The first 21 satellites in a constellation that could become a cornerstone for the Pentagon's Golden Dome missile defense shield successfully launched from California Wednesday aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The Falcon 9 took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 7:12 am PDT (10:12 am EDT; 14:12 UTC) and headed south over the Pacific Ocean, heading for an orbit over the poles before releasing the 21 military-owned satellites to begin several weeks of activations and checkouts.
These 21 satellites will boost themselves to a final orbit at an altitude of roughly 600 miles (1,000 kilometers). The Pentagon plans to launch 133 more satellites over the next nine months to complete the build-out of the Space Development Agency's first-generation, or Tranche 1, constellation of missile tracking and data relay satellites.
"We had a great launch today for the Space Development Agency, putting this array of space vehicles into orbit in support of their revolutionary new architecture,” said Col. Ryan Hiserote, system program director for the Space Force's assured access to space launch execution division.
Over the horizon
Military officials have worked for six years to reach this moment. The Space Development Agency (SDA) was established during the first Trump administration, which made plans for an initial set of demonstration satellites that launched a couple of years ago. In 2022, the Pentagon awarded contracts for the first 154 operational spacecraft. The first batch of 21 data relay satellites built by Colorado-based York Space Systems is what went up Wednesday.
"Back in 2019, when the SDA was stood up, it was to do two things. One was to make sure that we can do beyond line of sight targeting, and the other was to pace the threat, the emerging threat, in the missile warning and missile tracking domain. That's what the focus has been," said GP Sandhoo, the SDA's acting director.
Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota) pose with industry and government teams in front of the Space Development's first 21 operational satellites at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Cramer is one the most prominent backers of the Golden Dome program in the US Senate. Credit: US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Daekwon Stith
Historically, the military communications and missile warning networks have used a handful of large, expensive satellites in geosynchronous orbit some 22,000 miles (36,000 kilometers) above the Earth. This architecture was devised during the Cold War, and is optimized for nuclear conflict and intercontinental ballistic missiles.