The Golden Dome is a proposed multi-layer defense system for the United States, intended to detect and destroy various foreign threats—including ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles—before they launch or during their flight. The system would employ a global constellation of satellites equipped with both sensors and space-based interceptors. The architecture has been viewed as similar to the Brilliant Pebbles concept of the 1980s. If implemented, it would mark the first time in history that space-to-ground weapons are maintained in orbit.