The U.S. Space Force has awarded SpaceX a $2.29 billion contract to build a high-speed satellite communications network.

The U.S. Space Force has awarded SpaceX ‌a $2.29 billion contract to build a secure, high-speed satellite communications network to ⁠connect military sensors and weapons platforms across the globe, the service announced on Tuesday. The fixed-price nontraditional ‌contracting agreement covers the Space Data Network (SDN) Backbone, a resilient network architecture providing ‌high-capacity and low-latency data transport for ‌the ⁠military. Space Force said the vendor must ⁠deliver a fully operational prototype capability by the end of 2027. Among other roles, the SDN will provide the communications pathways ‌for integrating and moving data from missile warning and tracking sensors to interceptors in near real time — a capability seen as ‌foundational to the Trump administration’s Golden Dome missile defence initiative. “The SDN Backbone leverages the best of commercial innovation ⁠and delivers a strong foundation for the SDN mission set — a huge benefit and ‌enabler for our warfighters,” said Space Force Colonel Ryan Frazier, the acting portfolio acquisition executive overseeing the program. The SDN Backbone is a proliferated low Earth orbit (pLEO) satellite constellation that will expand a mesh of ‌satellites delivering worldwide communication services, the Pentagon said. It will work alongside the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer to form a ⁠unified architecture providing critical data transport for current ⁠and future Department of Defense missions. The Space Force said it plans ‌to identify additional contractors for satellite construction and other network elements over the summer.

Future spacecraft could use a single propellant to perform both rapid movements and slow, highly controlled adjustments.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes fell on Tuesday as a rebound in technology shares faded.

Alphabet entered a cloud service agreement with SpaceX to pay $920 million per month for 200 megawatts of capacity from October 2026 through June 2029.