09/12/2025

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By Jeff Foust

In today's edition: Apex and Cailabs announce new funding rounds, Firefly makes its Golden Dome pitch, a new cargo spacecraft is on its way to the ISS, and more.

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Top Stories

Satellite manufacturer Apex has raised $200 million, vaulting the company's valuation to more than $1 billion. The company announced Friday a Series D round led by venture capital firm Interlagos. The funding will allow the company to scale up production of its lines of satellites and bring more component manufacturing in-house. That includes leasing a second facility adjacent to its existing Los Angeles factory to increase satellite production rates by 50%. Apex is also acquiring the Hall Effect thruster technology from satellite propulsion company Phase Four. [SpaceNews]

Cailabs, a French company that builds optical ground stations to enable laser communications with satellites, has raised 57 million euros ($67 million). The new funding, announced Friday, comes from the European Investment Bank and several other government and private funds. Cailabs plans to use the funding to scale up production of its optical ground stations, with a goal of producing 50 such stations a year by 2027. The funds will also support international expansion and work on new capabilities, such as ground stations that can support laser communications with satellites in medium and geostationary Earth orbits. [SpaceNews]

Firefly Aerospace is pitching its rockets and orbital platforms for the Pentagon's Golden Dome missile defense initiative. Firefly CEO Jason Kim said at the Global Aerospace Summit Thursday that the company's Alpha small launch vehicle could launch missile-defense test targets while its Elytra maneuverable spacecraft platform could serve as a host for space-based interceptors. Firefly's pitch underscores how commercial space companies are maneuvering to secure a foothold in one of the in what could become one of the largest U.S. defense programs. [SpaceNews]

Mobile edge computing specialist Armada and Sophia Space are working together to establish integrated, scalable compute infrastructure extending from Earth to space. The companies announced Thursday a partnership to create "a seamless edge-computing network" connecting terrestrial and space nodes. Sophia Space announced a pre-seed funding round in May as part of plans to establish orbital data centers to support geospatial intelligence applications. Armada creates mobile terrestrial data centers that can be deployed in remote locations with satellite connectivity. [SpaceNews]

Other News

Russia launched a Progress cargo spacecraft Thursday. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 11:54 a.m. Eastern, putting the Progress MS-32 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft, known as Progress 93 by NASA, will dock with the International Space Station's Russian segment Saturday at 1:27 p.m. Eastern, delivering about three tons of food, fuel and other supplies for the station. [NASASpaceFlight.com]

It took four tries, but a Falcon 9 finally launched an Indonesian communications satellite Thursday night. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 9:56 p.m. Eastern. It placed the Nusantara Lima satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit about a half-hour later. The launch was originally scheduled for Monday but scrubbed because of weather, which also postponed a Tuesday launch attempt. SpaceX called off a Wednesday launch for undisclosed reasons. Nusantara Lima, a Boeing 702MP spacecraft, will be used by Indonesian operator PSN to provide broadband services from 113 degrees east in GEO. [Spaceflight Now]

Astroscale will launch a satellite inspection mission on an Indian rocket. The Japanese company announced Thursday it signed an agreement with NewSpace India Ltd. for the launch of its ISSA-J1 mission on a PSLV rocket in the spring of 2027. ISSA-J1, or In-situ Space Situational Awareness-Japan 1, is a spacecraft funded by the Japanese government to test technologies to safely approach and inspect other objects in orbit by approaching two large debris objects in low Earth orbit. The contract is the first time a Japanese organization has procured a dedicated PSLV launch. [Astroscale]

SES is the latest satellite operator to roll out a rebranding. The company announced Friday a "bold new brand" that includes a new logo and color scheme as well as a corporate tagline of "Solve. Empower. Soar." SES, which recently completed its acquisition of Intelsat, said the branding is part of efforts to show that the company can provide complete space solutions beyond satellite connectivity. SES said the rebranding is "a move rarely seen in the satellite industry," but it comes just over a week after another major satellite operator, Eutelsat, unveiled a new branding that included changing its name from Eutelsat Group and a new color scheme. [SES]

Expensive Couches

"$17 billion is, I guess, listening to Elon talk, couch-cushion money. It certainly isn't for us."

– Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium, speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Aerospace Summit, referring to an appearance Elon Musk made earlier this week at the All-In Summit where the hosts called the cost of acquiring EchoStar spectrum "couch-change" money.

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