Plus: A move toward defense users for Lightspeed
| By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Golden Dome's new price tag, assessing the strain on the space industry supply chain, Telesat's move towards defense users of its Lightspeed constellation and more.
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The Pentagon has increased its estimated cost of the Golden Dome missile defense system by $10 billion. Gen. Michael Guetlein, the Space Force general leading development of Golden Dome, said Tuesday the new $185 billion cost estimate includes $10 billion that would be used to accelerate procurement of satellites and build out a space-based data network. The program remains in early stages, with broad funding and policy direction in place but limited public detail on its final design. Guetlein pushed back against outside estimates that have put the cost of Golden Dome in the trillions, arguing those figures are based on assumptions about architectures that differ from what the Pentagon is pursuing. [SpaceNews]
The U.S. Space Force is moving ahead with a sweeping reorganization of how it buys satellites and related systems. At the center of the shift is a new layer of leadership known as Portfolio Acquisition Executives, or PAEs, who will oversee groups of systems tied to specific missions rather than individual programs. The Space Force is standing up four new portfolios: infrastructure; battle management, command, control, communications and space intelligence; satellite communications and positioning, navigation and timing; and missile warning and tracking. They follow earlier portfolios focused on launch and space-based sensing and targeting. Officials are still determining which programs will fall under each portfolio. [SpaceNews]
NASA's planetary science program is facing "some hard strategic choices" to deal with a funding shortfall. While the program escaped severe cuts proposed last year, a final fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill provided the program with $2.54 billion, about $200 million less than in 2025. Speaking at a planetary science conference this week, agency officials said they are considering what missions may be unable to continue, or which may need to be altered, to accommodate the reduced funding. That might hurt missions in development for Venus or spacecraft in extended mission phases. [SpaceNews]
The growth of the space industry is putting new strains on its supply chain. A report released Tuesday by the Aerospace Industries Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the network of suppliers for space companies, built for smaller volumes and slower production cycles, is struggling to keep up with growth. The result is a growing number of bottlenecks across critical parts of the supply chain. Among the most constrained areas are specialized components such as space-grade microelectronics, radiation-hardened chips, sensors and propulsion systems. The report recommended government and industry provide better long-term forecasts for suppliers as well as expanding the supplier base. [SpaceNews]
Telesat is putting a greater focus on defense applications of its Lightspeed constellation. The Canadian operator plans to carve out 25% of its Lightspeed broadband constellation for military Ka-band. or Mil-Ka, services, replacing capacity originally earmarked for commercial Ka-band uses. The company believes substantially increasing the global supply of Mil-Ka band would enable Lightspeed to outperform legacy geostationary systems that rely on protected Ka-band spectrum. The company is delaying the start of global service with Lightspeed to early 2028, citing the readiness of chips needed to power satellite processors and phased-array antennas. Telesat still plans to deploy the first two Lightspeed pathfinder satellites in December 2026, with serial launches set to get underway from mid-2027. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | | Other News
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Tuesday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 9:27 a.m. Eastern, placing 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. This was the 19th launch from Florida so far this year, with SpaceX performing all but one of them. [Orlando Sentinel]
Artemis 2 might roll back out to the pad Thursday after all. After announcing Monday that the rollout had slipped a day to Friday because of repair work on the Space Launch System rocket over the weekend, NASA said Tuesday that it was reconsidering that decision because crews were ahead of schedule on preparations for the rollout. NASA will decide today whether to roll out to Launch Complex 39B on Thursday or Friday, with either day supporting a launch as soon as April 1. [NASA]
The Trump administration is weighing options for charging user fees for a space traffic management system. A space policy executive order in December included language striking the term "free of direct user fees" from Space Policy Directive 3, a 2018 policy that directed the Commerce Department to establish a civil space traffic coordination system known as TraCSS. At a conference last week, administration officials said that while the policy now allows them to charge user fees for access to TraCSS, they have not made any decision to do so, and are instead considering a range of options to support the service. [SpaceNews]
Israeli missile strikes in Iran have damaged that country's space program. An attack Friday hit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's Aerospace Division, while another Monday hit a facility Israeli officials said had been developing anti-satellite technologies. The attacks appear to have dealt a serious setback to Iran's capabilities to build and launch satellites. [Jerusalem Post]
A meteor was seen and heard Tuesday across parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania. NASA said the meteor, seen around 9 a.m. Eastern, was caused by an asteroid nearly two meters across and weighing seven tons reentering over Lake Erie at about 20 kilometers per second. The meteor created an explosion equivalent to about 250 tons of TNT, and was heard throughout the Cleveland area. No damage was reported, and it's likely only small meteorites reached the ground. [AP]
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