Show Notes
This week Paul and Harrison discuss SpaceX's $800 billion valuation and $1.5 trillion IPO target, driven by the Starlink direct-to-device market and the orbital data center play, an area seeing increasing competition from companies like Blue Origin, Relativity Space, Star Cloud, and Aetherflux. They also covered significant funding for K2 Space, the growing importance of Space Domain Awareness, the militarization of space with the US Space Force and IDIQ contracts for companies like Trace Systems, Momentus, and Proteus Space, and the expansion of launch capacity by SpaceX and the European Space Agency's $1 billion European Launcher Challenge. Further growth of the small GEO market was covered, along with advancements in space solar power led by Overview Energy and Starcatcher, IonQ’s investment in quantum technology, Rocket Lab's Neutron reusable architecture, and developments in satellite cybersecurity, data processing, and propulsion systems.
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Main Topics Comms * Golbriak raised a $4.5M seed round led by Join Capital and Phonton Ventures for production of laser communication terminals. [source] * Astrolight operationalized their space to ground laser communications between ATLAS-1 satellite and a station in Greece. [source] * Durri Space ordered 3 optical ground stations from Cailabs for installation in Oman. [source] * Viasat ordered Hydra MAX satellite communication terminals from ALL.SPACE for defense customers. [source] Defense * SES selected Lyntris to provide secure RF and pointing payload integration for PTS-G. [source] * Russian Kosmos 2612 performed a proximity operation to within 2.4 km of US owned ICEYE-X36. [source] * Starlink reduced operation in Ukraine. [source] Infrastructure * Clearspace won an $80M award from the UK Space Agency to deliver a satellite for Active Debris Removal mission. [source] * Momentus added Arcspace to its Vigoride 9 manifest to fly in-orbit autonomous welding technology. [source] * iSpace partnered with ALTEC to develop lunar rover technologies. [source] Business Moves * CSG bought a 9.5% stake in MDA, making it the largest shareholder. [source] * SpaceIQ Q3 2026 report dropped and claimed $92.5B invested in space year-to-date, with total for the year likely to exceed $100B. [source] Tech Advances * Trustpoint successfully demonstrated their ability to provide GNSS through interference under a US Navy contract. [source]
Main Topics Defense * Voyager Technologies awarded a $22.4M Pentagon contract for satellite deployment prototypes. [source] * Los Angeles based startup Fortastra closed a $30m Series A round led by First In to scale maneuverable spacecraft for on-orbit security. [source] * US Army awarded $67M in Electromagnetic Warfare to hide forces from orbital surveillance through five Other Transaction Authority Agreements. [source] Sensing * Seattle based startup Kapta raised $24M in their Series A round led by Washington Harbour Partners. [source] * Bay Area SAR startup Array Labs won a $4.47M contract from US Army Devcom to develop distributed 3D Radar satellite technology. [source] * Hawkeye 360 released the results of their 2024 AFRL SBIR Phase II award to demo RF-sensing SDA satellites in a whitepaper. [source] Comms * SpaceX acquired nationwide low-band spectrum license in a deal for Starlink Mobile. [source] * The FCC announced plans to vote on a proposal to auction off 25 MHz of prime spectrum for D2D applications and to make an additional 482 MHz of spectrum available to supplemental coverage for D2D services in said spectrum range. [source] * AnySignal announced a new partnership with Andrenam to develop and bring to market underwater acoustic communications modems. [source] Business Moves * New York based commercial exchange infrastructure firm Nebex and Mexican Earth Observation company Thrusters Unlimited announce a partnership focused on providing sovereign space programs to Mexico and Latin America. [source] * Balerion Space Ventures closed the raise of an oversubscribed $200M Fund II. [source] * SpaceX seeking a $40B debt raise led by Apollo Global Management to finance the purchase of NVIDIA GPUs. [source] * Blue Origin claimed the $10B round of private funding will support an IPO ‘in the future’. [source] Tech Advances * NASA announced a partnership with Axiom Space to develop a ‘Sortie Suit’ on an accelerated timeline to deliver the variant of Axiom’s planned lunar surface suit sooner for NASA’s upcoming Artemis missions. [source]
Main Topics Launch * SpaceX’s Starship 14 deployed the first 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites to orbit. [source] * SpaceX’s Transporter 18 successfully deployed 130 payloads to orbit on the first stage booster’s 25th launch, including: [source] * Starcatcher’s first space-to-space power beaming satellite Protostar [source] * Cowboy Space’s space-to-earth power beaming satellite Reason-1 [source] * TWO Varda in-space manufacturing satellites [source] * Google’s first on-orbit TPU aboard Planet’s satellite [source] * Starfish’s first Otter RPO satellite [source] * Cesium Astro’s first Element-1 communication satellite [source] * Meridian Space’s first reflectenna customer link [source] * Deep Blue Aerospace raised $300M to further develop their Nebula-1 and Nebula-2 rockets. [source] * Z-trak raised an undisclosed amount of funding to facilitate a 2027 inaugural launch of their electric pump rocket. [source] * Hop Aerospace raised an $11M seed round led by Initialize Capital to further develop and advance rocket-based point-to-point delivery solutions. [source] * Meridian officially established themselves as a separate business entity from kinetic launch provider Spinlaunch. [source] * Portuguese startup Omnidea acquired former Scottish launch provider Orbex’s assets, announcing plans for their PrimeNEO rocket. [source] Infrastructure * Overview Energy awarded an OECIF contract to develop a homing beacon/targeting beacon solution for orbital solar power transmission to terrestrial targets. [source], * Momentus demonstrated an AI-enabled LiDAR and imaging suite during a successful RPO maneuver with NASA satellite. [source] * Lithuanian startup Blackswan raised a $2.9m seed round to advance their product lines’ commercialization and expand to the US markets. [source] * Italian startup NaviGate verified their 5cm accuracy GPS orbital determination software on-orbit. [source] * Foundational exited stealth with a £8.2M pre-seed raise for satellite laser ranging. [source] Compute * Virtus Solis signed a 100MW 20 year power purchase agreement, extendable to 250MWs of power purchase, with marine data center operator Brae Systems. [source] * Firefly announced plan to host Starcloud’s data center on their Elytra Moon mission.