Trusted Space LLC

Trusted Space LLC, a small business based in Leesburg, Virginia, develops advanced space technology, machine learning, and autonomous systems for defense and space agencies as a prime contractor (74% of recent awards), with particular focus on space domain awareness, satellite autonomy, and computational intelligence. The company operates under total small business set-asides on Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contracts and on full-and-open procurements for larger developmental efforts; recent awards span both set-aside and unrestricted competition.

The Air Force Research Laboratory dominates Trusted Space's customer concentration, with eleven awards worth $19.1 million in combined potential value across multiple SBIR and STTR phases. The Department of the Air Force Headquarters (the Office of the Secretary) anchors a single $17.1 million Other Transaction Agreement for space domain awareness and space superiority prototype development running through June 2029. The Department of the Navy Naval Supply Systems Command Engineering Logistics Office holds a $9.9 million OTA for multi-source, multi-domain exploitation for battlespace awareness extending through September 2028. These top three customers account for 99% of combined potential value across the portfolio. On December 29, 2025, the Missile Defense Agency awarded Trusted Space a seat on the SHIELD (Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense) multiple-award IDIQ with a $151 billion ceiling and a ten-year performance window through December 2035, positioning the company for research and development in defense systems architecture, advanced sensors, systems engineering, and modernization across classified and unclassified programs.

Trusted Space's capability portfolio centers on computer vision for space domain awareness (including the Computer Vision for Tactical Alerting Phase II effort, $1.24 million through August 2026), spacecraft threat classification and detection (CAAST Phase II, $1.69 million through April 2026; Classification Approach for Assessing Spacecraft Threats Phase I, $150 thousand through September 2023), autonomous satellite fault identification (STTR Phase II, $1 million through March 2026), deep reinforcement learning for swarm autonomy ($1.78 million through August 2026), and trusted distributed autonomy for proliferated space systems (TDADE, $10.4 million through July 2026). Recent awards include a $699,956 SBIR OTA from AFRL extending through June 2026 (issued September 2025 following an awardee name-change modification) and a $1.78 million Phase II SBIR definitive contract for computer vision prototype development completing May 2027.

Activity has grown from one award in 2020 to eight in 2025, with five awards carrying combined potential value of $17.3 million reaching ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months and therefore subject to recompete. In subcontractor roles, Trusted Space provides mission integration engineering and trade-study analysis to Science Applications International Corporation on Space Development Agency Tranche 3 ground and space vehicle development (two sub-awards in May 2025), flight dynamics and collision-avoidance analysis to Southwest Research Institute on the Quicksounder spacecraft program (October 2024), remote sensing modeling and algorithm development to Booz Allen Hamilton for space systems mission support (October 2023), and test software support to Raytheon on fast-framing camera development (November 2024). Trusted Space's work is performed in Leesburg, Virginia with one exception — the SHIELD delivery order specifies place of performance at Huntsville, Alabama. The portfolio reflects sustained investment by AFRL and the Air Force in small-business innovation for space technologies, with the transition from SBIR Phase I and Phase II efforts to larger developmental OTAs and the SHIELD IDIQ signaling advancement from research to operational prototype and system transition work.

- perform modeling, simulation, & analysis of space systems and associated ground systems

- provide custom software engineering and development of new tools and capabilities

- provide subject matter expertise for the design of space missions