S.Amdt. 5986

SA 5986, submitted by Mr. Cruz and Mr. Hickenlooper, aims to add a new section (SEC. 1510A) to the bill. This addition would create an operational pilot program on orbital data center services.

The purpose of this amendment is to have the Secretary of Defense, through the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit, test and evaluate commercially available space-based cloud computing and orbital data center services.

The amendment seeks to achieve the following:

• Evaluate Utility: Assess how in-space data processing can reduce latency, improve resilience, and support national security missions compared to relying on ground-based processing.
• Operational Testing: Use real-world mission scenarios—such as command and control, intelligence, and space domain awareness—to see if these services are viable for the Department of Defense.
• Security Assessment: Examine the protection of these assets against cyber, kinetic, and nonkinetic threats, and ensure strict cybersecurity and risk-management measures for classified information.
• Industry Integration: Ensure competitive participation from commercial space providers and nontraditional defense contractors to maintain a resilient domestic industrial base.
• Future Planning: Use the results of the pilot program to inform whether these services should become sustained programs of record.