To celebrate Space Command turning 5, its leaders outlined accomplishments and challenges ahead in the ever more crowded orbits around Earth.

Gen. Stephen Whiting, who leads Space Command, lauded the command’s growth from “a rag-tag band of about 100 people” to a fully operational headquarters facing growing threats.

Space Command employs about 1,200 people and draws not just on Space Force capability, but also from across the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and the Navy, generals explained during a panel hosted by Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

The fight to keep Space Command in Colorado Springs at Peterson Space Force Base after former President Donald Trump announced in 2021 it would move to Huntsville, Ala., was intense. After President Joe Biden announced the command would stay in town in July last year, Alabama lawmakers vowed to keep fighting and successfully blocked spending on a new headquarters building for the command in the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act.

While the battle for jobs and economic benefit of the command raged between the two states, global tensions in space have also heated up. Most recently, Russia has been aiming to put a nuclear weapon in orbit.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb said during congressional testimony in March such a weapon would render low-Earth orbit unusable for a year. Low-Earth-orbit satellites provide communications and Earth observation, among other services.

At the panel, Whiting acknowledged the growing threats in the domain Space Command defends that starts at 100 kilometers above the Earth.

“They are no longer theoretical possibilities that are on the horizon,” he said.

To improve defenses, Whiting said he wants to see improved “kill chains” that identify targets through sensors, provide information to commanders and allow action. Currently the Defense Department buys all the pieces of the chain separately, he said.

“We got to put the focus on stitching all of this together,” he said.

More maneuverable satellites are another important step forward. Too often, Whiting said, mission decisions are guided by preserving fuel. Several companies, including Colorado-based Orbit Fab, are working on solutions to refuel satellites on orbit.

A satellite without such limitations could aid in a long space fight and also help monitor for threats between the traditional orbital belts of satellites. In the long term, the U.S. needs to plan to track objects around the moon, Whiting said.

He would also like to see upgrades to missile interception technology, because the cost of firing the systems can be so high. The Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance states firing Israel’s Iron Dome can cost $20,000 to 100,000.

Directed energy defense, such as high-powered lasers, could offer a much more cost-effective option given the scale of missile attacks, Whiting said. He cited Iran’s attack on Israel in April as a key example of proliferating missile attacks. The Associated Press reported at the time, Iran fired 170 drones, more than 30 cruise missiles and 120 ballistic missiles.

While defense and deterrence are top of mind for Whiting, he still cast a hopeful tone on space exploration.

“I think in my lifetime, I might see somebody walk out onto the Mars surface, and we might see commercial activities at the moon or on asteroids. We are going to see a colony one day on Mars. … We want all that future to happen, and we want to make sure no bad actors prevent that from happening … that’s our goal,” he said.