Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: August 3-9, 2025: Russian Satellites Stalk US Assets Within 100 Meters as Golden Dome Architecture Due in 60 Days While NASA Shifts Shuttle to Houston Despite $305M Price Tag

This week's Sirotin Intelligence analysis reveals escalating space domain tensions as Russian military intelligence satellites conduct aggressive rendezvous operations within striking distance of American assets, while Gen. Guetlein promises delivery of the $25 billion Golden Dome missile defense architecture within 60 days amid mysteriously canceled symposium panels. As Congress enters month-long recess with NASA funding stalled by FBI headquarters disputes and the agency facing a $220 million shortfall for relocating Space Shuttle Discovery to Houston, the commercial sector surges ahead with Firefly Aerospace's successful $5.5B IPO, SpaceX's 100th launch deploying Amazon's Kuiper satellites, and defense contractors reporting record earnings from hypersonic programs. The strategic realignment accelerates: ULA's Vulcan prepares for its first military mission despite Blue Origin engine shortages, the Army crafts new counterspace doctrine acknowledging space as a warfighting domain, and Texas unveils $1B investment plans to capture Pentagon space missions—all while our upcoming guest Robi Sen warns that the real threat isn't satellites being destroyed but being deceived through adversarial AI.

🛡️ Defense Highlights

• ​​US Air Force Consolidates Air and Missile Defense Under Single Command: The Air Force announced restructuring to unify air, missile, and space defense operations under a single operational command, acknowledging that modern threats require integrated responses across all domains as hypersonic weapons blur traditional boundaries between air and space warfare.
• Golden Dome Program Reshapes Pentagon's Space Budget Priorities: The missile defense initiative is driving a fundamental reallocation of military space spending toward proliferated LEO constellations and space-based interceptors, with analysts projecting $15-20 billion in new contracts over five years as traditional geostationary programs lose funding priority.
• Vulcan Rocket Set for First Military Mission Despite Engine Supply Concerns: ULA's Vulcan Centaur will launch its inaugural national security payload next week carrying classified satellites, marking a critical milestone for ending U.S. reliance on Russian engines while Blue Origin struggles to deliver sufficient BE-4 engines for planned launch cadence.
• Army Develops New Space Policy Emphasizing Counterspace Capabilities: The service is crafting doctrine that positions space as a warfighting domain requiring offensive and defensive capabilities, with emphasis on protecting ground forces from adversary ISR satellites while developing methods to deny enemies similar advantages in future conflicts.
• Texas Space Commission Targets $1B Investment to Attract Pentagon Missions: The newly formed commission unveiled plans to create dedicated military space testing ranges and offer substantial tax incentives, positioning Texas to capture Space Force bases and classified programs as states compete for the expanding national security space enterprise.
• US Military Expands Multinational Space Operations Through New Alliance Framework: The Pentagon is establishing formal space cooperation agreements with Five Eyes partners and NATO allies, creating integrated command centers and shared satellite constellations to counter China and Russia's growing counterspace capabilities through collective defense.
• Former Pentagon Official Warns US Must Win Lunar Race for Strategic Dominance: In a Washington Times op-ed, retired Space Force general argues that China's lunar ambitions represent an existential threat to U.S. space supremacy, calling for crash program to establish permanent bases at lunar south pole before adversaries claim strategic high ground and water resources.
• Russian Military Intelligence Conducts Aggressive Rendezvous and Proximity Operations: Analysis reveals escalating pattern of GRU-directed satellites performing close approaches to U.S. national security assets, with some Russian spacecraft maneuvering within 100 meters of American satellites in actions that blur the line between intelligence gathering and pre-positioning for kinetic attacks.
• Golden Dome Architecture Dominates Space and Missile Defense Symposium: The 28th annual symposium in Huntsville focused heavily on the transformative missile defense program, with industry executives describing it as a "generational opportunity" worth $50-100 billion that will fundamentally reshape the space industrial base through unprecedented demand for proliferated satellite constellations.
• Space Force to Launch Ground Moving Target Indicator Satellites in 2026: The service confirmed deployment of advanced GMTI satellites next year capable of tracking mobile missile launchers and armored formations from space, filling a critical gap in battlefield surveillance as adversaries deploy increasingly sophisticated decoys and concealment techniques.
• ULA CEO Bruno Expresses Concerns Over Starship's Florida Operations Impact: Tory Bruno warned that SpaceX's Starship launch operations at Kennedy Space Center could disrupt other providers' access to critical facilities, calling for careful coordination as the massive vehicle's acoustic environment and propellant requirements strain shared infrastructure originally designed for smaller rockets.

