Data-center satellites to get microwave defense against orbital intruders

Florida-based Lonestar Data Holdings has agreed to pay Polish startup Ares Shield up to $6 million to help protect satellites intended to store customer data in orbit, according to Space.com. The initial agreement covers three spacecraft, with additional modules potentially added as Lonestar expands its network. Ares Shield’s proposed system will attach to client satellites and combine threat-detection sensors, AI-driven analysis and a high-power microwave emitter. The company says the equipment will identify and classify possible hazards, including inspection satellites that approach another spacecraft and could potentially interfere with it or attempt to access its data. Rather than using conventional projectiles, the system is designed to emit microwave energy that can disrupt or damage an approaching satellite’s electronics. Space.com reported that Ares Shield says this approach could disable a spacecraft without creating a cloud of orbital debris. Ares Shield chief executive Grzegorz Zwolinski said the system could initially use lower-energy attacks, jamming or temporary malfunctions as a warning before resorting to more destructive action. He described the technology as a response to what he views as an increase in hostile rendezvous and proximity operations involving satellites. The first defense units for Lonestar are expected to be delivered in 2028 or 2029. Lonestar has tested its data-storage technology on four space missions, including two lunar missions. One of its devices reached the Moon aboard Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander in March 2025; the lander later toppled over, but the company said the data-center demonstration still met its planned milestones. Lonestar’s commercial service, called StarVault, is designed to store data in space along with the company’s cryptographic key-escrow technology. Its first payload is scheduled to fly aboard Sidus Space’s LizzieSat-4 on SpaceX’s Transporter 18 rideshare mission, which Space.com reported is expected to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California in late October. Ares Shield also says it is developing high-power microwave systems for ground-based drone defense. Zwolinski told Space.com that the company is currently testing systems at a range of about 330 feet and hopes to extend that distance to 2 kilometers.