By Jeff Foust
In this today's edition: Rocket Lab announces a big launch contract and other deals, Lunar Outpost raises $30 million for lunar rovers, SatVu releases the first thermal imagery from its newest satellite and more.
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Top Stories
Rocket Lab announced Thursday the largest launch contract in its history. The company signed a contract with a confidential customer for five Neutron and three Electron launches between 2026 and 2029. The company did not disclose the contract's value but said it sold the launches at average prices for those vehicles and the total contract value exceeded the $190 million award for 20 launches of its HASTE suborbital vehicle it announced in March. Rocket Lab says it is still planning a first launch of Neutron in the fourth quarter but acknowledged that is an "aggressive schedule." Rocket Lab also announced it would acquire space robotics company Motiv Space Systems, which produces components ranging from the robotic arm on the Perseverance Mars rover to solar array drive assemblies. The acquisition helps Rocket Lab vertically integrate its satellite manufacturing supply chain. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab is partnering with Raytheon on space interceptors for Golden Dome. Rocket Lab said it is working with Raytheon to demonstrate technologies for the U.S. Space Force's space-based interceptor program. Raytheon was one of 12 companies selected by the Space Force recently as prime contractors for the interceptors. Rocket Lab also sold three HASTE launches to Anduril, another defense contractor, for hypersonic technology testing. [SpaceNews]
Lunar Outpost, a startup working on a line of lunar rovers, has raised $30 million. The company announced the oversubscribed Series B round Thursday, led by Industrious Ventures. Lunar Outpost is one of three companies that had been working on lunar rover designs for NASA's Artemis campaign through the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) program. NASA announced in March it would not select the rover designs submitted by those companies, instead asking them to propose simpler rovers that could be ready as soon as 2028. Lunar Outpost says it has developed a new design, called Pegasus, that meets NASA's needs, and the new funding would allow the company to accelerate work on that rover. [SpaceNews]
Redwire sees opportunities in both lunar landers and lunar power systems for Artemis. In an earnings call Thursday, Redwire executives said while the company has been part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, it had not been active because of the low volume of missions. With NASA now proposing a much higher rate of CLPS missions, the company is now considering pursuing those opportunities. Redwire is also interested in providing power systems for a lunar base using its solar arrays. Artemis is one of six areas the company is focusing its internal R&D funding on to take advantage of market opportunities. [SpaceNews]
British startup Odin Space plans to open a U.S. office. The company, which develops systems to track very small space debris, said it is opening an office in Los Angeles to capture the growing demand it sees in the United States. Odin's U.S. office will serve commercial and government satellite operators seeking information on debris larger than one millimeter, which is too small to be tracked by ground-based sensors but large enough to damage spacecraft since it's traveling at orbital velocity. Odin also announced that Ariksys, a developer of modular spacecraft, will be the first U.S. customer for a product line that combines Odin's Nano Sensor that detects and analyzes debris strikes with insurance for debris collisions. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
Space companies have questions about the Pentagon's plans to sharply increase space spending. The administration's fiscal year 2027 budget proposal would more than double the Space Force's budget, and officials say that budget is the demand signal industry needs to invest in increased production capacity. However, companies say they need more information, including what exactly will be bought, when contracts will be awarded and how quickly money will translate into programs. Without new capacity, the Pentagon risks bottlenecks as it tries to scale up constellations and supporting infrastructure. But, without contracts, companies are unlikely to build that capacity. [SpaceNews]
SatVu released the first thermal imagery from its HotSat-2 spacecraft. The images, released Thursday, showed the spacecraft's ability to monitor activity and oil and natural gas facilities. Commodity traders, energy operators, intelligence agencies and environmental regulators can use thermal imagery to better understand the market, assess risk and make strategic decisions, the company says. HotSat-2, built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., launched in March and replaces HotSat-1, which failed in 2023 after six months in orbit. [SpaceNews]
HawkEye 360 soared in its first day of trading as a public company. The company sold shares at $26 and saw their price rise more than 30%, closing at $34 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company, which offers radio-frequency intelligence services using satellites, raised $416 million in the IPO. [Wall Street Journal]
German space company OHB says it will consider legal action if regulators approve a joint venture of three other European space companies. In an interview, OHB CEO Marco Fuchs said he opposed "Project Bromo," a joint venture of the space businesses of Airbus, Leonardo and Thales Alenia Space. Project Bromo is undergoing a European antitrust review, and Fuchs said he would consider a suit to block the deal should regulators endorse it, saying that Bromo "impacts our supply chain." [Reuters]
Satellite imagery shows Iranian attacks damaged far more U.S. facilities than acknowledged by the Defense Department. The analysis found that at least 228 structures and pieces of equipment across the Middle East were damaged by Iranian drones and missiles. With commercial imagery of the region from U.S. companies largely unavailable, the analysis relied on high-resolution satellite images released by the Iranian government, verified using lower resolution images from Europe's Copernicus system and some high-resolution Planet images. [Washington Post]
Louisiana officials say an unnamed space company is interested in buying a large tract of land in the state. A state senator said Thursday that a company he did not identify has reached out to landowners in the southwestern part of the state, including Exxon, which owns 136,000 acres there. There has been speculation that both Blue Origin and SpaceX are interested in land there, but it was not clear what they would use it for. The reports come as state legislators work on an incentive package for aerospace companies. [Acadiana Advocate]
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Whipsawed
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"Typically, those programs have been a little bit wobbly in the fact that, you know, we're going to the moon. No, we're not going to the moon, now we're going to Mars. Now we're going back to the moon. Now we're going back to — I just don't want to get whipsawed and have those big contracts in the mix getting whipsawed backwards and forwards."
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– Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck, explaining in an earnings call Thursday why his company was content to be a supplier to others pursuing contracts for NASA's Artemis lunar exploration plans rather than be a prime contractor.
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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