Defense Contracts:

• SpaceX Awarded $733.5M for National Security Space Launches: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. received two firm-fixed-price contracts totaling $733,556,717 for USSF-62 and USSF-64 missions, with launches scheduled from Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral by March 2026.
• TOTE Services Wins $311.4M for Sea-Based X-Band Radar Operations: The contractor secured a five-year contract to operate and maintain the SBX-1 platform, a critical component of the Ground Based Mid-Course Defense system providing missile defense capabilities for U.S. Strategic Command.
• BAE Systems Receives $181.1M for Amphibious Combat Vehicles: The defense contractor was awarded funding to produce 31 full-rate production ACV medium caliber cannon variants, strengthening Marine Corps expeditionary capabilities with advanced armor and firepower systems.
• Kongsberg Secures $117.9M for ACV Remote Turret Systems: The Norwegian defense company will provide 101 Medium Caliber Cannon Protector Remote Turrets for Marine Corps Amphibious Combat Vehicles, enhancing firepower and crew protection through remote-operated weapons stations.
• Northrop Grumman Secures $200M for Evolved Strategic SATCOM Payload: The company received a $200 million contract modification for ESS payload development supporting nuclear command and control communications, with work continuing through December 2028 at Redondo Beach.
• L3Harris Technologies Wins $193.7M for Space Sensor Production: The defense contractor was awarded contracts for space-based infrared sensor payloads supporting missile warning capabilities, with deliveries expected through 2027.
• General Atomics Gets $89.7M for Satellite Communications Terminals: The company received funding for advanced SATCOM terminal development supporting protected communications for strategic forces, with work distributed across facilities in California and Colorado.
• Raytheon Wins $47.9M for Next-Generation Jammer Mid-Band Expansion: The defense contractor secured funding to expand electronic warfare capabilities against emerging threats, with production expected at facilities in Texas and Massachusetts through September 2028.

🌐 Policy, Geopolitical & Legal Developments

• NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis Approved for Move to Houston Space Center: Acting Administrator Sean Duffy greenlit the controversial relocation of Atlantis from Kennedy Space Center to Houston, overriding Florida political opposition and citing the need to inspire next-generation workforce in the nation's fourth-largest city and human spaceflight capital.
• Duffy Prioritizes Nuclear Fission Power for Lunar Base Development: NASA's acting chief emphasized accelerating fission surface power systems as essential for winning the Moon race with China, directing the agency to streamline procurement and testing to deploy 40-kilowatt reactors by 2032 rather than the previously planned 2035 timeline.
• Congress Allocates $85M for Space Shuttle Transfer Despite $305M Cost Estimate: The reconciliation bill's funding for relocating a space shuttle falls far short of NASA and Smithsonian estimates, with Sen. Dick Durbin revealing the actual cost could reach $305 million, setting up potential budget battles as Texas lawmakers push to bring Discovery to Johnson Space Center.
• FBI Headquarters Dispute Blocks NASA Funding Progress in Senate: Sen. Chris Van Hollen's objection to the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill over FBI building location stalls NASA and NOAA funding, demonstrating how unrelated political disputes can derail space program budgets as fiscal year deadline approaches.
• Gen. Guetlein Confirms Golden Dome Architecture Ready Within 60 Days: The newly confirmed program director promised rapid delivery of the $25 billion missile defense shield design, though the Space and Missile Defense Symposium mysteriously removed its Golden Dome panel with government officials citing classification concerns.
• Trump Administration Ends Senate Negotiations on Key Space Nominations: President Trump abruptly terminated discussions with Senate Minority Leader Schumer over confirming space-related positions, leaving critical NASA and Space Force leadership posts vacant as Congress enters month-long recess until September 2.

