Space Under Siege: Can Orbital Watch Save America's Edge?

America’s dominance in space is under siege. Not from science fiction invaders, but from real adversaries like China and Russia, who’ve turned the cosmos into a battlefield. The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command just fired back with Orbital Watch, a bold new initiative launched on March 21. It’s not just a program; it’s a lifeline, delivering unclassified threat intel to over 900 commercial space companies. This isn’t about coddling industry, it’s about arming it to protect our nation’s strategic edge in a domain that’s no longer a peaceful frontier.

Look at the stakes. Satellites don’t just beam TV signals anymore; they guide our military, track enemy moves, and keep the economy humming. When Col. Richard Kniseley says this aligns with Pentagon strategy and congressional mandates, he’s not wrong. The Front Door office, with its deep industry ties, is stepping up to ensure American companies aren’t blindsided by cyber hacks, electronic jamming, or hostile satellites lurking in orbit. If we don’t act now, we’re handing our rivals the keys to the ultimate high ground.

Let’s not kid ourselves: the space domain is a Wild West with no sheriff. Russia’s 2022 cyberattack on ViaSat during the Ukraine war wasn’t a fluke; it was a warning shot. China’s churning out co-orbital tech that can shadow or sabotage our satellites, while India’s flexing its own counterspace muscle. These aren’t hypothetical risks; they’re happening now. Orbital Watch’s first move, a threat fact sheet from Space Force Intelligence, lays it bare for American firms: cyber intrusions, signal jamming, and supply chain weak spots are the new normal.

History backs this up. Way back in 1998, hackers hijacked ROSAT, a taste of what’s possible when defenses lag. Today, it’s worse. Legacy systems, built before anyone dreamed of this chaos, are sitting ducks. The Space Infrastructure Act, rolled out in February 2025, gets it right by tagging space as critical infrastructure. Orbital Watch isn’t just chatter; it’s the teeth we need to bite back, giving companies the know-how to harden their systems against foes who’d love to see us falter.

Here’s where Orbital Watch shines. It’s not some bureaucratic paper shuffle; it’s a war plan for resilience. The beta phase pumps out quarterly risk updates, keeping industry in the loop on evolving dangers. Soon, a secure Commercial Portal will flip the script, letting key players feed intel back to the Space Force. This isn’t charity; it’s symbiosis. Victor Vigliotti, the Front Door director, nails it: U.S. adversaries are moving fast, and we’ve got to outpace them. That means hybrid security architectures where commercial innovation plugs gaps the government can’t fill alone.

Take Starlink’s role in Ukraine: commercial sats kept communications alive when Russia tried to choke them out. That’s the future Orbital Watch is building, one where American companies don’t just survive threats but thrive despite them. The 2025 cybersecurity executive order pushes this hard, demanding modernized defenses across the board. Advocates for big government might whine about private sector burdens, but they’re missing the point: this is about self-reliance, not handouts, ensuring our space assets don’t crumble under pressure.

Space isn’t some abstract playground for eggheads; it’s the backbone of daily life. Your GPS, your weather app, your bank transactions, they all lean on satellites. If those go dark because we didn’t act, it’s not just inconvenience; it’s chaos. Orbital Watch isn’t about fearmongering; it’s about facing reality. With a $15.6 billion budget, Space Systems Command is betting big on commercial partners to keep America ahead. This is taxpayer money well spent, not wasted on endless studies or globalist pipe dreams.

Opponents might argue we’re militarizing space, stirring up tensions. Nonsense. China and Russia started this fight; we’re just refusing to lose it. The Commercial Space Strategy isn’t about aggression; it’s about deterrence, making sure our enemies think twice before crossing us. Public-private teamwork here echoes the Apollo days, when American grit and ingenuity beat the Soviets to the moon. We’re not reinventing the wheel; we’re turbocharging it for a new era.

Orbital Watch is America doubling down on what works: freedom, innovation, and strength. By arming commercial space firms with actionable intel, we’re not just reacting to threats; we’re outsmarting them. The full rollout, with its two-way portal, promises a dynamic defense network that keeps our warfighters safe and our nation untouchable. This isn’t optional; it’s essential. Adversaries won’t wait for us to catch up, and history shows appeasement never wins wars, cold or cosmic.

So here’s the bottom line: Orbital Watch is our stand against a lawless orbit. It’s a call to industry to step up, to the Space Force to lead, and to every American to back a future where we don’t just play in space, we own it. The cosmos isn’t neutral anymore; it’s contested. With President Trump steering the ship until 2029, we’ve got the resolve to see this through. Let’s not flinch. Let’s win.