Cowboy Space Reveals “Big Iron” Data Center Rocket 

Cowboy Space pulled back the curtain on Big Iron—a launch vehicle whose upper stage is designed to remain in orbit as a megawatt-class data center.

Top Reads
Military • Technology

HawkEye 360 Turns its RF-Sensors to Orbital Targets

The DoD wants to better understand what’s going on in orbit. HawkEye 360 ($HAWK) has the inside scoop.

Civil • Policy

NASA Signs Space Nuclear Pact, Says Moon Base Is Ahead of Schedule

Isaacman gave updates at the White House’s “Science: A New Golden Age Summit.”

Military • Startups

Fortastra Raises $30M Series A to Fund its Next Security Spacecraft

The US military has weapons in space, and—with the orbital arsenal expanding—security is becoming a top priority.

Payload Pioneers 2026

Kayla Bigham, FAA

Kayla Bigham grew up wanting to be an astronaut. Then, after learning about the Apollo 1 and Apollo 13 emergencies in elementary school, her goal shifted—she knew she wanted to keep space exploration safe.

Payload Pioneers 2026

Naresh Kannan, OrbitAID

“My primary goal was to build the credibility of this domain in India,” he said. “Everyone was thinking, ‘This is a little bit too far-fetched.’”

Payload Pioneers 2026

Nicole Huimei Lee, MIT

Exercise is essential for astronauts in orbit, since microgravity causes rapid deterioration of bone density and muscle mass. But what if the astronauts could multitask?

Payload Pioneers 2026

Priya Abiram, Vast

“I will be the youngest research astronaut, which is very exciting,” Abiram, 22, told Payload.

Startups • Technology • VC/PE

Colare Raises $2.5M to Expand its Hardware-Focused Hiring Platform

Colare’s technical-assessment platform maps the requirements of a role, and recreates decisions future engineers could face on the job.

Military • Technology • VC/PE

Exclusive: DoD Taps Orbital Operations for Cryogenic Spacecraft Demo

The Long Beach, CA, startup has won up to $35M from the DoD under a prototype Other Transaction Agreement to fly a full-scale, in-orbit demo of Astraeus—its cryogenic-maneuvering vehicle.

Technology • VC/PE

Xona Raises $250M Series D to Scale Commercial GPS Constellation

Xona’s long-term plan is to build a ~258-sat constellation to offer an upgraded commercial alternative to government GPS networks.

Startups • VC/PE

WarpWare Closes Pre-Seed to Bring Agentic Tools to Flight Software

CO-based WarpWare closed its $1.2M pre-seed round today to expand what it calls an AI-enabled engineering platform for space missions.