🛰️ Technology & Commercial Developments

• NASA Accelerates Nuclear Reactor Development for Lunar Base Power Systems: Acting Administrator Sean Duffy announced NASA's commitment to deploying fission surface power systems on the Moon by 2035, with contracts awarded to Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse, and IX for reactor designs capable of generating 40 kilowatts continuously for at least 10 years in the harsh lunar environment, marking a critical step toward sustainable human presence on the Moon.
• SpaceX Launches Amazon's Project Kuiper Satellites in 100th Mission of 2025: SpaceX successfully deployed Amazon's first operational Project Kuiper internet satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, marking the company's 100th launch this year and signaling Amazon's entry into the competitive low-Earth orbit broadband market dominated by Starlink.
• Multi-Mission Orbital Vehicles Enable New Space Economy Business Models: The emergence of versatile spacecraft platforms capable of switching between Earth observation, communications, and servicing missions is revolutionizing satellite economics, with companies like Apex Space and Turion Space developing modular architectures that reduce costs while maximizing revenue opportunities across multiple market segments.
• Lawrence Livermore and Starris Aerospace Partner for Tactical Space Response: LLNL signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with Starris Aerospace to advance tactically responsive space capabilities, leveraging the national lab's expertise in advanced materials and propulsion systems to enable rapid satellite deployment for national security missions.
• Tendeg Opens Dedicated Antenna Factory for Proliferated LEO Constellations: The company completed construction of a purpose-built manufacturing facility designed to produce high-volume, low-cost deployable antennas for mega-constellations, addressing the critical supply chain bottleneck as operators plan to launch thousands of satellites requiring reliable communications systems.
• Russia's Soyuz Rocket Suffers Rare Abort Two Decades After Columbia Disaster: A Soyuz-2.1a rocket carrying navigation satellites triggered an automatic abort sequence seconds before liftoff at Plesetsk Cosmodrome, marking a rare failure for Russia's workhorse launcher and highlighting growing quality control concerns amid sanctions and brain drain in the Russian space program.
• James Webb Space Telescope Detects Potential Exoplanet Just 4 Light-Years Away: JWST observations suggest a possible new world orbiting Proxima Centauri, our nearest stellar neighbor, with initial data indicating a planet larger than Earth that could expand our understanding of planetary formation in red dwarf systems where 75% of all stars reside.
• Hubble Captures Interstellar Comet C/2024 S1 on Approach to Inner Solar System: The space telescope imaged a rare visitor from another star system passing through our solar neighborhood, providing scientists with unprecedented data on the composition of objects formed around distant stars and offering clues about planetary system evolution beyond our own.
• Minneapolis Astronaut Selected for 2026 ISS Mission in NASA's Latest Crew Assignment: NASA announced Minnesota native [name] will launch to the International Space Station in 2026 as part of Expedition 73, continuing the state's aerospace legacy while advancing critical research in microgravity manufacturing and biomedical experiments ahead of lunar return missions.
• NASA Revises Commercial Space Station Strategy Amid Industry Consolidation: The space agency announced modifications to its commercial LEO destinations program, adjusting milestones and funding structures as companies face technical challenges and capital constraints, signaling a more pragmatic approach to ensuring continuous U.S. presence in low Earth orbit before ISS retirement in 2031.
• Firefly Aerospace IPO Surges 19% in Trading Debut at $5.5B Valuation: The Texas-based launch provider's shares opened at $19 after pricing at $15.50, raising $350 million to accelerate development of its medium-lift Alpha rocket and lunar lander programs, marking the first major space IPO since Virgin Galactic and validating investor appetite for proven launch capabilities.
• Intuitive Machines Acquires KinetX for Deep Space Navigation Dominance: The lunar services provider announced its acquisition of KinetX Inc., NASA's primary navigation contractor for missions including New Horizons and OSIRIS-REx, positioning Intuitive Machines to capture the emerging cislunar positioning, navigation, and timing market estimated at $2.3 billion by 2032.
• Muon Space Secures Hubble Network Partnership for Wildfire Detection Constellation: The Earth observation startup signed a multi-year agreement with Hubble Network to integrate satellite-to-satellite IoT connectivity into its HALO constellation, enabling real-time wildfire alerts and environmental monitoring without ground station dependencies, accelerating deployment of its 60-satellite system.
• AI-Powered Robot Dogs Test Mars Exploration Techniques in NASA Desert Trial: Boston Dynamics' Spot and quadruped BERT demonstrated autonomous navigation across Mars-analog terrain using AI vision systems, with astronauts aboard ISS providing remote guidance to simulate future lunar and Martian surface operations where rovers and human explorers collaborate through time-delayed communications.
• SpaceX Successfully Launches Amazon's Project Kuiper Satellites After Weather Delays: Following multiple postponements, SpaceX's Falcon 9 deployed Amazon's latest batch of internet satellites from Cape Canaveral, advancing the e-commerce giant's challenge to Starlink's dominance in the low-Earth orbit broadband market as both companies race to capture the $1 trillion global connectivity opportunity.
• Crew-10 Returns to Earth After Five-Month ISS Mission in Precision Splashdown: SpaceX's Dragon capsule safely delivered four astronauts to the Atlantic Ocean following 150 days aboard the International Space Station, where the crew conducted over 200 experiments including protein crystal growth and advanced materials research critical for future lunar and Mars missions.
• James Webb Discovers Universe's Oldest Black Hole at 13.4 Billion Years: JWST observations reveal a supermassive black hole formed just 400 million years after the Big Bang, challenging theories about early cosmic evolution and suggesting these gravitational monsters grew far more rapidly than current models predict, with implications for understanding dark matter's role in galaxy formation.
• Karman Space Defense Posts Strong Q2 Results Driven by Hypersonic Programs: The defense contractor reported 32% revenue growth to $187 million, citing accelerated government spending on hypersonic detection satellites and counter-space capabilities, with CEO noting "unprecedented demand" for resilient space architectures as great power competition intensifies.

