Payload

If you’re at the Harvard-MIT Technology & National Security Conference, come say hi. I’ll be moderating the panel below with this amazing group: – Shey Sabripour, CEO, CesiumAstro – Michael Madrid, Chief Growth Officer, Starfish Space – John Serafini, CEO, HawkEye 360 – Even Rogers, CEO, True Anomaly – Col Peter Mastro, Lead for Concept & Technology, United States Space Force

Kongsberg NanoAvionics will build 280 satellites for SpinLaunch’s planned LEO broadband mega-constellation under a €122.5M ($135M) contract.The Lithuania-based company will build the satellites—which will be the first batch of a planned 1,200-satellite constellation—in its newly expanded production facilities in Vilnius. https://lnkd.in/ezr2iftZ

It’s hard to sum up the state of ISAM in one overarching statement. As an industry term, it’s a bit like three kids in a trench coat trying to pass as a single individual—fittingly, no one part is mature enough to stand on its own. https://lnkd.in/e5ac5_dj

In one of the largest seed investment rounds by a space startup in the past decade, Portal Space Systems raised $17.5M to support the development and demonstration of its debut Supernova spacecraft. AlleyCorp led the round, which included additional participation from Mach33, FUSE, First In, TFX, Offline Ventures, and Atypical. https://lnkd.in/eQSnfnkB

The state of US launch is overwhelmingly the state of SpaceX. SpaceX accounted for a whopping 95% of the 145 US launches last year. The launch giant provides America’s only certified domestic crewed ride to the ISS. And that’s all without talking about Starship, the company’s mega launcher that holds NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s future Moon and Mars ambitions in its fins. https://lnkd.in/eYP6G7M5

Slingshot Aerospace won a SBIR Phase 2 contract from AFWERX worth at least $1.2M to help the DoD better track and identify nefarious activities on orbit, through Slingshot’s RAPTOR program. As space becomes increasingly militarized, and Chinese and Russian sats ramp up their dynamic capabilities, the DoD plans to improve its ability to maintain a watchful eye on potential adversaries. https://lnkd.in/ewzYhyZx

With three years left in NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s initial effort to buy commercial rides to the Moon, industry is urging Congress to approve a “CLPS 2.0” follow-on—and to consider changes to the program that can better support the fledgling commercial lunar industry. https://lnkd.in/efrM6c7X

For the satellite communications industry, change has become the new constant. The satcom industry has largely been the same for decades, dominated by a handful of legacy providers. However, with 7,000+ Starlink sats in orbit and Amazon preparing to start its Kuiper constellation this year, the sector has begun to feel the full-scale effects of rapid growth in LEO space internet services, intensifying competition among traditional satcom operators. https://lnkd.in/eE5wUYJP

The US further tightened its hold on global launch in Q1, while Europe showed signs of shaking off the rocket rust with its first fully successful Ariane 6 launch and its first commercial orbital launch on the continent. https://lnkd.in/eA6A9H-r

European Space Agency - ESA has tapped Airbus to build a landing platform for Europe’s beleaguered ExoMars rover as the delayed mission hopes to reach Mars in 2030. The UK-built rover, also known as Rosalind Franklin, was supposed to launch to the Red Planet in 2022 aboard Russia’s Proton rocket after years of delays and substantial cost overruns. The Russian space agency was also expected to provide the landing platform for the rover. However, the mission was suspended after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Europe to halt all scientific cooperation with Russia. https://lnkd.in/ex6VpAAf