This legislation directs the Secretary of Defense, through the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit, to implement an operational pilot program within one year of enactment. This program falls under the Hybrid Space Architecture initiative and aims to evaluate commercially available orbital data center services and space-based cloud computing capabilities . The primary goal is to assess their relevance and utility for national security space and joint mission requirements, addressing challenges like latency and bandwidth constraints associated with ground-based data processing. The pilot program's objectives include assessing military utility, evaluating operational integration into Department of Defense architectures, and examining the resilience, security, and mission assurance benefits of in-space data processing. It will employ commercial services in real-world mission scenarios such as intelligence and space domain awareness. Crucially, the program mandates robust security and resilience measures for sensitive or classified information, including zero-trust architecture , supply chain risk management, and protections against various threats. The Secretary must ensure interoperability with existing DoD systems, consult with key defense entities, and provide a briefing to Congress by December 31, 2028, on findings and recommendations. The authority for this pilot program will terminate five years after its enactment.