Sirotin Intelligence Briefing: June 16-22, 2025: Space Force Contracts SpaceX for Secretive MILNET Network, China Brings Gray-Zone Warfare to Space, Iran Deploys Mach 15 Hypersonic Missiles

This week's space intelligence highlights reveal an escalating militarization of orbital domains as the Space Force contracts with SpaceX for a secretive 480+ satellite MILNET constellation while China extends its gray-zone warfare strategy from the South China Sea to space operations. Defense developments accelerate with France launching multiple military space projects, Astroscale securing UK defense contracts for space debris removal, and the Pentagon struggling to build unified satellite networks amid supply chain bottlenecks. Geopolitical tensions intensify as Iran successfully deploys Mach 15 hypersonic Fattah missiles against Israeli defenses, Trump's proposed NASA budget cuts threaten dozens of missions and European partnerships, and Russia unveils a massive 4.4 trillion ruble space spending program to challenge Western orbital dominance. Commercial momentum continues with Muon Space raising $90 million for satellite production, Voyager's successful $383 million IPO, and breakthrough developments in nuclear space power systems. Scientific discoveries emerge as astronomers detect exoplanets raining sand, quantum physicists create fluid-like light simulating space-time, and space weather threatens aurora displays as far south as New York. Meanwhile, space architecture pioneer Marc Cohen prepares to share four decades of insights on designing habitats that prioritize human experience over engineering convenience, challenging the orthodoxy that forces astronauts to adapt to machines rather than creating environments that adapt to people.

🛡️ Defense Highlights

• Space Force Contracts with SpaceX for MILNET SATCOM Network: Space Force is developing a secretive 480+ satellite constellation called MILNET operated by SpaceX but owned by the government, creating a hybrid mesh network for military communications that will be integrated with both commercial and Defense Department satellites in low Earth orbit. The network will use encrypted Starshield terminals that can link to SpaceX's commercial Starlink constellation, with a Delta 8 mission director overseeing contracted operations to execute at "the timing and tempo of warfighting."
• China Bringing Gray-Zone Warfare to Space: China is using space activities including satellite "dogfighting" and complex maneuvers as rehearsals for potential military operations, mirroring their South China Sea strategy of creating leverage through territorial claims and then defending them with military assets. Taiwan officials report that Chinese rocket launches are being deliberately timed and positioned to trigger missile alerts on Taiwanese radar systems, part of gray-zone operations designed to exhaust Taiwan's response capabilities and normalize aggressive space behavior.
• Astroscale Secures UK Defense Contract: The Japanese space debris removal company received a $7 million contract from the UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory to deploy two cubesats in close formation for the year-long Orpheus mission in 2027. The spacecraft will carry hyperspectral imaging sensors to detect objects of interest and four additional payloads to study ionospheric activity that can disrupt satellite signals, navigation systems, and radio communications during space weather events.
• France Launches Military Space Projects: The French government initiated several defense space programs including the Nexus program to augment Syracuse GEO military satellites with a LEO constellation partnering with Eutelsat's OneWeb system, providing France priority access over 10 years with enhanced security functionality. Additional initiatives include accelerating Greenerwave's digital beam-forming antenna technology under Project Copernic and the Rivesalt program focused on space situational awareness across low, medium, and geostationary Earth orbits.
• Bogue Assumes Command of Space Base Delta 41: Col. Eric Bogue, who began his career 26 years ago as an enlisted senior airman, assumed command of the newly established Space Base Delta 41 at Schriever Space Force Base during an activation ceremony. The new command will handle combat support, weapons system infrastructure, and installation support for space operational missions at Schriever SFB, taking over some responsibilities from Space Base Delta 1 to enhance mission readiness and provide cutting-edge tools for Guardians to maintain space superiority.
• Axient Selected for $237 Million Space Force STEP 2.0 Contract: Astrion's Axient subsidiary was selected as one of 12 awardees on the Space Test Experiments (STEP) 2.0 program, a 10-year IDIQ contract worth up to $237 million aimed at advancing military space technology and reducing costs through commercial innovation. The contractors will compete for task orders to build modular satellites and integrate experimental payloads, enabling the Space Force to test emerging technologies in orbit with the first delivery order expected in January 2026.
• Pentagon Moves Greenland Control to Northern Command: U.S. Northern Command will now oversee American military operations in Greenland, transferring responsibility from U.S. European Command as part of President Trump's biennial Unified Command Plan review. The move signals the administration's emphasis on portraying Greenland as critical to U.S. homeland defense, with the island housing Pituffik Space Base where 150 Air Force and Space Force troops conduct missile warning, missile defense, and space surveillance operations.
• Air Force Advances Military's First Microreactor: The Air Force announced plans to award a contract to Oklo for building and operating a 5-megawatt microreactor at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, marking the military's first commercial microreactor deployment. The reactor will supplement Eielson's existing coal-fired power plant to help meet winter demand spikes of 18-19 megawatts driven by F-35 operations, while providing enhanced energy resilience in the Arctic where permafrost degradation and extreme temperatures create challenging operating conditions.
• House Appropriators Offer Air and Space Forces $261 Billion: House appropriators unveiled an $831.5 billion defense funding measure including $228 billion for the Air Force and $29 billion for the Space Force, taking the unusual step of proposing funding before the Trump administration submitted a complete budget request. The bill includes $4.1 billion toward Trump's "Golden Dome" missile defense vision, supports major programs like the F-35, B-21 bomber, and next-generation F-47 fighter, while blocking retirement of F-15 fighters and U-2 reconnaissance planes until replacements are available.
• Pentagon Struggles to Build Unified Satellite Network: The Defense Department faces significant challenges in creating its envisioned "enterprise satcom" network that would automatically reroute communications between military, commercial, and allied satellites, as the current ecosystem remains fragmented with manual processes and incompatible standards. Officials describe the problem as lacking a "3GPP moment" like cellular communications, with each branch using different "bespoke pizza boxes" terminals that require expensive hardware upgrades, while the military seeks hybrid terminals that can switch between networks using software rather than hardware swaps.