💭 A Word From Christophe Bosquillon

China has long announced building a nuclear plant on the Moon by 2035 to power its International Lunar Research Station planned with Russia. Since 2023 in the U.K., Rolls Royce is looking for partners to put a nuclear microreactor on the Moon, to be sent to the lunar surface by the early 2030s. In the U.S., NASA had wrapped up its 2022 Fission Surface Power (FSP) study in January 2024.  

Transportation Secretary and interim NASA administrator Sean Duffy just delivered a decisive U.S. response with expedited plans to build a nuclear reactor on the Moon. "We want to get there first and claim that for America." The reactor directive orders NASA to solicit industry proposals for a 100 kilowatt nuclear reactor to launch by 2030. According to the agency, the first country to have a reactor could “declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States.”  

 Nuclear fission surface power (FSP) is out of the scope and timeline of the recently released DARPA LunA-10 report "The Commercial Lunar Economy Field Guide: A Vision for Industry on the Moon in the Next Decade." In section 4.6 of the report, DARPA sees  FSP as "inherently a point solution, confined to one location on the Moon; it will therefore pair best with a similarly static customer, such as a habitat hosting astronauts or a large-scale mining factory, that can be connected by wired power. There are also significant regulatory hurdles to nuclear power that make easy commercial access challenging."

Furthermore, near and on the Moon, it would be unwise not to combine Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) together with nuclear fission power generation. Also because whether Helium-3-fuelled nuclear fusion is actually feasible remains to be determined, and time flies.On the nuclear propulsion front, DARPA recently cancelled its Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) project for a nuclear thermal rocket. But nuclear propulsion will play a major role when moving people and shipments across the Solar System, e. g. Dark Fission Space Systems. And for the U.S. Space Force, winning the race to develop nuclear propulsion by the 2030’s remains crucial.

Have a great space week ahead!

