Astroscale US is building a prototype satellite for refueling other satellites on orbit under a Space Force contract worth $25.5M. (Graphic: Astroscale US)
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Space Force this year decided against including any new money in its initial fiscal 2026 budget request for in-space servicing mobility and logistics, according to two former senior government officials who had been involved in the process, despite strong support for such an investment from lawmakers and officials then serving in the Biden administration.
Both the National Space Council and the Office of Management and Budget had been pushing the service to reinstate some funds for those efforts as the Biden administration wound down, according to those sources, but the Space Force declined to do so.
The Space Force declined to comment for this report on the FY26 budget request. As it has yet to be approved by the new Trump White House, it’s possible funds for space mobility have been or could be added back as the budget request worms its way through the administration before heading to Congress later this year.
The Space Force could have quite a pot of money to disperse, as Air Force undersecretary Melissa Dalton reportedly said earlier this month that service officials “successfully advocate[d] for $87 billion of additional topline,” apparently in reference to additional money requested for the next several fiscal budgets.
“While it is up to the next administration to determine where the ’26 budget will land, you have a compelling foundation for them to consider,” Dalton said, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine.
On the eve of the third annual Space Mobility Conference here — originally launched in 2023 as a brainchild of US Space Command — supporters of Defense Department investment in technologies to enable what SPACECOM calls “dynamic space operations” are facing a recent cooling of near-term interest from senior Space Force officials.
Even SPACECOM, which previously has been vocal in calling for urgent funding for the mission, may now be looking at capabilities such as satellite refueling and repair, new propulsion systems, and in-space manufacturing as far future goals post 2040 rather than immediate needs. That said, at the Space Power conference in December, SPACECOM Commander Gen. Stephen Whiting noted that the ability to “maneuver without regret” is number six on his Integrated Priorities List of needs.
“[I]t’s vital that given the threats we now see in novel orbits that are hard for us to get to, as well as the fact that Chinese have been testing on orbit refueling capability, that we need some kind of sustained space maneuver,” he said.
The service added space “mobility and logistics” to its “core mission” basket in 2020, and in 2023 established the Servicing, Mobility and Logistics Office under Space Systems Command’s Assured Access to Space program office. The mission area was funded by congressional plus-ups until 2025, when the service asked for $20 million, which was approved in the FY25 National Defense Authorization Act.
Currently, projects related to mobility and logistics largely have been small, experimental research efforts. For example, in September 2023 the Space Force’s public-private Space Enterprise Consortium awarded the American arm of Japanese startup Astroscale a $25 million contract to build a prototype satellite designed to refuel other satellites on orbit.
More broadly Trump officials are working with Republicans in Congress on a significant increase in the Pentagon’s top line for FY25, but how much of that will go to the Space Force is anyone’s guess, much less where specific funding requests land.