🌐 Policy, Geopolitical & Legal Developments

• China Launches Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite with European Partners: China's CSES-2 satellite launched with Italian electric field detectors, high-energy particle detectors, and Austrian scalar magnetometers to detect electromagnetic precursors to natural disasters including earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. The satellite will operate in a 507-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit with a six-year design life, monitoring global electromagnetic fields and ionospheric conditions in near real-time while building on CSES-1's successful correlation findings between seismic activity and space-based electromagnetic disturbances.
• DLR and NASA Continue Joint Space Radiation Research: Germany and NASA signed an agreement at the Paris Air Show to continue radiation research cooperation with four upgraded M-42 EXT detectors flying on the Artemis II lunar mission, featuring six-fold improved energy resolution compared to the units used on Artemis I. The collaboration builds on the MARE experiment that placed over 12,000 passive and 16 active radiation detectors in female mannequins Helga and Zohar during Artemis I, providing the first continuous radiation measurements beyond low Earth orbit to develop protective measures for future lunar and Mars missions.
• Trump's Plan to Kill Dozens of NASA Missions: The proposed 50% cut to NASA's science spending to $3.9 billion would cancel over 40 missions including the Mars sample return program that would retrieve tubes collected by the Perseverance rover, potentially abandoning them to Martian dust storms for decades. The cuts would also eliminate missions already en route to asteroids, Venus exploration programs, and various operating spacecraft that are producing valuable scientific data, while redirecting $7 billion toward human spaceflight programs to return to the Moon and send people to Mars.
• Emmanuel Macron Endorses ESA's Military Investment: French President Emmanuel Macron announced he would promote an "ambitious" three-year spending program at November's European Space Agency ministerial conference while reinforcing partnerships with Germany, Italy, and Britain. Macron indicated he would outline France's new space policy during a June 20 address at the Paris Air Show, though the full details of the military and security investments were not available due to the article being behind a paywall.
• Space Force Officer Career Paths Expand: The Space Force, consisting of about 4,200 enlisted Guardians and 4,300 officers, offers multiple pathways to becoming an officer including the U.S. Air Force Academy, Air Force ROTC programs at over 1,100 colleges, and Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base. Officers can specialize in career fields such as cyber operations, orbital warfare, engineering, and space acquisitions, with the service emphasizing STEM education and early expression of interest in Space Force tracks for optimal selection opportunities.
• China Conducts Successful Crew Spacecraft Abort Test: China successfully completed a pad abort test for its next-generation Mengzhou crew spacecraft at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, marking a critical milestone for planned crewed lunar missions by 2030. The test verified the spacecraft's launch escape system capability to rapidly boost the crew module away from danger, with the return capsule safely landing using parachutes and airbag cushioning after reaching predetermined altitude in just 20 seconds.
• China's Tiangong Space Station Glass Water Experiment Explained: Conspiracy theories claiming China faked space station footage based on a glass of water sitting still in weightlessness have been debunked by physics experts and evidence from the Chinese space agency. Water molecules stick to glass and each other more than dispersing in air, while surface tension maintains the liquid's static shape in microgravity, with China providing behind-the-scenes footage showing astronauts securing the glass with adhesive strips and demonstrating weightless physics with a submerged ping-pong ball.
