Blue Origin owns the reusable New Glenn rocket and can use it to conduct launches for its constellation.

Blue Origin’s current constellation design will be able to serve approximately 100,000 customers.

Blue Origin is targeting remote, rural, and suburban areas with its optically interconnected constellation where diverse fiber paths are costly, technically infeasible, or slow to deploy.

SpaceX Falcon rockets have a 5-meter payload fairing.

Telesat will deploy two pathfinder Lightspeed satellites late this year.

Telesat plans to deploy 154 Lightspeed satellites in 2027.

Telesat plans to expand its initial Lightspeed constellation to 198 satellites.

Blue Origin will begin deployment of its 5,408-satellite constellation in Q4 2027.

Blue Origin’s satellites will be optically interconnected in low Earth orbit and medium Earth orbit to enable ultra-high-throughput links between global hubs and distributed, multigigabit user connections.

Kepler Communications provides space-to-space relay services with inter-satellite links.

AST SpaceMobile is 95% vertically integrated with all major manufacturing processes under U.S. control and is headquartered in Texas.

AST SpaceMobile operates nearly 500,000 square feet of manufacturing and operations facilities.

AST SpaceMobile’s low-Earth orbit satellite architecture features the largest commercial phased arrays ever deployed in low Earth orbit.

AST SpaceMobile is positioned to compete for future SHIELD task orders across research, development, engineering, prototyping, and operations of Missile Defense Agency systems that support U.S. national security objectives.

The award to AST SpaceMobile was made as part of a list of companies eligible to compete under the SHIELD program publicly announced by the U.S. Government on January 15, 2026.

The Missile Defense Agency awarded an IDIQ contract for the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) program to AST SpaceMobile.

AST SpaceMobile’s technology platform is supported by over 3,800 patent and patent-pending claims.

The SHIELD IDIQ contract establishes AST SpaceMobile as an eligible provider to bid directly on future task orders under the program.

The SHIELD program is part of the Golden Dome strategy focused on building resilient, layered protection against air, missile, space, cyber, and hybrid threats across operational domains.

AST SpaceMobile’s selection as a prime contractor reflects growing government interest in resilient, dual-use low-Earth orbit constellations for integrated national defense applications including command and control, battle management, and advanced sensing.

AST SpaceMobile employs a workforce of nearly 1,800 people.

IroNav is a new class of full-stack resilient autonomy designed for operational environments where reliable GNSS navigation cannot be assumed.

infiniDome and Wonder Robotics are conducting trials of IroNav with customers in India to validate the system in diverse and contested environments.

IroNav is intended for operators that require navigation resilience as a strategic capability and prefer systems designed for contested environments rather than bolt-on continuity components.

WonderLand enables autonomous operations on moving platforms, in maritime environments, and on unprepared terrain in fully GNSS-denied conditions.

IroNav is currently in advanced development and is being refined through early customer engagement and ongoing field trials.

IroNav tightly integrates infiniDome’s electronic navigation protection expertise with Wonder Robotics’ vision-based autonomy and precision landing capabilities.

The IroNav integration builds upon infiniDome’s prior work with Honeywell to protect UAVs from GPS jamming.

IroNav is designed to maintain position, timing, and control loop stability without requiring external infrastructure or continuous human supervision.

IroNav transitions to a complete GNSS-denied protection envelope when GNSS signals are lost or spoofed to maintain navigation continuity.

IroNav exploits GNSS when available by leveraging infiniDome’s adjustable antenna technology to maximize usable signal under partial jamming.

Or Epstein is Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Wonder Robotics and positions IroNav as a strategic step to extend vision-based autonomy into new operational markets.

WonderLand is Wonder Robotics’ vision-based precision landing technology that is incorporated into IroNav.

IroNav provides end-to-end mission autonomy by combining vision-based navigation with resilient flight control in a single integrated architecture.

IroNav extends resilience to the landing phase of missions to support time-sensitive strike profiles and sustained ISR missions under heavy electronic interference.

infiniDome and Wonder Robotics entered a strategic collaboration on January 21, 2026 to develop IroNav.

Chen Dong has cumulatively conducted six extravehicular activities performed outside the spacecraft and has participated in seven spacewalk-related missions in total.

Chen Dong is the first Chinese taikonaut to fly three times and to achieve a cumulative on-orbit stay time exceeding 400 days.

The Shenzhou-20 mission experienced the longest unplanned stay onboard Tiangong after a debris strike to their spacecraft and a subsequent vehicle swap, leading to an emergency-response launch with Shenzhou-22.

Chen Dong received the Spaceflight Merit Medal (Third Class) and the honorary title of hero taikonaut in 2016.

The Shenzhou-20 crew met the press on January 16 to discuss their time on Tiangong, spacewalks, and the debris strike to their return capsule window.

Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui, and Wang Jie of the Shenzhou-20 mission returned to Earth on November 14 following a 204-day stay in orbit.

During the nine days after the Shenzhou-20 return postponement, six taikonauts were simultaneously on Tiangong and Wang Jie was responsible for ensuring stable operation of the environmental control and life support system.

Chen Dong enlisted in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in 1997 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1999.

Chen Zhongrui enlisted in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in 2003 and joined the Communist Party of China in 2005.

Chen Zhongrui was born in October 1984 in Puyang, Henan province.

During final pre-return inspection the Shenzhou-20 crew discovered a triangular crack that penetrated the outermost layer of the return capsule window.

The engineering team began progressively installing protective shields on Tiangong starting with the Shenzhou-18 mission to mitigate space debris risk.

Wang Jie joined the Communist Party of China in 2009.

The Shenzhou-20 crew used an integrated thermal roasting device with an internal range-hood function to heat and roast food on orbit, including steaks and chicken wings.