Space Times

Space Times

The space industry is as vast and evolving as the environment it occupies, and we are here to help you navigate it! Every week we talk about advances in space technology and business, and we want to share our opinions and insights with you. Paul Mayer and Harrison Lambert met a decade ago working as aerospace engineers at Maxar. Since then, Harrison has spent that time working on space systems for a variety of applications, and Paul has become a venture capitalist helping grow nascent space companies. Now we want to share the next decades with you, discussing all the exciting times in space! spacetimespod.substack.com

  1. Weekly Recap #41

    hace 11 h

    Weekly Recap #41

    Main Topics Lunar * NASA awarded $590M in CLPS contracts for 2028 Artemis Missions: two contracts to Astrobotic, one to Firefly, and one to Intuitive Machines. [source] * NASA announced they will repurpose their spare PROMISE nuclear Mars rover to send to the Moon. [source] * Lunar Forge came out of stealth targeting a 2027 demonstration of their laser sintering device capable of building structures out of lunar regolith. [source] * Instinct Space and Polimak announced a partnership to provide access to lunar regolith for payloads that fly on their Moon mission. [source] Launch * Katalyst Space’s LINK mission successfully deployed from the Kwajalein Atoll on July 3 and made contact from orbit. [source] * Amazon Leo launched a batch aboard ULA’s last Atlas 5 carrying satellites, Leo now has enough satellites on orbit to begin operations. [source] * AST Spacemobile launched 3 more Bluebirds - 8 through 10 - aboard Falcon 9, successfully achieving operational orbits. [source] * Planet Labs agreed to launch a Pelican satellite onboard ISAR’s Spectrum launch vehicle as early as the end of 2026. [source] * Southern Launch raised a $25M round led by Brindabella and Company to fund their rockets and spaceports. [source] * Hongqing, and affiliate of Landspace, raised a $191M round led by the China Construction Bank and ICBC to develop Jinwu-200 satellites for the Honghu-3 communications constellation. [source] * Nayuta Space announced their intent to use the second stage of their Xuanniao-R rockets as orbital data centers. [source] * Firefly announced plans to launch Alpha out of Sweden’s Esrange Space Center. [source] * French rocket company Latitude announced plans to launch their inaugural rocket out of Oman’s Etlaq Space Center instead of French Guiana. [source] Orbital * China formed a VLEO consortium for satellites below 300 km to accelerate the development of key technology. [source] * Vantor announced WorldView3D which provides up to date 3D ground truth globally on the order of every 6-24 hours. [source] * Dominion Dynamics closed a $100M Series A to scale their Arctic Surveillance network and drone systems.[source] * Observable Space raised $90M led by Lux Capital alongside a $94M USSF contract to develop mobile ground space domain awareness. [source] * Polish space observation company Sybilla secured $10M to enter the US market. [source] * Space Tango raised $7.4M to develop automation for in-space manufacturing. [source] Business Moves * Rocket Lab acquired Iridium in an expansion into the space application layer, securing their assets and valuable L-band spectrum rights. [source] * SpaceX received FTC clearance to buy Mesh Optical Technologies for their optical transceiver technology useful in AI hardware interconnects. [source] * Dish TV, subsidiary of Echostar, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [source] * Mitsubishi Electric acquired Infostellar for the ground stations to bolster satellite operations. [source] * The Exploration Company acquired European Astrotech for their electric propulsion technology. [source] * Draper raised $300M Fund 8 to invest in AI, Robotics, and Automation; Crypto & Blockchain, Healthcare / Biotech, and Aerospace / Space. [source] Tech Advances * BAE Aerospace validated the rad-hardness of their Endura space processor, based on GlobalFoundries 45nm chip. [source] * Verde Technologies announced their plans to shift their perovskite solar tech to space, providing an up to 50% reduction in cost to silicon based solar. [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe

    1 h 24 min
  2. Weekly Recap #40

    29 jun

    Weekly Recap #40

    Launch * Rocket Lab executed a successful mission for the USSF titled Victus Haze in which they went from ‘Notice To Launch’ in 16 hours and 42 minutes, after which they activated and readied their Pioneer spacecraft on orbit in the 38th hour of their 72 hour deadline window. [source] * Rocket Lab was awarded 3 electron launches for NASA’s PolSIR and TSIS-2 Sun-Earth science missions. [source] * SpaceX’s orbital re-entry demo mission titled Starfall successfully launched over the weekend, bringing with it Starbase Brewing’s Microbrew-2 demo payload. [source] * Firefly Aerospace acquired Space-ng to advance the future of autonomous space operations by leveraging Firefly’s space vehicle strengths with Space-ng’s vision-based navigation solutions. [source] Spacecraft * Sophia Space raised a $7M SAFE and announced a partnership with Apex Space for an Orbital Computing Demo, bringing their total funding to date to $22M. [source] * Vantor announced a partnership with BAE to manufacture their Vantage platform. [source] * ReOrbit launched OrbitCloud R&D with a €4.6M grant from Business Finland. [source] * Irish startup Ubotica Technologies raised $11M to accelerate the commercial deployment of their AI-powered intelligence platform and expand their Live Maritime Intelligence service. [source] * Eclipse Space emerged from stealth with an ex-Starlink team to develop economical spacecraft buses for megaconstellations. [source] Infrastructure * Starfish Space completed their long range rendezvous with Gilmour Space Technologies’ Elarasat. [source] * Astroscale raised $190M after reporting $71.1M in project income, nearly double their numbers from 2025. [source] * Boeing was awarded a $2B Air Force Contract for Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) Satellite Life Extension Phase II. [source] * MDA was awarded a Canadian SAR satellite contract as part of Canada’s RADARSAT+ program. [source] * Umbra started selling their reaction wheels after announcing their expansion into component sales last August [source] * The first live intercept test of Golden Dome’s Dynamic Defense Autonomous Defeat (DDAD) directed energy missile defense system was conducted successfully. [source] Business Moves * OHB began a $581M share sale with KKR to fund their expansion and acquisition efforts, and to support Rocket Factory Augsburg. [source] * Axios reported that Muon Space has begun to pursue a $250M round of capital. [source] * Symphony Space closed an over-subscribed pre-seed round led by Female Founders Fund to develop their modular space depot. [source] * Spanish startup FOSSA raised $10.5M to fund their international expansion and global deployment of their sovereign satellite capabilities. [source] Tech Advances * SpaceX has started talking about expanding Starlink to a direct-to-mobile service, either by creating their own telecom provider, or are rumored to be targeting T-Mobile or Verizon for acquisition. [source] * Orbital Composites won a $1.9M TACFI from SpaceWerx to develop their AI and robotic enabled manufacturing facilities for high stress composite components focused on rocket nozzles. [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe

    1 h 38 min
  3. Weekly Recap #39 + Eradrive Interview

    22 jun

    Weekly Recap #39 + Eradrive Interview

    This week includes a special interview with Sumant Sharma, CEO of Eradrive! Launch * ISAR scrubbed the most recent scheduled launch of their Spectrum vehicle, marking the fourth such scrubbing this year. [source] * Chinese startup Landspace’s Zhuque-2E rocket, launched on June 9th, experienced an upper stage failure during parts of its disposal burn. [source] * China continued its accelerated launch cadence with a series of 4 missions over a 72 hour period concluding with the liftoff of a Kuaizhou-11 solid rocket from the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation on Wednesday the 17th[source] Comms / Data * Gilat acquired Comtech’s Satellite and Space Communications Segment this week in an all cash $157.5M deal intended to push revenue above $700M. [source] * The USSF ordered two additional GPS satellites from Lockheed Martin. [source] * Ororatech selected for NASA Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition contract. [source] * Northstar won over $40M from 3 Canadian Space Division to advance sovereign space domain awareness. * Look Up and Skynopy announced a partnership to provide an automated collision avoidance service titled ‘Atlas2’ Space Safety Program. [source] Logistics * Katalyst raised $12M for their Nexus GEO servicing mission in a round led by Geodesic Capital. [source] * Quantum Space won a Pentagon contract to develop and demonstrate refueling spacecraft. [source] * DARPA issued an open solicitation for solutions for ‘rapid reconstitution of space systems’. [source] * Austrian startup GATE Space won €6.3M in EU grants and equity funding through the EIC accelerator. [source] * Elevation Space raised a $40M Series B to develop space-to-Earth transportation and a space environment utilization and recovery platform through a third party allotment of shares. [source] Business Moves * AFRL announced a partnership with PiLogic for autonomous fault prediction using the latter’s “Exact AI” engine to diagnose and predict electrical and power failures aboard spacecraft platforms. [source] * Dawn Aerospace raised $25M Series B to accelerate global expansion of reusable space transportation. [source] * EQT announced the intent to acquire satellite deployment and launch mission management company Exolaunch. [source] * MDA announced the intent to purchase Colorado-based Blue Canyon for $620M. [source] * SpaceX executed its option to purchase Cursor for $60B in stock. [source] Tech Advances * NASA announced that Relativity Space would design, build, and launch the spacecraft that carries NASA’s Aeolus instrument suite to orbit around Mars. [source] * Boeing demonstrated their quantum protocol Q4S payload prior to their scheduled year long mission launching in 2027. [source] * LeoLabs deployed their Scout-S, a new class of transportable 3D search radar, to the Indo-Pacific. [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe

    1 h 40 min
  4. Weekly Recap #38

    15 jun

    Weekly Recap #38

    Main Topics ODC * Google announced a multi-year contract worth $920M/mo to use 110,000 NVIDIA GPUs in SpaceX’s Colossus supercomputer. [source] * SpaceX announced the AI1 sat - a 150 kW bus with a 70 meter wide footprint for use in orbital data center infrastructure. [source] * Orbital raised $5M pre-seed for orbital data centers led by Andreessen Horowitz Speedrun targeting a 100kW compute payload and a 100,000 satellite constellation. [source] Comms * The FCC announced their verdict to waive the 50% threshold requirements for Amazon LEO’s spectrum license by the end of July; the 100% requirement remains in place for July of 2029. [source] * The USSF announced that Rocket Lab and K2 Space were subselected by Viasat and SES as primary subsuppliers for the persistent and resilient communication milsatcom program. [source] * Satellite communication stalwart Avanti sold their Hylas-3 geostationary satellite - currently operating in orbit - to Sky Perfect JSAT, effectively divesting from 25% of their GEO portfolio. [source] * The Canadian Space Agency awarded $2.4M to MDA, Kepler, and Calian for ground station network capabilities as part of the upcoming RADARDSAT initiative through Canada’s Defense Industrial Strategy. [source] Space Sovereignty * ICEYE raised €1B split between a primary Series F of €450M and a secondary placement for the remainder at a valuation of over €10B led by General Atlantic. [source] * ICEYE and Rheinmetall Space Solutions’ joint venture announced a partnership with Constellr, Ororatech, Liveeo, and Reflex Aerospace, leveraging ICEYE’s bus platform and scale manufacturing to pair with the new wavelength payloads of their new partners. [source] * Airbus announced a partnership with Rohde & Schwartz, Constellr, Orbint, and High Performance Space Structure Systems to develop an intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platform. [source] * Thales and Airbus won an EU radar sat contract valued at €345M under the Copernicus Program for two C-band SAR sats in their Sentinel-1 NG constellation. [source] * ISAR Aerospace raised a €270M Series D to expand their global launch capacity and prepare their Spectrum vehicle. [source] * JAXA’s H3 launch vehicle successfully returned to flight and delivered Unseenlab’s BRO-22 to orbit. [source] Business Moves * SpaceX conducted the largest IPO in history at a $135/share opening price raising a total of $75B for future development and growth in the orbital data center infrastructure sector.. [source] * Quantum Space, led by former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstein, announced a SPAC through Inflection Point Acquisition Corp at a $1.2B valuation. [source] Tech Advances * Applied Atomics raised a $4M preseed led by Oxford Science Enterprises to develop nuclear hybrid spacecraft. [source] * Neworbit raised an $18.5M Series A for their NEO VLEO satellite platform. [source] * Juno Propulsion closed a $1.4M pre-seed round led by SOSV Ventures to develop their rotating detonation combustion thruster for space mobility. [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe

    1 h 10 min
  5. Weekly Recap #37 + Diffraqtion Interview

    8 jun

    Weekly Recap #37 + Diffraqtion Interview

    Main Topics This week includes an excerpt of our interview with Johannes Galatsanos, CEO of Diffraqtion, to learn about the quantum camera for space domain awareness! Subscribe to be notified when the full interview drops later this week. Defense * Odysseus Space won €5.2M in contracts under EOBLINDING to blind enemy sats using their optical communications technology and RESIST to use AI for EU semiconductor design. [source] * BAE selected MDA to supply key radio hardware for USSF MEO Epoch 2, a missile defense network. [source] * Northrop Grumman partnered with Apex on space based interceptors, they plan to supply interceptors developed with $1B in self-funding to Apex who is developing a bus under their self-funded Project Shadow. [source] Launch * Starfighters Space raised $17.5M through a private placement after their $40M IPO earlier this year, the money will develop Starlaunch II to place a satellite into orbit from a plane launch platform in the next 18-24 months. [source] * Longshot unveiled Glowrider, the hypersonic shell that holds a satellite for launch using their gas powered cannon. [source] Spacecraft * Impulse Space raised a $500M Series D co-led by 137 Ventures and BANNER VC to support hiring and manufacturing scaling. [source] * Apex raised a $200M Series D led by Interlagos at a $2.3B valuation to support vertical scaling and business pursuits. [source] * Muon unveiled their high power bus (configurable between 20-100kW) Condor Ultra for communications, sensing, and orbital data centers. [source] * Bellatrix partnered with Korean TelePIX to build a VLEO satellite for wide swath imagery. [source] Business Moves * Voyager acquired Astrobotic for a rumored $300M expanding their work to the moon with NASA’s Moon Base II contract for the Griffin lander. [source] * Axiom oversubscribed their $350M round of funding in February by an additional $175M to further develop Station and their AxEMU (spacesuit). [source] Tech Advances * Aalyria was selected for NASA’s Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PeXT) to provide enterprise service orchestration of communications and navigation. [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe

    1 h 2 min
  6. Weekly Recap #36

    1 jun

    Weekly Recap #36

    Main Topics Rockets * Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded in historic fashion during a static fire test at Launchpad 36 in Cape Canaveral on Thursday, May 27th. [source] * Gilmour Space announced an additional $14.2M in further capital investment, debating the pros and cons of breaking that and other investment out from their current oversubscribed Series E round into a separate Series F round. [source] * Voyager Space announced the award of a $16.5M DARPA contract to make post-manufacturing thrust controls for solid rockets. [source] * Zurich based startup Stellar Alpina raised $4.5M for on-orbit Rotating Detonation Rocket Engines. [source] Ground * NASA announced the Management Contract for JPL would be made open to competition after 68 years of exclusivity with CalTech. [source] * A Canadian consortium led by Nordspace, including Miltera Machining, Pegmatis, and Prime Powders was awarded $3.2M for an AI-enabled factory of the future focused on Space Propulsion. [source] * Schaeffler AG announced a partnership with Spire Global for sovereign satellite production at scale, leveraging Spire’s Space expertise and Schaeffler’s manufacturing expertise at scale to achieve a space production capacity to serve the growing ecosystem by the end of the decade. [source] * Observable Space raised a $90M Series A for optical laser ground stations and simultaneously won a $94M USSF contract for in-space optical laser terminals. [source] SpaceX * SpaceX won a $2.29B for the Space Data Network to connect military assets across the globe with low-latency, high quality communications. [source] * SpaceX awarded $4.16B to deploy the Space-Based Moving Target Indicator to track aircraft, vehicles, and vessels from space. [source] * SpaceX’s Starfall project - a massive logistics and transportation play with satellites capable of carrying a full ton of payload - completed FAA environmental screening [source] * Exolaunch and SEOPS acquired multiple dedicated falcon 9 launches to replace transporter missions [source] * Starcloud announced a plan to use over 50 starlink mini laser terminals on 25 orbital data centers [source] Business Moves * NASA awarded 4 lunar contracts: [source] * $219M to Astrolab’s Lunar Rover * $220M to Lunar Outpost’s Lunar Rover * $188+$280M for Blue Origin’s Lunar Lander * A $75M subcontract from JPL for Firefly’s Elytra Dark orbiter swarm of drones deployed from 50km to map the moon. * Futurecorp Space Acquisition 1 announced their intent to raise a $200M SPAC IPO to pursue a defense, manufacturing, or launch company to take public. [source] * Space Markets emerged from stealth with Coinbase Ventures investment to provide commodities future trading focused specifically on the space industry. [source] Tech Advances * Space Solar agreed to host Lonestar’s Starvault data storage solution on their orbital platforms. [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe

    1 h 16 min
  7. Weekly Recap #35 + Juno Propulsion Interview

    25 may

    Weekly Recap #35 + Juno Propulsion Interview

    Main Topics Dr. Alexis Harroun, CEO of Juno Propulsion, joins Space Times this week to explain how their Rotating Detonation Combustion thruster will change the game for in-space mobility! Headliners * Starship v3 launched on May 22nd with mixed success, the booster lost 3 engines and landed but not as expected, while Starship lost an RVAC engine but still accomplished its landing in the Indian Ocean. 22 mass dummies were deployed in space, including 2 Dodger Dogs that had Starlink hardware for testing and imaging of Starship. [source] * York acquired Solestial for their silicon based solar array technology, their third acquisition for core component production since York’s IPO. [source] * Vast announced their expansion from commercial space stations into high power buses, providing a 15kW spacecraft. They have an anchor customer who has so far purchased 4 satellites, with an option for 200 more. [source] Defense * The United States Space Force awarded $437M to Viasat and SES for 2 satellites each for Protected Tactical Satcom Global. [source] * The United States Space Force awarded $398M to Northrop Grumman for a Protected Tactical Satcom Prototype that can resist GPS jamming. [source] * The United States Space Force awarded $90M to Rocket Lab for Heimdall, a space domain awareness program that was being worked on by Geost prior to its acquisition last year. [source] * Helsing, OHB, Hensoldt, and Kongsberg formed the KIRK joint venture to develop space-based AI-enabled space domain awareness for detection and tracking of in-orbit threats. [source] * The UK Space Agency inaugurated their new space domain awareness software Borealis 6 months ahead of schedule, demonstrating it with their existing on-orbit asset Noctis-1 for space-based detection. [source] * Iceye delivered 4 SAR satellites to the Polish Ministry of Defense within 12 months. [source] Commercialization * Iceye launched their new catastrophe monitoring solution focused on the banking sector to provide more accurate insurance and pricing of property and assets. [source] * Amadeus IT selected Spire’s aircraft tracking data for airport tools to improve management and planning. [source] * Sky Perfect JSAT invested in Astroscale to partner on on-orbit servicing. [source] Business Moves * SpaceX filed their S-1 with the SEC in preparation for their upcoming IPO. The filing revealed over 200 pages of details about SpaceX’s business including their $1.75B price target, their $18.67B in revenue last year, $4.94B of operational losses, and a massive $28.5T TAM. [source] * Blue Origin is rumored to be considering accepting outside money for the first time, this comes from internal all-hands meeting and could mean they will be seeking private investors or an IPO. [source] * Tomorrow.io extended their Series F by $35M, bringing their total raised to $210M focused on delivering on their DeepSky AI-enabled weather satellite constellation. [source] * Zenk Space raised $26M in preparation of its debut launch of the medium lift Zhihang-1 rocket in June. [source] * Mach Industries acquired Exquadrum for $50M winning out over a rumored 8 other competitors, this allows Mach to produce their own solid rocket motors internally, securing a critical and constrained component for missile production. [source] Tech Advances * The Canadian DND and ISED launched $5.5M in challenges for Arctic optical communications and quantum repeaters. [source] * The US Space Force and SpaceWERX launched their orbital logistics challenge for orbital fuel depots, transfer vehicles, ISAM technologies, and more. [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe

    1 h 20 min
  8. Weekly Recap #34

    18 may

    Weekly Recap #34

    Main Topics Launch * Aetherflux rebranded to Cowboy Space and raised a $275M series B while announcing their pivot into both Rocketry and the Orbital Data Center markets. [source] * SpaceX removed Transporter mission options past 2029, indicating a clear timeline and focus on the launch and success of Starship in that same timeframe. [source] * Google rumored to be in talks with SpaceX to launch 81 data centers for Google’s Project Suncatcher while they partner with Planet Labs to develop and build their platform. [source] Infrastructure * Starcatcher closed a $65M Series A raise led by B Capital to build Space’s first power grid, deploying power from their solar cells to other orbital assets in need of alternative power solutions. [source] * The USSF awarded $4M to Trustpoint for their C-band PNT (Position, Navigation, and Timing) capability demo involving 4 satellites and 4 ground stations. [source] * Intuitive Machines agreed to purchase Goonhilly Earth Stations Ltd for $49.6M, intending to leverage the 44 ground station antennae for an extensive architecture of lunar communications. [source] * Northrop announced the release of their James Webb Telescope derived tracking sensor (the component that enables the JWST to accurately track imaging targets) for the lunar navigation market with miniaturized LR450. [source] * Iridium announced the acquisition and take over of Aireon for $367M to expand their aviation safety business, growing revenues by ~$100M and EBITDA by ~$30M. [source] * AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon announced a Joint Venture focused on filling the gaps in global coverage while collaborating on their D2D strategies and implementation. [source] * Orbit2Orbit closed the first tranche of their $1.4M seed round led by Fusion Venture Labs. [source] Spacecraft * Chinese Satellite manufacturer MinoSpace announced its intent to seek a $736M IPO. [source] * Applied Aerospace & Defense filed for IPO, expecting to raise $350M in the offering. [source] * Creotech announced their plans for a $118M capital raise to build a sovereign satellite manufacturing facility by 2029 and to reach 40 satellite annual manufacturing capacity in that same time. [source] * York Space lost some of their Tranche 3 PWSA funding as short sellers cite the underperformance of prior satellite deliveries and the transition of contracts from the SDA to the SDN through some of the Pentagon’s restructuring and reorganization; York Space remains confident in the quality of their engineering projects and deliveries and acknowledges that the dissolution of the SDA represents a challenge. [source] * SES/Intelsat & Eutelsat have both canceled GEO orders in rapid succession, as Eutelsat reallocates resources towards LEO assets, SES reallocates resources towards MEO, and both explore lifetime-extension missions for existing GEO assets. [source] Business Moves * Anduril raised a $5B series H at a $61B valuation, led by Thrive Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, presumably to rapidly scale their space technology capabilities for future Golden Dome contract awards. [source] * SpaceX accelerated their IPO timeline, pulling the proposed liquidation date to June 12. [source] Tech Advances * Varda announced a drug development partnership with United Therapeutics. [source] * Casimir came out of stealth, raising $12M for quantum vacuum semiconductor that fcan gnerate . [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe

    1 h 28 min
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The space industry is as vast and evolving as the environment it occupies, and we are here to help you navigate it! Every week we talk about advances in space technology and business, and we want to share our opinions and insights with you. Paul Mayer and Harrison Lambert met a decade ago working as aerospace engineers at Maxar. Since then, Harrison has spent that time working on space systems for a variety of applications, and Paul has become a venture capitalist helping grow nascent space companies. Now we want to share the next decades with you, discussing all the exciting times in space! spacetimespod.substack.com

Información

  • Creador
    Space Times
  • Años de actividad
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodios
    43
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Copyright
    © Harrison Lambert
  • Mostrar sitio web
    Space Times