SpaceX has won a contract worth more than $4 billion to build satellites to track foreign aircraft and missiles as part of President Trump’s Golden Dome defense shield.The Space Tracking Network integrates space-based sensors, communications and ground-based processing systems powered by artificial intelligence to search and alert on airborne threats from orbit, according to a US Space Force statement on Friday.The United States has been using ground-based sensors and military aircraft to monitor the skies, but placing detection capabilities in space could eliminate potential blind spots. The $4.16 billion award underscores SpaceX’s close involvement in the Golden Dome project, which aims to protect the United States from attacks through multi-layered defense systems ranging from Earth to space.SpaceX has already secured a contract to develop prototype space interceptors for the project, and is part of a multi-company software consortium to build the operating layer that supports Golden Dome. It is also working with the US Space Force on developing a military communications network using the company’s Starshield platform, a version of Starlink that delivers a secret, encrypted signal.(This is a Bloomberg story)
