture. But for the right dual-use team it's the difference between a demo and a company. Pair it with your NASA funding plan from the start.
Official sources: SpaceWERX STRATFI/TACFI · Space Development Agency. Figures change; confirm on the official page before relying on them.
