Will the Golden Dome be a golden opportunity for commercial space ventures?
That may be a bit of an exaggeration. But at a Seattle Tech Week presentation on the space industry, a panel of entrepreneurs agreed that military projects — including a plan to create a missile defense shield along the lines of Israel’s Iron Dome by as early as 2028 — seem to be the most promising vehicles for getting commercial space ventures off the ground.
Part of the reason for that has to do with the uncertainty that’s surrounding America’s civilian space program. At the same time that the White House is pushing plans for the $175 billion Golden Dome project, it’s seeking to trim billions of dollars from NASA’s budget.
“It’s so interesting right now, because I think there’s more uncertainty around civil space funding than there’s ever been before, and more bullishness on defense space funding than there’s ever been before,” said Erika Wagner, who left Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture last year to lead The Exploration Company’s U.S. business development team.
Seattle-area space companies have been among the beneficiaries of the Pentagon’s surge of support — ranging from the $25 million in Space Force funding granted to Seattle-based Integrate in June to the $2.4 billion in Space Force launch contracts set aside for Kent-based Blue Origin earlier this year. Gravitics, Starfish Space and Portal Space Systems are among other Seattle-area space ventures benefiting from recent Pentagon contracts.