• Russia Announces Starlink Rival Launch Plans: Russia's Roscosmos plans to launch its first batch of 16 Rassvet low-orbit satellites later this year as part of a broader effort to create a Starlink competitor, with commercial services expected to begin in 2027 using over 250 satellites. The project is part of a 4.4 trillion ruble ($57 billion) space development program endorsed by President Putin, aiming to deploy more than 900 satellites by 2035 to provide broadband internet coverage.
• Russia Unveils Massive Space Spending Program: Russia approved a new national space project with budget expenditures of 4.39 trillion rubles through 2036, including 1.7 trillion rubles through 2030 and additional funding from extra-budgetary sources. The program aims to increase Russia's share of the global launch services market from 6.5% to 28% by 2036, reducing launch costs from 500,000 rubles per kilogram to 200,000 rubles while developing the reusable Amur LNG rocket system.
• USAID Cuts Impact Ukrainian Media and Space for Disinformation: The Trump administration's 90% cut to USAID grants has forced Ukrainian media outlets to reduce coverage and lay off staff, with some publications dipping into personal savings to survive while Russian propaganda outlets celebrate the weakened Ukrainian media presence. Media monitoring organizations warn that reduced Ukrainian coverage, especially in frontline and occupied territories with Russian signal access, creates more space for Kremlin disinformation campaigns to operate unchallenged.
• Iran Deploys Mach 15 Hypersonic Fattah Missiles: Iran successfully launched its first-generation Fattah hypersonic ballistic missiles against Israel, with the precision-guided two-stage solid-fueled weapons capable of reaching Mach 13-15 speeds and performing high-precision maneuvers inside and beyond the atmosphere using movable nozzles and advanced guidance systems. The 870-mile range missiles penetrated Israeli air defenses, marking what Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps called a "turning point" in operations, making Iran the fourth country after Russia, China, and India to master operational hypersonic missile technology.
• France Boosts Eutelsat Stake for Starlink Alternative: France announced a €717 million investment to increase its stake in satellite operator Eutelsat to around 30% as part of building a sovereign European alternative to Starlink, following a separate 10-year framework contract worth up to €1 billion for military-grade satellite communications. The investment aims to help Eutelsat expand its low-orbit OneWeb constellation and support the EU's IRIS² satellite broadband system, with the French military seeking to hybridize telecommunications by combining military Syracuse satellites with civilian capabilities for enhanced battlefield communications.
• ESA Advances While NASA Faces Science Budget Cuts: The European Space Agency celebrated its 50th anniversary by signing agreements for future missions and releasing its Technology 2040 vision, even as Trump's proposed NASA budget cuts threaten numerous joint programs including the LISA gravitational wave detector. ESA will ask for €20-23 billion for the next three years, a significant increase from the €16.9 billion approved in 2022, while NASA faces a proposed 47% reduction in science funding that could force ESA to proceed alone on projects like LISA after NASA delivers instrument prototypes before FY2026.
• Stellar Encounters Could Destabilize Earth's Orbit: New research from Durham University warns that passing stars pose a greater threat to planetary stability than previously understood, with a 0.2% chance over billions of years that Earth could be ejected from the solar system or face catastrophic collision due to gravitational influences from stars passing within a light-year. The study found that stellar flybys occurring every few hundred thousand years could increase Mercury's instability risk by 50-80% and create gravitational effects that accumulate over millions of years, potentially pushing Earth's orbit toward the Sun or outward into space.

💭 A Word From Christophe Bosquillon

In the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, Space-Based ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) enables early warning, target verification, and battle damage assessment. Fostering Israel’s precision strike doctrine and neutralizing Iranian strategic surprise, Ofek series, AMOS (secure military comms), Eros-B for EO/IR and radar imaging, enforce surveillance dominance above Iranian military and nuclear infrastructures. Iran merely linked its space program to the IRGC.

 With multi-layer sensor fusion, Israel integrates airborne (Eitan UAVs, ELW-2090AWACS) and ground-based radars (EL/M-2080 Green Pine) with satellite data into a national and regional  situational awareness (SA) web, shaping strikes and missile defense prioritization. Space-derived SA enables real-time assessment of missile launches, UAV swarm attacks, or asymmetric maritime threats by Iran and proxies operating from the Red Sea or Persian Gulf.

Meanwhile, cyber intelligence, signal interception (SIGINT), and electronic warfare form another layer of situational awareness, with C4I cyber systems pitting Israel’s Unit 8200 against Iran’s cyber corps affiliated to the IRGC.

Israel’s multi-tier missile shield includes Iron Dome (short-range projectiles), David’s Sling (medium-range cruise missiles and heavy rockets), and Arrow-2/Arrow-3. Arrow’s high-altitude, long-range interceptors tackle Iranian ballistic missiles such as Fattah, Shahab, Sejil. Laser defense (Iron Beam), under development, aims to address low-cost, high-volume threats like UAVs and small rockets.

Israeli capabilities for missile defense, early warning, C4I, interoperability, are integrated with the US CENTCOM, and Gulf States. The US support Arrow and David’s Sling. Aegis BMD and THAAD systems in the region share radar feed. US SBIRS satellitesprovide missile launch detection. Bahrain hosts US Navy and supports regional C4ISR, growing maritime security ties with Israel. US expands its Saudi Arabia basing in Tabuk to feed into the regional BMD picture. The UAE enables THAAD, Patriot PAC-3, radar integration, sharing air picture with US and coordinates with Israel. 

The US Space Force Space Operations Command’s Mission Delta 4 combines feeds from its US, UK, and Greenland crews to identify and track threats, as it did in April 2024 and October 2024, operating 24/7/365 to ensure no (Iranian) missile launch ever catches the US by surprise.  

Delenda Est Carthago? With space-enabled Israel, Mullahs, IRGC, and proxies have nowhere to hide.

Have a great space week ahead!

🎤 Our Next Guest: Marc Cohen

Thursday, June 26th – Marc Cohen on Revolutionizing Space Architecture and Why the Human Experience Must Come First

Marc Cohen, NASA veteran and founding father of space architecture, joins us to discuss his four-decade journey redesigning how humans live in space. From patenting a revolutionary airlock that uses 6,000 times less air than conventional designs to challenging the engineering orthodoxy that forces humans to adapt to machines rather than designing environments that adapt to people.

🔍 Topics Covered:

• How he became one of the first architects to walk through NASA's gates in 1979 with a radical vision
• Why his Suitport airlock design saves thousands of times more air than traditional systems
• The counterintuitive breakthrough that led to his most influential patent
• Why today's space architects prioritize beautiful renderings over comprehensive functionality
• How his ECLSS-First design philosophy could have prevented major ISS inefficiencies
• The structural advantages of tetrahedral geometry that engineers still don't understand
• Why space mining will only become profitable when there are paying customers IN SPACE
• How his Triangular-Tetrahedral Space Station concepts influenced the ISS design
• The ultimate paradigm shift: space architects IN SPACE designing for space
• What terrestrial architects can learn from closed-loop space systems thinking

Don't miss this conversation with the architect who dared to ask: What if spacecraft were designed from the inside out?

📚 Essential Intel from Our Archives

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

"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.