Inversion Space Company

Inversion Space Company, doing business as Inversion Space, is a small-business manufacturer of advanced space systems and orbital logistics hardware operating as a prime contractor on Department of Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration research and development programs. The Los Angeles-based company competes under total small business set-asides across the majority of its definitive contracts and carries no SBA 8(a), HUBZone, SDVOSB, or other designated set-aside certifications in the source; its work centers on space cargo return, precision landing systems, orbital refueling, and advanced re-entry vehicle development.

Inversion Space's recent award portfolio reflects heavy concentration in Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs, which account for seven of eleven prime awards spanning Phase I, Phase II, and Phase II Direct awards from 2021 through 2024. Representative SBIR work includes a $1.7 million Phase II contract (awarded February 2023, completed June 2024) for reusable capsules designed to return orbital debris; a $1.25 million Phase II contract (May 2022 through February 2024) for precision guidance, navigation, and control systems enabling soft landing of cargo payloads from space; and two $250 thousand Phase I investigations (July 2022) addressing visibility reduction of returning orbital assets and reusable refueling shuttles for on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing operations. Beyond SBIR, Inversion Space holds a $1.8 million firm-fixed-price definitive contract with AFRL (awarded November 2024) for rapid cargo delivery systems from orbital platforms, performed in San Pedro, California. The company also executed a $1.8 million definitive contract with AFRL for a modular payload container for Earth re-entry (ARC system), also awarded November 2024 and completing November 2026. A $38.5 million definitive contract with Air Force Space Command's Space and Missile Systems Center (awarded March 2026, completing November 2029) for STRATFI-ARC represents the vendor's largest single award to date. Additionally, Inversion Space received a $350 thousand purchase order from NASA's Shared Services Center (August 2026) for an aerocapture demonstration study using higher-lift-to-drag entry vehicles, completing June 2027.

Customer concentration by potential value is dominated by Air Force Space Command (84% of combined potential value via the STRATFI-ARC award), while award volume is driven by AFRL (64% of total awards). The company holds a position on the Missile Defense Agency's Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award IDIQ (awarded December 2025, ceiling $151 billion, completing December 2035), though a single $500 delivery order represents minimal current activity against that vehicle. Activity has been episodic — two or fewer awards per year from 2022 through 2026 — with three awards (combined potential value $3.9 million) completing within the next twenty-four months, creating recompete exposure for the 2024–2026 AFRL contracts. Work is predominantly research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences (NAICS 541714), with sub-categories spanning national defense R&D services at basic, applied, and experimental development levels. Inversion Space operates entirely as a prime; it reports no subcontract footprint in the source.