News last week that Colorado’s Louisville-based Sierra Space has landed a $798 million federal contract to design and build 18 missile warning and tracking satellites reaffirms our state’s pivotal role in the nation’s defense in outer space. 

It also illustrates the formidable potential of the aerospace sector for the state’s economy.

Even as one door closed on Colorado’s contribution to national space defense — last year’s announced move of U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Ala. — more doors now are opening. 

In June, for example Colorado’s 5th Congressional District U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank and Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink announced some key projects enhancing the state’s extensive military infrastructure. Included in the windfall: a $250 million Space Force Operations Facility at Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado Springs. It’s expected to create about 2,500 civilian jobs in addition to Space Force and other military personnel who are assigned to it.

The new facility at Schriever will support projects like space-based reconnaissance and all-domain command and control — as well as a top priority of the nation’s space-based defense, Golden Dome. The multi-layer missile defense system will detect and destroy ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles aimed at the U.S. It will represent a breakthrough in national defense.

Earlier in the spring, Kratos, a San Diego-based company with a significant presence in Colorado, was awarded a contract worth nearly half a billion dollars to design, integrate and sustain ground systems the Space Force will need to operate a constellation of satellites intended to detect and track hypersonic missiles. Kratos, along with several other companies, including Colorado Springs-based Auria, will bring together many existing systems and unify them into a single cohesive unit. Kratos employs 536 people in Colorado.

The latest development involving Sierra Space — the company behind the space shuttle-inspired vehicle known as the Dream Chaser — will be central to the creation of Golden Dome. The contract will contribute part of the Accelerated Missile Defense Tranche 3, a tracking layer that expands the Golden Dome’s architecture with more satellites and missile trackers.

The company also was awarded a contract in 2024 worth $740 million to build 18 satellites for the Tranche 2 Tracking Layer.

Sierra Space CEO Dan Jablonsky said in a press statement the new contract, “demonstrates Sierra Space’s capabilities as a formidable player in American national security.”

It’s all as predicted by some of our state’s political and economic leadership, particularly regarding Golden Dome.

The mega-project got a major boost of financial support last year when Congress passed the “Big Beautiful Bill,” allocating $25 billion for the defense system. The loss to Colorado and Colorado Springs with the move of Space Command’s home to Alabama is more than offset by the prospects of Golden Dome. Indeed, the race for winning contracts to build Golden Dome is expected to help supercharge Colorado’s prominent aerospace economy. 

As reported by The Gazette, the endeavor has inspired several Colorado aerospace companies to pursue acquiring other smaller space startups in an effort to win lucrative Golden Dome contracts.

It amounts to a windfall for our state and for national security — as well as a welcome  and timely counterweight to the state legislature’s ham-handed regulations that are driving other industries away.