Plus: More delays for a possible European joint venture
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Firefly acquires a defense contractor, EchoStar secures spectrum it plans to sell to SpaceX, more delays for a European satellite joint venture and more.
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Top Stories
Firefly Aerospace announced Sunday it will acquire defense contractor SciTec for $855 million. The acquisition is intended to expand Firefly's footprint in the defense market, where Firefly is trying to capture opportunities in the Golden Dome program. SciTec has secured major contracts with the U.S. Space Force for next-generation missile warning data systems that leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning. Firefly, which raised about $1 billion going public this summer, will pay $300 million in cash and $555 million in shares to purchase SciTec. Once the deal is finalized, SciTec will operate as a Firefly subsidiary led by Jim Lisowski, current CEO of SciTec. He will report to Firefly's CEO Jason Kim. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX won most of the national security launches awarded by the Space Force for fiscal year 2026. The Space Force announced Friday that SpaceX won five of the seven launches budgeted for the new fiscal year, with United Launch Alliance getting the other two as part of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 2 contract. The five SpaceX missions include the launch of the 12th Wideband Global Satcom satellite, three classified Space Force missions and one NRO mission, with a total value of $714 million. ULA won a GPS 3 satellite mission and an NRO mission for $428 million. Blue Origin, the third company part of NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2, is not yet certified and thus did not win any awards. [SpaceNews]
EchoStar says it has secured the rights to S-band spectrum it plans to sell to SpaceX for $17 billion. EchoStar announced Friday that the Lyra-4 satellite Rocket Lab launched in June has successfully operated in low Earth orbit for at least 90 days, completing the "Bringing Back Into Use" condition set by the International Telecommunication Union for that spectrum. SpaceX announced last month it would acquire the spectrum from EchoStar to enable a 20-fold increase in throughput for its direct-to-device (D2D) services. SpaceX sought permission to deploy up to 15,000 upgraded D2D satellites as part of its Starlink broadband constellation to take advantage of the spectrum, with tests slated to begin as soon as the end of next year. [SpaceNews]
Negotiations to combine the space businesses at three European companies have run into more problems. A report in a French newspaper Monday said that Thales Alenia Space and Leonardo asked for more time to complete a deal with Airbus Defence and Space to create a satellite joint venture, citing issues with how work would be split among the companies. The companies may need several more weeks to complete those negotiations, a source said. A deal on creating the joint venture was expected this summer. [Reuters]
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Other News
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites from California on Friday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:06 a.m. Eastern and put 28 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch came after SpaceX set a company record from Vandenberg last month with eight launches there. Vandenberg officials expect about 70 launches, nearly all by SpaceX, from the base this year. [Noozhawk]
Australian launch company Gilmour Space Technologies expects to return to flight next year. The company's first Eris rocket lifted off from Queensland in July, only to fall back to the ground 14 seconds later. Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress on Friday, company CEO Adam Gilmour said the company was still "pretty happy" that they finally got the rocket off the ground after years of development, as well as a lengthy regulatory process. The company is investigating the root cause of the launch but Gilmour said his company expects to return Eris to flight next year. [SpaceNews]
The biggest concern that intelligence officials have about space assets involves cyber attacks. Chris Scolese, director of the NRO, said at a recent conference that he is worried less about kinetic or directed-energy anti-satellite weapons than cyber, because that is much cheaper for adversaries to pursue. The NRO itself saw a breach this summer when hackers compromised its Acquisition Research Center website, which contractors use to submit bids. That did not directly hurt space systems but it showed cyber adversaries are probing every corner of the ecosystem, including the industrial base. [SpaceNews]
The European Space Agency has opened a new deep space antenna in Australia. The agency formally inaugurated the 35-meter antenna on Saturday at New Norcia in Western Australia, joining a similar antenna there. The antennas are part of ESA's Estrack network used for communications with spacecraft beyond Earth. ESA officials said the antenna is needed to keep up with growing demand for bandwidth from missions. Australian officials noted the antenna further solidifies the country's expertise in deep space communications, with NASA hosting one of its Deep Space Network facilities in the country as well. [SpaceNews]
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The Week Ahead
Monday-Tuesday: Monday-Wednesday: Tuesday: Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 12:13 a.m. Eastern.
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 9 p.m. Eastern. Tuesday-Wednesday: Tuesday-Thursday: Wednesday: Thursday: Thursday-Saturday: Sunday: Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 4:11 a.m. Eastern. Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 3:59 p.m. Eastern.
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