[source] * Satlyt raised an $8M Seed round to develop virtual orbital data centers. [source] * STAR.VISION announced a 1,080+ orbital compute constellation with ~$1.5B in credit backing. [source] Business Moves * Voyager Technologies closed $400M+ in convertible senior notes set to mature in October 2032 at a ~$40 price per share representing a ~30% premium on current share prices. [source] * Astro Digital announced the intent to go public through a SPAC merger at a $587M valuation, raising $180M in the process. [source] * Varda raised a $251M Series D, bringing total financing to date to $598M. [source] * Astranis secured a $468M credit facility from the US Export Import Bank. [source] * ICEYE announced plans to expand product offerings and build sovereign communications constellations with Nokia. [source] * Parsons wins $85M to build Space Command HQ. [source] * Charter Space raised $5M seed for space insurance. [source] Tech Advances * Viridian awarded a $225k NASA contract to develop VLEO control systems using aerosurfaces. [source]
Main Topics Imaging * HEO raised a $25M Series B led by Beaten Zone Venture Partners to further develop their space-based space domain awareness technology. [source] * Impulse Space awarded a $28M contract from the USSF to fly a Mira spacecraft for GEO based space domain awareness. [source] * Momentus received a NASA task order contract in support of the FALCON mission to use LIDAR to study Earth’s atmosphere. [source] * TRL11 selected to supply the imaging system on NASA’s Space Reactor 1 flying to Mars in 2028. [source] * Hydrosat unveiled their next-generation Osiris constellation to provide higher resolution and coverage area in near infrared and long wave infrared. [source] Launch * Space Epoch raised a Series B extension, bringing the total capital raised to $343M USD to launch their reusable medium lift rocket. [source] * RSAT Space signed a Canadian launch distribution deal with INNOSPACE to manifest customers for their Hanbit Nano, Micro, and Mini launch vehicles.. [source] * Exolaunch contracted a dedicated SpaceX Starfall mission for in-space manufacturing under their 2029 Return to Earth Program. [source] Infrastructure * Katalyst won an OECIF award for their robotic spacecraft to assemble tiles on-orbit into a space based solar power satellite.. [source] * Vast announced their Lunar Programs Division, applying Haven flight heritage to power, communications, and habitats for Lunar programs. [source]. * Italy committed over $5B to the development of a lunar habitat for NASA’s Moon Base program. [source] * ClearSpace signed an ESA ARTES contract to advance their Phoenix GEO life-extension mission. [source] Business Moves * Hubble Network raised a $200m round Series C round of financing led by Smith Point Capital to expand the deployment of their bluetooth connectivity satellites. [source] * The Toronto Stock Exchange approved MDA for a share repurchase program totalling 5% of their public float. [source] * Redwire selected for Space Systems Command’s $980M NITE-STAR IDIQ to provide training solutions. [source] * ICEYE opened a new operational and laboratory facility in Warsaw, Poland. [source] Tech Advances * GHGSat announced their second generation methane imager, boasting twice the resolution and coverage over their first generation satellites. [source]
Main Topics This week we had the privilege of speaking with Robert Sproles, CEO of Exolaunch, about their announcement of procuring two more launches as part of their expansion into managed rideshare services. If you need to get to space, be sure to check out Exolaunch! Space Access * Exolaunch purchased two more dedicated launches for their rideshare program including a Japanese launch aboard a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ H3. [source] * SEOPS signed a multiple launch service agreement with ISAR for five launches on Spectrum as part of their rideshare program between 2028 and 2030. [source] * Maverick Space Systems secured capacity for 10 Kepler sats as part of their rideshare program on Portal’s Motus Via Sol mission. [source] * Impulse Space announced a $308M Series D extension from existing investors to further their development of in-orbit transportation. [source] Proliferation * EnduroSat raised $205M in a round led by Riot Ventures and Atreides Management Funds to expand production capacity. [source] * Vantor selected both Endurosat and CACI to build their 40cm resolution, high-revisit Pulse satellite fleet. [source] * Elveo Mobile announced a partnership with Apex to scale manufacturing of their D2D satellite constellation. [source] * Amazon Leo ordered 6 additional launches of Ariane 64 for constellation deployment. [source] Defense * US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink confirmed the existence of an ‘on-orbit’ weapon at the Air, Space, and Cyber Conference. [source] * The Defense Innovation Unit and Space Systems Command awarded GHOST-R prototype contracts to Northrop and True Anomaly to deploy GEO recon capabilities. [source] * Sedaro awarded up to $45M to expand the USSF’s mission analysis software. [source] Business Moves * Open Cosmos raised $348M led by Lightrock, ETF Partners, Institut Catala de Finances, and Entrepreneurs First to expand manufacturing and government services in Europe. [source] * Thales won contract to build NigComSat-2a geocommunications satellite for Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited. [source] Tech Advances * Exotrail qualified a 1KW hall thruster with Safran. [source] * Space Cargo booked a Starfall mission with SpaceX for on-orbit manufacturing. [source]