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The Space Data Layer is Coming, Just Not as Fast or as Small as You Think

February 10, 2026 / Business & Finance

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. Attendees at the SmallSat Symposium might have envisioned a future Space Data Layer as a seamless optical-mesh network capable of near-instant data transmission. During the symposium’s Edge of Orbit session, however, participants scrutinized the mechanics available to make that ideal materialize quickly. Attendees backed off from that theoretical end-state to debate the practical complexities and significant labor required to make this revolution operational.

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SDA Acting Chief Sovereign over the Supply Chain

February 10, 2026 / Military & Defense

Dispatch from SmallSat Symposium. The age of PowerPoint architecture has passed. For five years, the Space Development Agency operated as the Pentagon’s rebellious startup, promising to deliver a Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture faster than the establishment could draft a requirements document. At the SmallSat Symposium, however, no celebratory mood pervaded the SDA Vision: Pacing Evolving Threats session. Instead, a sober atmosphere prevailed as SDA’s ambitions met the friction of reality.

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