🎤 Our Next Guest: Robi Sen

Thursday, August 14th – Robi Sen on AI Attacks That Make Space Assets Betray Themselves, Invisible Microsatellite Swarms, and the Bio-RF-Space Kill Chain

From his lab in Richland, Washington—in the shadow of the Hanford Site that produced plutonium for the Nagasaki bomb—Robi Sen learned early that the most dangerous weapons aren't always the most destructive. As one of the pioneers of adversarial machine learning and RF exploitation, he reveals how satellites can be turned against their owners without firing a shot, and why the convergence of biological, RF, and space warfare creates nightmares that current defense frameworks can't even conceptualize.

🔍 Topics Covered:

• How "kindergarten children could take over" most satellite networks due to security flaws dating back decades
• The autonomous exploitation pipeline that turns satellite signals into a "language" AI can manipulate
• Why adversarial ML can make satellites "lie" by gradually shifting their perception of reality
• Evidence of China's 24-fold increase in adversarial ML research papers signaling weaponization
• How Casimir effect metamaterials could create thermally and optically invisible satellite swarms
• The environmental manipulation tactics that hide military movements in plain sight
• Why earth observation manipulation is the "lowest hanging fruit" adversaries are already exploiting
• The bio-RF-space convergence scenario where dormant bacteria await satellite-triggered activation
• How nation-states with "10-year persistence" are placing assets while we plan in annual cycles
• Why controlling what satellites see means controlling intelligence narratives and financial markets

Don't miss this explosive conversation with the technologist who builds the future while simultaneously revealing its dangers, exposing how our most critical space infrastructure lacks even basic security—and why the most dangerous attacks are the ones that make us doubt our own eyes.

📚 Essential Intel from Our Archives

Missed a beat? These groundbreaking conversations are must-reads:

"Space Wars Are Over in 24 Hours—Most People Don't Even Know They're Happening" 

Space warfare doctrine pioneer Paul Szymanski reveals mathematical proof that the U.S. lost its first space war to Russia in 2014, exposing how temporal pattern analysis unmasks satellite attacks hidden behind "solar flare" cover stories and why hypervelocity weapons from orbit could render the U.S. Navy obsolete overnight.

"The Grid Is Already a Living System—We Just Don't Recognize It"

Power systems veteran Mike Swearingen explains why treating the power grid as a living, autonomous system isn't science fiction—it's an engineering reality we refuse to acknowledge, and how space-domain tactics can secure the grid of tomorrow.

"The Hidden Power Struggle Reshaping China: Xi Jinping's Dramatic Fall From Grace"

An investigation into China's internal power dynamics reveals how Xi Jinping's grip on power is weakening amid economic turmoil, military purges, and rising opposition within the Communist Party.

"I Patented a Space Airlock That Uses 6,000 Times Less Air"

NASA veteran Marc Cohen reveals his revolutionary Suitport design and four decades of challenging engineering orthodoxy, advocating for space habitats that prioritize human experience over forcing astronauts to adapt to machines.

"I Created a Language That Lets AI Think in 128 Dimensions"

Former corporate sales executive Chris McGinty reveals how his McGinty Equation unifies quantum mechanics with relativity through fractal geometry, creating Hyperfluid AI and revolutionary space-folding technologies now being adopted by NATO defense strategists.

"I'm on a Crusade to Expand the Domain of Life"

Space pioneer Rick Tumlinson reveals how he created the NewSpace movement, his work with Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill, and his 40-year mission to expand humanity beyond Earth through commercial space ventures.

"Space Law Is The First Domain Where Nations Agreed On Rules Before Having Practice" 

Military JAG-turned-attorney Trevor Hehn explains how Cold War-era space treaties meet modern commercial ventures, highlighting the challenges of resource utilization, dual-use technologies, and regulatory navigation for companies expanding beyond Earth's atmosphere.

"The Unprotected Power Grid Will Be Our Civilization's Death Warrant If We Don't Act"

Doug Ellsworth, Co-Director of the Secure the Grid Coalition, warns about America's vulnerability to electromagnetic pulse attacks and advocates for urgent power grid protection to prevent catastrophic infrastructure collapse.

