President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday directing the federal government to launch an initiative to drive the adoption of small modular nuclear reactor technology across national defense and space exploration programs.

The U.S. Space Force has been added to the U.S. intelligence community and now serves as the ninth Department of Defense component in the interagency group, DOD announced Friday.

The Space Development Agency upheld its decision to award contracts to L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) and SpaceX to build missile tracking satellites for the proposed National Defense Space Architecture following the reevaluation of bids for the contracts, C4ISRNET reported Thursday.

Scott Pace has stepped down as executive secretary of the White House's National Space Council to rejoin George Washington University, where he previously served as director of its Space Policy Institute. “I am so proud of the team here and the work we’ve done to set a foundation for continued progress and advancement," Pace said.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII) has acquired Spatial Integrated Systems’ autonomy business for an undisclosed sum as part of efforts to further expand its unmanned systems capabilities. "2020 was a significant year for HII in the unmanned systems industry, and this acquisition is the perfect complement to our existing portfolio and strategic partnerships,” Andy Green, an executive vice president and president of HII Technical Solutions and a two-time Wash100 award winner, said in a statement published Monday.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has been awarded a potential $4.93B contract modification by the U.S. Space Force to build, assemble, test and integrate three Next Generation Geosynchronous Earth-orbiting space vehicles.

SpaceX has secured a potential $150.5M contract to deploy satellites to low-Earth orbit in support of the Space Development Agency's plan to establish a space defense layer for tracking ballistic missiles.

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will help NASA study electric currents across Earth’s atmosphere as part of a potential $53.3M space exploration mission the agency plans to launch by June 2024.

Elbit Systems’ (Nasdaq: ESLT) U.S. subsidiary has agreed to acquire defense supplier Sparton from an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management for approximately $380M. Bill Toti, CEO of Sparton and a previous Wash100 awardee, said in a statement published Wednesday the strategic combination with Elbit Systems of America will enable Sparton to further expand its market presence and continue to deliver innovative platforms in support of clients’ needs.

The Space Development Agency has asked companies that competed for contracts to build missile-tracking satellites for the proposed national defense space architecture to resubmit bids for reevaluation, SpaceNews reported Tuesday.