Why MDA Space bought Blue Canyon and why Astrobotic sold to Voyager
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: India's Jio lays out its constellation plans, why MDA Space bought Blue Canyon, why Astrobotic sold to Voyager, and more.
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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Join us for our next conversation on Golden Dome: Much of the Golden Dome system will depend on space-based and ground-based sensors — an evolving network meant to detect launches, follow hypersonic weapons and monitor activity across Earth and orbit. On June 25, join us as leaders from Arcfield, L3Harris and LeoLabs discuss these technologies, what’s necessary to make them operate at a high level and what possibilities could be in the works for the satellites involved. Register now. |
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Top Stories
An Indian telecom company is looking to lease broadband satellite capacity as a step towards its own constellation. Jio Platforms, which owns India's largest telco, is proposing to lease broadband capacity from global satellite constellations, the company's managing director, Akash Ambani, said Friday. Ambani said "partnering with leading global constellation providers by leasing satellite capacity" would help accelerate the availability of services ahead of building a longer-term sovereign capability. That longer-term capability would reportedly involve about 1,600 satellites in 650-kilometer orbits. Jio separately filed paperwork Friday for an initial public offering. [SpaceNews]
Northrop Grumman said it and other companies are able to significantly increase production of solid rocket motors provided the government makes long-term procurement commitments. The Pentagon has warned that shortages of solid rocket motors could constrain plans to sharply increase missile production. A Northrop executive said in an interview that manufacturers are responding to those concerns and are prepared to increase output, but annual appropriations and shorter-duration contracts make it difficult to make the long-term investments needed to support sustained growth. While the Pentagon has embraced multiyear authority for munitions contracts, Northrop noted that still depends on annual appropriations. [SpaceNews]
Astroscale is using a recent capital infusion to help fund its growth strategy. The satellite servicing company, based in Japan and with facilities in several other countries, reported earlier this month 11.5 billion yen ($71.1 million) in income in the fiscal year that ended April 30 and an operating loss of 10 billion yen, both in line with forecasts. The company expects income to grow to as high as 17 billion yen in its current fiscal year, but with operating losses largely unchanged as it invests in growth. That includes going after defense opportunities that have "rapidly accelerated" in the last 18 months. Astroscale recently raised 30.6 billion yen through the sale of convertible bonds and equity to help it pursue those opportunities. [SpaceNews]
MDA Space said it bought Blue Canyon Technologies to get a foothold in the U.S. defense market. The Canadian company announced Friday it would buy Blue Canyon, manufacturer of smallsats and components, from RTX for $620 million in cash. In a call with analysts, MDA executives said the deal would give it an "established U.S. presence" and the ability to go after classified and other defense business. There will also be opportunities to incorporate Blue Canyon components into its own satellite products. RTX, which bought Blue Canyon in 2020, did not disclose why it sold the company to MDA Space. [SpaceNews]
Lunar lander company Astrobotic decided to sell to Voyager Technologies to allow it to scale up quickly. Voyager announced earlier this month it would buy Astrobotic in a deal worth up to $300 million. Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in an interview last week that the sale would allow Astrobotic to scale up production of landers and other lunar infrastructure, like power systems, faster than if the company tried to raise outside funding. That urgency is needed, he argued, to meet the growing demand from NASA for its lunar base plans. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Sunday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:39 p.m. Eastern carrying 24 Starlink satellites. The launch was the 33rd flight of this Falcon 9 booster, two short of the company's current record for Falcon 9 booster reuse. [Space.com]
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has arrived in Florida for launch preparations. A barge carrying Roman arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Sunday, about a week after leaving Baltimore. Roman will undergo final preparations at KSC for its launch on a Falcon Heavy rocket currently scheduled for as soon as Aug. 30. [Spaceflight Now]
Blue Origin is interested in taking over a building in Florida that had been used by a stratospheric ballooning company. Blue Origin is in talks to purchase the 200-meter-long structure at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville that had been used by Space Perspective to manufacture balloons. Space Perspective planned to fly capsules carrying tourists to altitudes of about 30 kilometers, but ran into financial problems last year. Airport officials did not disclose what Blue Origin was planning to use that building for. [Florida Today]
Northstar Earth and Space won a contract to provide space surveillance services for the Canadian military. The company announced last week an award from the Royal Canadian Air Force's 3 Canadian Space Division worth 40 million dollars Canadian ($28.2 million) to provide space surveillance capabilities for the next 12 months. The Montréal-based company announced plans in April to go public through a SPAC merger. [Northstar Earth and Space]
Observations by a NASA spacecraft revealed the unusual nature of a main-belt asteroid. A paper published last week summarized observations made by NASA's Lucy spacecraft when it flew by the asteroid Donaldjohanson in April 2025. The asteroid has two lobes connected by a "neck" of material with few large craters. Planetary scientists believe Donaldjohanson formed about 155 million years ago from debris when a larger asteroid shattered in a collision. The lack of craters in the neck connecting the lobes may be linked to landslides as the asteroid's rotation period slowed. Lucy flew by Donaldjohanson on its way to study Trojan asteroids that lead and follow Jupiter in its orbit. [Scientific American]
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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Your mission is only as strong as your team. The SpaceNews Job Exchange can connect you with professionals who won't just fill your available roles — they fuel the momentum your company needs to succeed. Post your open positions today to reach qualified applicants working across the space ecosystem, not general job seekers. With opportunities for amplification on SpaceNews.com, our newsletters and social channels, we'll help you find your next hire faster. Post your job today. |
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The Week Ahead
Monday:
Teleconference: NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel holds its second quarterly meeting of 2026 at 2 p.m. Eastern. Wenchang, China: Projected launch of a Long March 7A with an undisclosed payload at 10:10 p.m. Eastern. Monday-Friday:
Tuesday:
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying SpaceX's Starfall Demo mission at 6:43 a.m. Eastern. Online: The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies discusses a report on Space Superiority Through the Spectrum of Conflict during a webinar at 11 a.m. Eastern. Wednesday:
Thursday:
Saturday:
Sunday:
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