SEPTEMBER 3, 2025

Welcome to the latest edition of our Golden Dome series, where we bring you the latest news and analysis on President Trump’s missile defense system. Have questions you'd like answered in a future installment? Reply and let us know. Did someone forward you this email? Sign up to receive the first four parts of our Golden Dome series.

As the space community awaits the upcoming deadline for a Golden Dome architecture, perhaps the biggest story on Golden Dome is how the program is resonating through the industry.

Last month, a new report by the Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy identified Golden Dome (and its prominence within the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2026 defense budget request) as a significant turning point for American space policy, Pentagon spending priorities and the role of the Space Force.

The report said that “the introduction of Golden Dome is arguably the most important development affecting the defense space budget since the inception of the Space Force.”

As SpaceNews' Sandra Erwin wrote:

For the relatively young Space Force, established in 2019, Golden Dome represents a significant expansion of resources and responsibilities. Sam Wilson, budget analyst at the Center for Space Policy & Strategy and author of the report, views the initiative as creating “a major opportunity for the Space Force as it brings extra resources for some of Space Force’s priorities such as missile warning satellites that the service already was planning to develop.”

“This is an opportunity to get those funded at higher levels,” Wilson told SpaceNews.

The article describes how Golden Dome’s prominence – and the level of attention paid to it – is elevating space issues within broader defense planning. It’s also a program that could benefit new and old space firms alike while calling broader public attention to the military’s role in and influence over space.

Investors feel the same. A note from Capital Alpha Partners this week highlighted that “Golden Dome gave something new for U.S. contractors to talk about and position for,” but so far details are scarce. At last month’s industry summit in Huntsville, Alabama, defense firms got little more than high-level overviews.

“Even if it's classified, clarity on the architecture may provide something more meaningful for companies to discuss in the October-November earnings season,” the Capital Alpha note read.

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The project is called the Golden Dome for America, but does it make more sense to rope in the rest of NATO? 

According to Brian G. Chow, an independent policy analyst and former senior physical scientist at the RAND Corp., the answer is a resounding yes. He argued in a recent SpaceNews opinion piece that a Golden Dome for NATO would offer political, financial and tactical advantages that a missile defense system focused solely on the American homeland would not.

Chow wrote: 

A NATO Golden Dome is not just a scaled-up American shield — it is a fundamentally different proposition. By addressing the potential countermeasures China and Russia might employ against a Golden Dome and by leveraging the strategic, technical and financial advantages of alliance-wide participation, it strengthens deterrence, is more cost-effective and enhances collective defense. 

By inviting NATO allies into the Golden Dome Initiative without delay, President Trump could turn a national project into a historic alliance achievement. Done right, the NATO Dome would not only protect our populations and other assets from missile attacks, but also demonstrate, in the clearest possible terms, that the free world stands united against those who would threaten it.

By the way, if you want even more regular Golden Dome updates, subscribe to our Military Space newsletter. Sent out every Tuesday morning by SpaceNews senior staff writer Sandra Erwin, it breaks down the latest and most important developments at the intersection of space and national security.

Rocket Lab on “green light” schedule to make first Neutron launch in 2025: Rocket Lab continues to push for a first launch of its Neutron rocket, which the company suggested could play a role in Golden Dome launches, before the end of the year. Company executives acknowledge that schedule has no margin for error.

Aerial defense 2.0: Why speed, scale and survival define the Golden Dome era: “Golden Dome is more than a missile defense program,” Arcfield CEO Kevin Kelly wrote in an opinion article. “It is an opportunity to redefine how we protect the homeland with systems that think faster, scale wider and endure through disruption. But if we cling to legacy assumptions and brittle integration, Golden Dome will fall short before it ever reaches the field.”

NASA Marshall offers dual-use tech for Golden Dome missile defense program: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is courting the Pentagon’s attention with a number of space technologies it says could support Golden Dome for America, the Defense Department’s ambitious plan for a satellite-enabled global missile shield.

Telesat eyes Golden Dome opportunity for Lightspeed: The low Earth orbit broadband satellites Telesat aims to start deploying next year could support the proposed U.S. Golden Dome missile defense system.