A local company is going to help build an Air Force Academy satellite operated by cadets.

The Department of Defense on Thursday approved a $17.7 million contract with Monument-based Geneva Technologies to build and test FalconSAT-11. The company will push the satellite’s bus, the chassis, through the design, assembly, integration and test phases.

Work should be completed by 2028, according to the contract announcement.

FalconSAT-11 will have a “modular propulsion unit,” a piece of technology the Air Force Research Laboratory has been investigating for several years. In a 2023 video, AFRL announced its intention to “establish a standardized interface between a satellite bus and a modular propulsion unit.”

The goal was to demonstrate the capability on orbit in a “few years,” the video description said. The video envisions a small boxy spacecraft with thrusters that flies to meet another, larger craft orbiting. The larger craft has a similar boxy craft already attached, but when the new one approaches, it detaches and tumbles away. The new craft then takes its place and fires its thrusters, propelling the larger craft away from danger.

FalconSAT-11 is the eighth cadet-designed and operated satellite, with work done via the Academy’s Space Systems Research Center. Launching cadet- designed satellites into orbit began in 1991, with the first orbital satellite launched in 1997. Called FalconGOLD, the satellite was a collaboration between cadets and students at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

FalconSAT-X is the latest satellite to launch and went to space in 2023 aboard a Falcon 9 Rocket. There are currently three satellites managed by USAFA cadets, FalconSAT-6, FalconSAT-8 and FalconSAT-X, according to a post from the academy.

Genevea technologies is a small, family-owned, aerospace engineering firm, operating and growing in Monument since 2007. A profile of the company on USA Spending, a site designed to track spending by the federal government, tags it as a “small woman-owned business.” In 2024, it was honored as the Economic Development Business of the Year by the Tri Lakes Chamber of Commerce.

It employs between 11 and 50 people, according to a Linkedin profile.

The work on FalconSAT-11 is expected to be completed by May 26, 2028, the announcement said. The company has been awarded $4 million as of the announcement.