"When AI Designs Components, They Sometimes Defy Textbook Engineering"

Space Force Lt. Colonel Thomas Nix reveals how 3D printing and AI are creating revolutionary spacecraft designs, with parts that are stronger and lighter than what human engineers could develop using traditional methods.

"The Gaps in Our Lunar Knowledge Are Enormous"

Extraterrestrial Mining Company Chief Scientist Dr. Ruby Patterson describes the urgent need for more lunar geological data before making commercial decisions, while offering a balanced view on helium-3 mining and advocating for inclusive international cooperation in cislunar space.

"We're Building the Railroads of the Space Gold Rush"

Space Phoenix Systems CEO Andrew Parlock positions his company as "FedEx for space," creating an infrastructure that helps businesses launch and return payloads from orbit with minimal friction.

"Our Nuclear Shield Was Killed For Political, Not Technological Reasons"

Reagan's SDI Director Ambassador Henry Cooper argues that effective missile defense technology developed during the Reagan-Bush years was abandoned for political reasons when the Clinton administration "took the stars out of Star Wars."

"Every Country Has a Border with Space"

UK Space Agency CEO Dr. Paul Bate is developing Britain's space industry through initiatives like spaceports in Scotland's Shetland Islands to establish the UK as Europe's premier satellite launch destination.

"We're Treating Satellites Like They're Still In The 1990s" 

Niha Agarwalla, Director of Commercial Space, explains why traditional satellites are obsolete and how resilient constellations will transform space economics.

"When People See Space Guardians in Uniform, They Ask If They're Real" 

Colonel Bill Woolf, 25-year space defense veteran, reveals his mission to build public support for the newest military branch defending America's orbital assets.

"One Kilogram of Helium-3 Is Worth $50 Million" 

Jeffrey Max, Magna Petra CEO, explains how lunar resource extraction could revolutionize Earth's energy production and fuel humanity's expansion across the solar system.

"I'm Building a Rocket Engine That Could Reach Alpha Centauri" 

Michael Paluszek, Princeton Satellite Systems President, reveals how fusion propulsion could reduce travel times throughout our solar system and enable humanity's first interstellar missions.

"Space Has a Scottish Accent"

Chris Newlands, CEO of Space Aye, discusses how his company's satellite technology is revolutionizing wildlife conservation and helping to combat illegal fishing and poaching.

"I Learned From the Last Generation of Manhattan Project Veterans”

Patrick McClure, former Kilopower Project Lead at Los Alamos National Laboratory, explains how small nuclear reactors could power future missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

"We're Being Attacked Every Day" 

Christopher Stone, Former Pentagon Space Advisor, warns about America's vulnerabilities in orbit and explains why China's "attack to deter" doctrine makes space conflict more likely than many realize.

"I Helped SpaceX Secure Their First Commercial Contracts" 

Serial entrepreneur Robert Feierbach discusses building billion-dollar space ventures across four continents and developing North America's newest spaceport.

"We Can Fly 8,000 Miles In 2 Hours" 

Jess Sponable, Ex-DARPA PM & President of NFA, explains how rocket-powered aircraft will revolutionize global travel through simplified hypersonic technology.​​ 

"This Could Be Our Biggest Economy"

Kevin O'Connell, Former Space Commerce Director, reveals how space is transforming from a government domain to a $1.8 trillion market.

​​"How Do You Win a War in Space?" 

Ram Riojas, Ex-Nuclear Commander and Space Defense Expert, explains why the next war will start in space and how nations are preparing their defenses.

"First Day on the Job, Hubble Was Broken" 

Mike Kaplan, James Webb Space Telescope Pioneer, reveals how early setbacks with Hubble shaped NASA's approach to complex space missions and discusses the commercial revolution transforming space exploration.

The Future of Human Space Habitation 

Jules Ross reveals how her journey from artist to space visionary is reshaping human adaptation to space through Earth's first artificial gravity station.

Space Law's New Frontier 

Attorney Michael J. Listner unpacks the complex legal challenges facing modern space activities. From resource rights to orbital debris management

Making Oceans Transparent From Space

Navy Legend Guy Thomas, inventor of S-AIS, shares how his invention transformed global maritime surveillance and security.