Mo Islam
Payload Research: Detailing Launch Startup Funding Part 2 (Firefly Aerospace)
Last week, we covered ABL, Relativity, and Stoke funding, three launch startups that have yet to reach orbit. This week, we are focusing on a business that has hit its orbital proof point, Firefly Aerospace.
Payload Research: Detailing Launch Startup Funding
The next few years are make or break for launch startups—either achieve orbit and scale or go the way of Astra and Virgin Orbit.
Blue Origin’s ULA Investment Case: Payload Research
ULA is up for sale, and all signs point to Blue Origin as the buyer.
Payload Research: The Ultra Low-Cost Economics of NASA’s CLPS Lunar Program
The ultimate goal—along with science—is to foster a sustainable commercial lunar market where NASA can add to demand rather than monopolize its own closed-loop economy.
Payload Research: The Space Cybersecurity Landscape and Zero Trust Protocols
Society’s demand for space-based data has fueled growth in the space industry, with 10,000+ satellites in orbit. On top of all that hardware grows an even faster network of interconnected data, software, and mesh networks, working in concert with other connected devices to converse and compute. The data exchange in space presents a near-infinite number…
Predicting SpaceX’s 2024 Revenue
We’re once again dusting off the crystal ball and predicting SpaceX’s 2024 revenue.
Pathfinder #0021, with Ryan Duffy (Opposite Day Edition)
Today is Opposite Day at Pathfinder. Rather than interview someone, Ryan himself is sitting down in the hot seat to take an hour’s worth of questions. Our guest host is cofounder Mo Islam. Though he’s Ryan’s coworker, he’s also his boss and a fair, unsparing interviewer. Pathfinder #0021 is brought to you by Spaced Ventures,…
An S-1 for the Space Economy
Editor’s note: Payload space cadets Ryan Duffy (managing editor) and Mo Islam (cofounder) originally penned this essay for Not Boring, an uber-popular newsletter on tech, strategy, startups, and investing. Nearing 150,000 subscribers, Not Boring is primarily authored by Packy McCormick, with editing and research duties fulfilled by Dan McCormick and Rahul Rana. What you’re about…
Rounding Up the Aerospace & Defense Q2 Earnings
It’s been a five-coffee-a-day week for analysts tracking the “primes” and publicly traded contractors that make up the US defense and aerospace (A&D) industrial base and sell fighter jets, weapons systems, and advanced spacecraft to the Pentagon. Of the US’ prime contractors, Lockheed posted Q2 earnings last week, with Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and…
Macro Headwinds Weigh on VC Funding
It’s been a rough start to the year for startup financing. In fact, Q2 saw the largest quarterly drop in venture funding in a decade. Higher-than-expected inflation growth, rising interest rates, and an energy crisis in Europe continue to threaten institutional capital deployment. VC-backed public listings reached a 13-year quarterly low, with eight completed this…
Analysis: Navigating Recessions
Ed. Note: This is a vastly abridged version of Payload’s “Secret Monthly Newsletter” that you can unlock by referring just one new subscriber! This month’s newsletter included access to a larger macro presentation that includes this—and much more. In less than a week, the June CPI (Consumer Price Index, an index that tracks the price…
