It's official! The U.S. is building a 'Golden Dome'
The project, inspired by Israel's Iron Dome, will cost around $175 billion. It could end up costing three times that.
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Sky News reports that, after much speculation, U.S. President Donald Trump has formally announced plans to build a ‘Golden Dome’ missile defence system. It will involve putting weapons in space for the first time:
‘The "cutting-edge missile defence system" will include "space-based sensors and interceptors", Mr Trump said, adding the Golden Dome "should be fully operational by the end of my term".
The system - styled on Israel's Iron Dome - will be able to detect and stop missiles at all points of attack, from before launch to when they are descending towards a target, the Trump administration has said.
Making the announcement in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Mr Trump told reporters the Golden Dome will be "capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from the other side of the world".’
Meanwhile, China’s ADA Space has launched the first of a planned 2,800-satellite network of A.I. supercomputers, reports The Verge’s Wes Davis:
‘China has launched the first 12 satellites of a planned 2,800-strong orbital supercomputer satellite network, reports Space News. The satellites, created by the company ADA Space, Zhijiang Laboratory, and Neijang High-Tech Zone, will be able to process the data they collect themselves, rather than relying on terrestrial stations to do it for them, according to ADA Space’s announcement (machine-translated).
The satellites are part of ADA Space’s “Star Compute” program and the first of what it calls the “Three-Body Computing Constellation,” the company writes. Each of the 12 satellites has an onboard eight-billion parameter AI model and is capable of 744 tera operations per second (TOPS) — a measure of their AI processing grunt — and, collectively, ADA Space says they can manage five peta operations per second, or POPS. That’s quite a bit more than, say, the 40 TOPS required for a Microsoft Copilot PC. The eventual goal is to have a network of thousands of satellites that achieve 1,000 POPs, according to the Chinese government.’
And in Space News, Sandra Erwin writes that SpaceX’s ascent marks one of the most significant shifts in America’s defence industrial base ‘in decades’:
‘As Elon Musk’s company extends its reach deeper into military space operations, traditional defense contractors are being forced to confront the reality that the Pentagon increasingly views SpaceX not merely as a supplier but as a transformative partner.
The company’s Starshield service — a military-focused variant of its Starlink satellite constellation — has already captured market share from established satellite communications operators that have supported the Defense Department for generations. This displacement of incumbents reflects both the Pentagon’s growing appetite for low-cost, rapidly deployable space capabilities and SpaceX’s ability to deliver them. …
SpaceX’s ascendancy represents not merely a commercial success story but a fundamental restructuring of America’s approach to space power. In this new landscape, while specialised military expertise remains essential, the Pentagon may increasingly reward providers that can rapidly innovate and deploy capabilities at scale alongside that expertise.’
Space News reports that Kepler Communications has successfully demonstrated optical data links between a prototype satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) and a ground station operated by global deeptech company Cailabs.
‘Canada’s Kepler Communications announced May 14 that it has successfully demonstrated optical data links between a prototype satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) and a partner’s ground station for the first time.
Mina Mitry, Kepler’s CEO, said data was transferred using an optical ground station operated by French technology firm Cailabs at rates meeting standards set by the U.S. Space Development Agency, which is building a network of satellites connected by inter-satellite laser terminals to enhance space-based communications.
The demonstration marks another milestone in Kepler’s plans to build a high-capacity relay network, following tests last year that moved terabytes of data across two LEO pathfinders using optical inter-satellite links.’
Chiara Barbeschi, writing for the World Economic Forum, argues that cyberattacks on space infrastructure are rising:
‘Recent incidents have underscored the vulnerability of space systems to cyber threats and the widespread impact these threats can have. Disruptions to GPS, for instance, could misguide aircraft, ships, autonomous vehicles and even military systems, causing large-scale chaos across industries reliant on satellite-enabled communication and logistics.
One of the most recent incidents occurred in March 2025, when Poland’s space agency, POLSA, had to disconnect its network from the internet to contain a breach and secure data. The agency’s operations were disrupted and were only fully restored after three days.
The potentially far-reaching consequences of such attacks were demonstrated by the 2022 cyberattack on Viasat’s KA-SAT network. Viasat’s satellite network was targeted by a sophisticated cyberattack that disabled tens of thousands of modems across Europe, severely disrupting communications, especially in Ukraine. The attack also impacted Germany, with 5,800 Enercon wind turbines malfunctioning, and caused prolonged outages in several other European countries, including France, Hungary, Greece, Poland and Italy.’
And finally, as the BBC reports, NASA has released a picture of a rainbow in space:
