By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Open Cosmos is the latest space unicorn, Rocket Lab protests a NASA Mars contract, Antares wins an Air Force contract for a space nuclear reactor and more.
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Top Stories
Open Cosmos is now a unicorn after raising nearly $350 million. The company announced Monday it closed a Series C round, raising 300 million euros ($348 million). The round was led by European investors Lightrock and ETF Partners, with Claret Capital Partners providing a relatively small debt element. A source said the round valued the company at more than $1 billion. Open Cosmos designs, builds and operates satellites for government and commercial customers, while also providing Earth observation and data services as it seeks to grow a newly launched connectivity business. A key part of its growth plans is ConnectedCosmos, a proposed sovereign Ka-band broadband constellation for Europe using spectrum filings originally assigned to Rivada Space Networks. Open Cosmos is also continuing to build out OpenConstellation, its shared Earth observation network. Last week, SpaceNews released a report on the privately held space companies with valuations of more than $1 billion. [SpaceNews]
Sophia Space has reached a financing agreement for a 10-satellite edge-computing system. Under the $300 million agreement announced Monday, aerospace leasing specialist SLI will purchase satellites from Sophia and lease them to end users who make monthly or quarterly payments. The system will have the performance of 240 "state-of-the-art edge servers." SLI, the aerospace subsidiary of Libra Group, is playing a growing role in the space sector with satellites purchased from ReOrbit and AscendArc. [SpaceNews]
Apex is helping establish a dedicated factory to build direct-to-device satellites for direct-to-device Elveo Mobile. The companies announced plans Monday to set up vertically integrated production for Elveo in the United States. The company aims to later replicate the model to deploy manufacturing facilities in Europe and Asia. Elveo declined to disclose the location but said the facility will be separate from Apex’s Factory One in Los Angeles, with its own building and equipment. The goal is for satellite production to begin rolling off the line around mid-2027, combining Elveo’s designs and platform with Apex’s expertise. Elveo recently started operations after the merger of Lynk Global and Omnispace. [SpaceNews]
Rocket Lab is protesting NASA's award of a contract to Blue Origin for a Mars telecommunications orbiter. Rocket Lab said Friday it filed a protest with the GAO over the $700 million Mars Telecommunications Network contract, claiming that NASA's decision was "inconsistent with the eligibility criteria" for the contract and that NASA performed a "punitive review" of Rocket Lab's technical proposal. Blue Origin and Rocket Lab were the two companies that showed the most public interest in the contract, which funds an orbiter at Mars that will serve as a communications relay for other spacecraft there. [SpaceNews]
Europe used last week's International Space Summit to make the case for greater European autonomy in space. At the event, European officials, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, said Europe needed to reduce reliance on others in space and build up key capabilities in launch and satellites. She specifically called for pooling launch demand among European institutional customers and creating a single market for space in Europe. She also endorsed the combination of the space businesses of Airbus, Leonardo and Thales Alenia Space. Others at the conference pressed for other reforms, including a "buy European" requirement among European governments for satellites and launches. [SpaceNews]
The summit ended with several policy declarations that avoided controversy. The three declarations covered space sustainability, frequency coordination and sharing of scientific data, signed by between 40 and 60 nations each. The declarations largely endorsed ongoing activities by the UN and ITU and made few new or specific recommendations. The declarations have been a point of controversy because of a lack of insight into their contents leading up to the summit. Notably, several major spacefaring nations, including China, India, Russia and the United States, declined to sign them. [SpaceNews]
The Chinese government released a new five-year plan for building out satellite networks. The plan released last week by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) calls for the integration of low and medium Earth orbit and geostationary orbit satellites with ground networks by 2030, while also endorsing research into space-based computing. The overall 15th five-year plan included language on constructing what is termed an integrated sky-Earth-ground, communication-navigation-remote sensing-computing fused comprehensive service system, as well as faster deployment of a low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation. The MIIT sector-level document covers the entire telecommunications industry, while the China National Space Administration (CNSA) will produce a space-specific policy document. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
SpaceX launched the final three SES O3b mPower satellites Sunday. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 2:49 p.m. Eastern and deployed three Boeing-built satellites into orbit. The three will join 10 others previously launched into medium Earth orbits to provide broadband services. The launch was the 700th for the Falcon family of launch vehicles, which includes the original Falcon 1 and Falcon Heavy. [Spaceflight Now]
Exolaunch has secured two additional rideshare launches. The company said Monday it reached one deal to manifest satellites as secondary payloads on the Falcon 9 launch of GRACE-C, a pair of NASA-German Earth observation satellites launching in late 2028 into a near-polar orbit. It also announced a separate deal to launch satellites for several constellation customers on a Japanese H3 rocket launching in 2027 to a mid-inclination orbit. The deals are in addition to two dedicated Falcon 9 launches Exolaunch acquired in May as it and others in the industry scramble to prepare for the expected end of SpaceX's own dedicated rideshare missions in the next couple of years. [SpaceNews]
