After years of Colorado Springs, CO, and Huntsville, AL, sparring over the location of US Space Command, the two cities are teaming up for an even bigger priority—the Golden Dome missile-defense program.
Officials from the two cities met yesterday to discuss how each city could contribute to America’s broader missile defense goals.
“It’s a transformed relationship between Colorado Springs and Huntsville,” Rep. Jeff Crank (R-CO) told Payload. “When I took office, I don’t think it was a bad relationship, but it was one where both communities were kind of looking over their shoulder at the other. That wasn’t good for America, and I don’t think it was good for Colorado Springs or Huntsville either.”
Bring to the table: Each city is poised to play a different role in building the Golden Dome architecture:
- Huntsville’s area is home to the Missile Defense Agency, as well as the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Redstone Arsenal, and the future HQ for US Space Command.
- Colorado Springs’ area includes NORAD, US Northern Command, plus Peterson and Schriever Space Force Bases.
Or, as Crank simplified it: “We find the threat. Huntsville stops the threat.”
Bury the hatchet: The two cities have been locked in a public feud about which would host the HQ of US Space Command since January 2021. The fight—which began in the waning days of the first Trump administration —has included government reviews, legal challenges, and a lot of contentious statements and letters from officials from both states extending into this year.
But Crank said officials realized Golden Dome coming to fruition will benefit both cities more than the 1,200 direct jobs that follow US Space Command.
“Imagine where we could be on advancing both Golden Dome and missile defense if both of these communities came together and—instead of fighting each other over 1,200 jobs when in reality there’s tens of thousands of new jobs being created by Golden Dome—if we could lay that aside, how powerful it would be for both of our communities,” he said.
HawkEye 360 Turns its RF-Sensors to Orbital Targets
The DoD wants to better understand what’s going on in orbit. HawkEye 360 ($HAWK) has the inside scoop.
US Army Welcomes First 600 Enlisted Space Soldiers
On Oct. 1, 600+ soldiers swapped their old jobs for the new 40D Tactical Space Operations Specialist military occupational specialty (MOS).
Artemis Accords To Meet on Lunar Debris, Emerging Space Help
The Artemis Accords Principals’ Meeting in Turkey will be led by NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson and Maj. Gen. Roberto Melgar Sheen, director of the Peruvian Space Agency.
FCC to Vote on Waiving NEPA Review for Space Ops
The FCC will vote Sept. 30 on whether to narrow which commission activities face environmental review, and streamline the process for the ones that require assessment.
The DoD wants to better understand what’s going on in orbit. HawkEye 360 ($HAWK) has the inside scoop.
As part of a ~$1.2M AFRL Phase II SBIR awarded in 2024, HawkEye conducted a demo to see if its RF-sensing satellites—traditionally trained on terrestrial targets—could be used to spy on other satellites in orbit. Today, HawkEye released the results in a whitepaper, where the company outlined its work to detect, identify, and characterize RF signals emitting from satellites across LEO, MEO, and GEO.
“Some satellite emissions may be difficult or impossible to observe from the ground because of antenna directionality or atmospheric effects,” COO Todd Probert told Payload via email. “A space-based RF sensor can access signals and geometries that a terrestrial sensor may not.”
Keep reading