S. 4693

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4693 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4693

To require the Secretary of Defense to carry out an operational pilot 
program under the Hybrid Space Architecture initiative to evaluate the 
use of commercially available orbital data center services and space-
based cloud computing capabilities relevant to national security space 
and joint mission requirements, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

June 4, 2026

Mr. Cruz (for himself and Mr. Hickenlooper) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed 
Services

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To require the Secretary of Defense to carry out an operational pilot 
program under the Hybrid Space Architecture initiative to evaluate the 
use of commercially available orbital data center services and space-
based cloud computing capabilities relevant to national security space 
and joint mission requirements, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Nodes, Enterprise Workloads, and 
Hybrid Operations, Resilience, Integration, Zero-Trust, Orbital 
Networks Act'' or the ``NEW HORIZON Act''.

SEC. 2. OPERATIONAL PILOT PROGRAM ON ORBITAL DATA CENTER SERVICES.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Modern national security space missions generate 
increasing volumes of data from space-based sensors, platforms, 
and constellations, placing growing demands on terrestrial data 
transport, processing, and analysis infrastructure.
(2) Reliance on ground-based data processing can introduce 
latency, bandwidth constraints, and vulnerabilities that may 
degrade the timeliness, resilience, and effectiveness of 
military and intelligence operations in contested environments.
(3) Commercial industry is developing orbital data center 
and space-based cloud computing capabilities that enable in-
space data processing, storage, and analytics, which may reduce 
latency, enhance resilience, and improve mission outcomes.
(4) The Department of Defense has identified the need for 
hybrid architectures that integrate space, terrestrial, and 
commercial capabilities to support joint and national security 
missions.
(5) An operational pilot program is necessary to evaluate 
the military utility, operational integration, and transition 
potential of orbital data center services through real-world 
mission use cases before any broader adoption or sustained 
acquisition.
(6) Maintaining a competitive and resilient domestic 
industrial base for orbital infrastructure, including satellite 
platforms, communications systems, and in-space computing 
capabilities, is important to accelerating innovation and 
supporting operational resilience.
(b) Pilot Program.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense (referred 
to in this Act as the ``Secretary''), acting through the 
Director of the Defense Innovation Unit, shall carry out an 
operational pilot program under the Hybrid Space Architecture 
initiative to evaluate the use of commercially available 
orbital data center services and space-based cloud computing 
capabilities relevant to national security space and joint 
mission requirements.
(2) Purposes.--The purposes of the pilot program shall be--
(A) to assess the military utility of orbital data 
center and space-based cloud computing services;
(B) to evaluate the operational integration of such 
services into existing and planned Department of 
Defense space and joint architectures;
(C) to examine the resilience, latency, security, 
and mission assurance benefits of in-space data 
processing;
(D) to inform the potential transition of such 
services into sustained programs of record or 
operational use;
(E) to evaluate concepts of operations for the 
protection and defense of orbital data center assets 
against kinetic, nonkinetic, and cyber threats;
(F) to assess the asset protection strategies and 
vulnerabilities of orbital data center infrastructure; 
and
(G) to evaluate the integration and operational 
performance of interoperable, commercially provided 
orbital infrastructure components sourced from multiple 
vendors across the hybrid space architecture ecosystem.
(3) Scope.--In carrying out the pilot program, the 
Secretary may--
(A) employ commercially available orbital data 
center services in support of real-world mission 
scenarios, including intelligence, space domain 
awareness, command and control, data transport, and 
other national security applications;
(B) conduct testing, demonstration, and limited 
operational employment necessary to assess technical 
performance and operational viability; and
(C) support integration activities required to 
evaluate interoperability with the Department of 
Defense's space, ground, and network systems.
(4) Acquisition authority.--The Secretary shall encourage 
competitive participation from a diverse set of nontraditional 
defense contractors and commercial space providers.
(5) Security and resilience measures for sensitive and 
classified information.--In carrying out the pilot program, the 
Secretary shall ensure that any orbital data center services 
used to process, store, or transmit sensitive or classified 
information have in place--
(A) cybersecurity protections, including zero-trust 
architecture, encryption, identity and access 
management, continuous monitoring, and protections 
against insider threats;
(B) risk-management measures--
(i) to address supply chain vulnerabilities 
and foreign ownership, control, or influence; 
and
(ii) that achieve compliance with 
applicable Department of Defense cybersecurity 
and authorization requirements;
(C) resilience and mission assurance capabilities, 
including redundancy, failover, operation in degraded 
or contested environments, and rapid reconstitution or 
replacement capabilities;
(D) protections against cyber, electronic warfare, 
counterspace, and other nonkinetic threats;
(E) secure telemetry, tracking, and command links 
and associated command-and-control systems, including 
authenticated command uplinks, encrypted telemetry and 
data links, anti-spoofing and anti-jamming protections, 
resilient cryptographic key management, protected 
timing and navigation inputs, and secure software and 
firmware update mechanisms;
(F) protections for associated ground systems, 
mission operations centers, terrestrial network 
connections, software supply chains, and user access 
interfaces, including segmentation, continuous 
monitoring, access controls, encryption, and resilience 
against cyber intrusion, disruption, and unauthorized 
access; and
(G) protections to ensure workload isolation, 
tenant separation, and data sovereignty for sensitive 
or classified information processed, stored, or 
transmitted through orbital data center services, 
including safeguards against unauthorized cross-tenant, 
cross-domain, or provider access.
(6) Integration and interoperability.--The Secretary shall 
ensure that any orbital data center services evaluated under 
the pilot program are interoperable with existing Department of 
Defense command, control, communications, and intelligence 
systems.
(7) Consultation.--In carrying out the pilot program, the 
Secretary, acting through the Director of the Defense 
Innovation Unit, shall consult with--
(A) the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space 
Policy;
(B) service acquisition executives (as defined in 
section 101 of title 10, United States Code);
(C) the Space Force and other military departments 
with potential operational interest or transition 
pathways;
(D) the National Reconnaissance Office;
(E) the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency; 
and
(F) such other individuals and organizations as the 
Secretary considers appropriate.
(8) Briefing.--Not later than December 31, 2028, the 
Secretary shall provide the congressional defense committees 
(as defined in section 101 of title 10, United States Code) 
with a briefing on--
(A) execution of the pilot program;
(B) operational use cases evaluated;
(C) lessons learned from operational employment;
(D) recommendations regarding future acquisition or 
operational use of orbital data center services;
(E) cybersecurity risks, insider threat 
vulnerabilities, and mitigation measures;
(F) resilience against counterspace threats and 
contested space environments;
(G) commercial provider risks, including supply 
chain and foreign ownership concerns; and
(H) recommendations for security, resilience, and 
acquisition requirements for any future program of 
record.
(c) Termination.--The authority to carry out the pilot program 
under this section shall terminate on the date that is five years after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
(d) Orbital Data Center Defined.--In this section, the term 
``orbital data center'' means a space-based computing, data storage, or 
networking capability, including 1 or more spacecraft, hosted payloads, 
or distributed orbital architectures, designed primarily to provide 
persistent, scalable, or shared in-orbit processing, analysis, storage, 
fusion, routing, or dissemination of data as a distinct operational 
capability, rather than as a function ancillary to the primary mission 
of a spacecraft, prior to transmission to terrestrial or other external 
infrastructure, including to reduce latency, mitigate bandwidth 
constraints, improve operational resilience, or support time-sensitive 
missions.
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