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BREAKING: The Space Force is building a global missile-warning web in orbit designed to detect ballistic launches, follow maneuvering hypersonic weapons, and maintain their tracks across the planet. That architecture has now cleared two major development milestones. L3Harris ($LHX) completed the preliminary design of 18 new low-Earth-orbit satellites for SDA’s Tranche 3 Tracking Layer. They will join a planned 72-satellite network split among L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and $RKLB, creating near-continuous coverage from LEO beginning in FY2029. Higher above Earth, BAE Systems cleared the critical design review for a separate $1.2 billion system of 10 medium-orbit satellites and its ground command network, allowing the program to advance toward production. The two layers are designed to work together: MEO sensors scan enormous regions of Earth, while the denser LEO network follows threats with greater speed and precision as they move across the globe. This emerging architecture points toward a future in which the United States can detect a missile from space, maintain custody as it maneuvers, and rapidly feed that track into its defensive network.

BREAKING: Rocket Lab $RKLB has unveiled a new solar cell that is 40% lighter and eliminates the need for germanium, a critical mineral facing growing supply constraints. The new IMM Apex converts 31.5% of incoming solar energy into electricity while delivering best-in-class power per kilogram. The cell is designed as a direct replacement for conventional germanium-based space solar cells, which means satellite manufacturers can adopt it without redesigning their power systems. Rocket Lab already supplies solar technology powering more than 1,100 satellites, as well as missions including the James Webb Space Telescope, Artemis, and Ingenuity on Mars. The company is now scaling IMM Apex to multi-100-kilowatt production as satellite constellations and eventually orbital data centers continue to drive dramatically higher demand for power in space.