Nuclear microreactor startup Antares won an Air Force award to build a space nuclear reactor. Antares said Friday it received a $161 million contract from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition to conduct a nuclear ground demonstration of its R1-S space reactor and integrate the system with a spacecraft for flight certification ahead of a future launch. The company did not disclose a spacecraft partner or whether the $161 million award includes an actual flight demonstration. Antares has a separate award from the Air Force to test a microreactor at a military base in Texas. [SpaceNews]
BlackSky was the customer for a secretive Electron launch last week. The company announced Monday it commissioned its latest Gen-3 satellite and returned its first image less than 20 hours after launch. The satellite launched on an Electron Friday for what Rocket Lab described as only a confidential customer, but BlackSky later confirmed it was that customer. By decreasing the timeline from launch to initial operations, BlackSky seeks to expand access to Gen-3’s 35-centimeter imagery. [SpaceNews]
NOAA announced a significant expansion of its commercial satellite data program last week. The agency said it awarded its five-year Space-Based Environmental Monitoring contract, with a five-year option, to 14 companies to provide various types of commercial weather data. The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract is worth up to $8 billion. NOAA will use the data to improve its weather forecasting models. [SpaceNews]
NASA has provided more details about a proposed U.S. Space Academy. The agency released an RFI last week for the academy, inviting states to propose how they would support the institution through access to land, educational institutions and other resources. President Trump signed an executive order last month creating a commission to study the academy over the next 120 days, and that commission met last week for the first time. NASA stated in the RFI is it looking to break ground on the academy as soon as next year with an initial 300-student class starting in 2028 on an interim campus, with the final campus ready by 2031. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman took to social media to defend the academy from criticism that it blurs the lines between civil and military space as well as its costs. [SpaceNews]
The Pentagon is seeking an AI system capable of turning a flood of space, missile and intelligence data into operational threat assessments within seconds. The Defense Innovation Unit opened a competition for what it calls a “Space Threat Intelligence Synthesis Engine,” software designed to fuse fragmented sensor and intelligence feeds fast enough to support human operators and automated command-and-control systems. The Pentagon wants proposals by Sept. 24 for commercially developed software that can continuously ingest and correlate live video, satellite imagery, radar and other sensor feeds, geospatial information and classified intelligence. The system would use artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect, characterize and attribute threats and maintain an updated picture of the operating environment. [SpaceNews]
Two European companies are conducting on-orbit demonstrations of 3D printing in cubesats that could be used for in-space production of solar arrays. Polish company Orbital Matter 3D-printed a layer of photopolymer resin in August with one of four 3D printers in Replicator 2, an eight-unit cubesat launched in July on a SpaceX Transporter rideshare. Separately, German startup Dcubed is seeking confirmation that its Araqys-D1/Dcubed-1 satellite, launched in January, printed a 60-centimeter structural boom. It has been unable to establish communications with the cubesat after its deployment. [SpaceNews]
Catalyx Space is preparing to test a newly developed deployable heat shield for its planned ReX reentry vehicle. The startup said a 10-kilogram test vehicle carrying the hardware is slated to launch in mid-October aboard an Indian RH-300 sounding rocket to an altitude of around 110 kilometers, before splashing down in the Arabian Sea. The heat shield is designed to expand from 25 centimeters across when stowed to one meter. The flight also aims to validate a point-to-point delivery capability for defense applications. [SpaceNews]
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The Week Ahead
Monday:
Washington: Djibouti signs the Artemis Accords during an event at NASA Headquarters at 11 a.m. Eastern. Kourou, French Guiana: Scheduled launch of a Vega C carrying the Sentinel-3C and FLEX Earth science satellites at 9:21 p.m. Eastern. Monday-Wednesday:
National Harbor, Md.: The Air, Space & Cyber Conference by the Air and Space Forces Association will include discussions of national security space issues and keynotes by Gen. Douglas Schiess and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. Monday-Thursday:
Tuesday:
Jiuquan, China: Anticipated launch of a Zhuque-2E rocket with an undisclosed payload at 2:25 a.m. Eastern. Chinese Coastal Waters: Planned launch of a Gravity-1 rocket with an undisclosed payload at 5:55 p.m. Eastern. Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 on the USSF-259 mission for the U.S. Space Force at 9 p.m. Eastern. Tuesday-Wednesday:
Tuesday-Thursday:
Wednesday:
Baikonur, Kazakhstan: Rescheduled launch of a Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the Progress MS-35 cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station at 9:33 a.m. Eastern. Wenchang, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 12 with an undisclosed payload at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Jiuquan, China: Expected launch of a Kuaizhou-11 rocket with an unknown payload at 10:35 p.m. Eastern. Wednesday-Thursday:
Wednesday-Friday:
Friday:
Saturday:
Taiyuan, China: Anticipated launch of a Long March 2D with an unknown payload at 6:50 a.m. Eastern. Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 9:47 p.m. Eastern.
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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Where do space investors see the biggest opportunities? SpaceNews has mapped the ranks of private space firms valued at $1 billion or more, capturing 37 companies working in launch and satellite broadband, Earth observation, space stations, orbital data centers and other promising markets. Drawing on public disclosures, original reporting and other sources, each profile tracks when and how a company achieved unicorn status and its latest known valuation, alongside funding-round breakdowns and total capital raised from BryceTech’s Startup Space database. Download the report. |
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