When Tom Marotta founded The Spaceport Company last year, he knew he was entering a domain usually reserved for governments or large corporations. “I said I think I want to go build a spaceport,” Marotta told Payload. “Which is a weird thing to say, right? “It’s like saying I want to go build a railroad […]
Earnings season is in full swing, with several closely-watched companies reporting financial results this week. Here’s our high-level takeaway on what you need to know. Rocket Lab ($RKLB): While a number of space SPACs are just trying to keep their heads above water, Rocket Lab continues to be a bright spot. The company executed three […]
Commercial space imaging hit a new resolution high-water mark. Satellite operator Umbra released a 16 cm/pixel Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image today, making it the highest-res commercial satellite image ever dropped, according to the company. The image is comparable to the resolution that was previously restricted to government use. “This means that we are finally […]
Wait your turn, room-temp superconductor. We’re still not finished with the AI craze. NASA and IBM launched their open-source geospatial foundation model on the AI platform Hugging Face, the team announced yesterday. The model leverages NASA’s vast inventory of satellite data to provide insight and modeling on the impacts of climate change. “We believe that […]
Northrop Grumman’s farewell launch of its Antares 230+ rocket on Tuesday marked the end of an era for Russian tech on the company’s launch vehicles. The Antares 230+ was powered by Russia’s RD-181 engines. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the US intensified sanctions against Moscow and rocket technology transfers—including the RD-181—came to a screeching […]
iRocket announced a partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory today, which will give the company exclusive access to a test facility at Edwards Air Force Base and the opportunity to collaborate on its reusable rocket. The AFRL Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) will help accelerate development of its methalox engines and fully reusable […]
Tilebox, a startup building software to host and manage raw satellite data, raised $1.7M in a pre-seed round to build out its team and expand its product offering. “We’re really excited about the space because we see the growth,” Tilebox cofounder Laura Costa told Payload. “The software part of the data management and processing is […]
SpaceX completed the first full-throttle test of its water deluge system at Starbase on Friday, setting the stage for a Super Heavy booster static fire on the new system. “New water deluge system to protect against the immense heat & force of Starship launch,” Elon Musk tweeted after the test. The system: The water-cooled steel […]
It’s not that kind of prime day. Earnings season is in full swing and today, we’re diving into coverage of three primes, including L3Harris’ acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing’s Starliner drag, and Northrop’s growing space division. L3Harris 🤝 Aerojet Rocketdyne $LHX announced it will close its $4.7B Aerojet Rocketdyne acquisition as soon as today. “We […]
NASA and DARPA have chosen Lockheed Martin ($LMT) to develop the first nuclear-powered Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) rocket for a demo as early as 2026, the trio announced Wednesday. The contract is valued at $499M, with funding split evenly between the two government agencies. Lockheed Martin will build the spacecraft, and BWX […]
NASA awarded 11 companies a combined $150M to support a next-gen lunar base camp and broader space exploration tech, the agency announced yesterday. The grants, which were awarded under NASA’s Tipping Point program, fund an array of sci-fi-like projects including lunar nuclear fuel, in-situ resource utilization, LiDAR navigation, inflatable heat shielding, and lunar power transmission. […]
Amazon will invest $120M to build out a Project Kuiper satellite processing facility at NASA’s KSC in Florida that will be used for final satellite prep before launch, the company announced Friday. Kuiper: Amazon is building a $10B, 3,236-bird LEO internet constellation. The tech giant has already booked 77 (!) heavy-lift launches, mostly with Blue […]
