Cognitive Space, Inc.

Cognitive Space, Inc., a for-profit technology company based in Houston, Texas, delivers artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions for satellite operations, automated mission tasking, and space domain awareness to the Department of Defense and civilian space agencies as a prime contractor (94% of recent awards) competing in full-and-open federal procurements with no set-aside designations. The company is registered as a small business in SAM.gov and has executed multiple Small Business Innovation Research contracts and defense-focused development efforts.

Cognitive Space's capability portfolio centers on cognitive inference tasking, intelligent space mesh network routing, and AI-enabled satellite command and control systems that support Joint All Domain Command and Control objectives. Recent representative work includes a $1.8 million Definitive Contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory (Dec 2024) to enhance the CNTIENT-OPTIMIZE product for automated tasking of tracking-layer satellites in coordination with the Space Development Agency; a $3 million Other Transaction Agreement from the Air Force (Nov 2024) for CNTIENT-OPTIMIZE automated scheduling solutions; a $900 thousand Definitive Contract from NOAA (Apr 2024) to conduct limited-scale demonstrations in response to Broad Agency Announcement BAA-NOAA-GPD-2023; and an SBIR Phase II contract from AFRL (Aug 2023) for $1.25 million to develop cognitive inference tasking capabilities for dynamic satellite network topology and link management. The company also holds a position on the Advanced Battle Management System multiple-award Indefinite Delivery Contract ($950 million ceiling), through which it delivers cloud-agnostic content delivery networks and intelligent satellite networking in support of the Air Force's all-domain command and control vision.

Customer concentration is heavily skewed toward the Department of the Air Force in dollar terms. The Air Force accounts for $1.9 billion in combined potential value (four awards), while the Air Force Materiel Command Research Laboratory (primarily AFRL) represents $6.6 million across seven awards. The divergence reflects Cognitive Space's December 2025 award as a prime on the Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) multiple-award Indefinite Delivery contract issued by the Missile Defense Agency with a $151 billion ceiling through 2035; the initial delivery order was valued at $500. NOAA, the Space and Missile Systems Center, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense round out the customer base with smaller awards. Cognitive Space's subcontract footprint is minimal — one sub-award to Systems & Technology Research LLC (Jan 2023) providing CNTIENT component integration and API binaries in support of the ARGOS framework.

Award activity remained steady at two to four awards per year from 2021 through 2024, with two awards in 2025. Combined obligated dollars total $14.8 million against $1.91 billion in combined potential value, reflecting the portfolio's heavy concentration in large-ceiling indefinite vehicles and SBIR phase efforts with extended performance periods. The bulk of Cognitive Space's work falls under National Defense R&D Services codes for experimental and applied research, with a secondary concentration in space R&D services.