Max Puhalevich

Space stocks did nothing but go vertical in the first half of the year (many were up well over 100%). 
Momentum was driven by SpaceX’s IPO and valuation, increased geopolitical conflict with the war in Iran, orbital-data-center hype, and a broader market pivot from software into hardware businesses.
The post Space Stocks Plunge 60%+ in Just Two Months appeared first on Payload Pro.

The FCC is proposing opening unlicensed Bluetooth and Wi-Fi frequencies for space-based comms. 
The post A Deep Dive into the Bluetooth Satellite Connectivity Market Following the FCC’s Proposal appeared first on Payload Pro.

Hundreds of space companies we have all grown to know and love were founded—and raised billions of dollars—on the assumption that SpaceX had solved launch with Falcon 9, all but guaranteeing reliable, predictable access to orbit. But that premise is now on shaky grounds, turning the future of many satellite businesses into an existential question. 
The post Falcon 9 Sales Freeze Anxiety and Our Launch Ramp Forecast Model for New Rockets appeared first on Payload Pro.

Introducing the new crop of early-stage space startups.
The post A New Crop of Early Stage Space Startups Emerges appeared first on Payload Pro.

SpaceX’s IPO prospectus is here.
The post Nuggets in the SpaceX S-1 and Our Thoughts on the Business appeared first on Payload Pro.

For many satellite applications, optical links are not worth their cost (often hundreds of thousands of dollars).
The post Optical Links: When to Incorporate Them? When Not To? appeared first on Payload Pro.

Orbital data center competition includes big players like SpaceX, Blue Origin, Sophia Space, Starcloud, Aetherflux, and Axiom. Plus, satellite manufacturing suppliers such as Apex and K2 Space. 
The post Orbital Data Center Competitive Landscape appeared first on Payload Pro.

In this piece, we open our models to compare the build costs of an orbital data center and a terrestrial data center (inclusive of the delay-driven terrestrial opportunity cost).
The post Orbital vs. Terrestrial Data Center Cost Analysis appeared first on Payload Pro.

Today, we’re kicking off the first analysis article in a four-part report unpacking the economics of orbital data centers.
The post The Terrestrial Bottlenecks Pushing Compute to Space  appeared first on Payload Pro.

Revenge of EO
The post Charts Defining the Space Industry in Q1 2026  appeared first on Payload Pro.

This week, we will cover another alternative to traditional SBIs: Directed energy. 
The post Directed Energy: An Alternative to Space-Based Interceptors appeared first on Payload Pro.

The Pentagon’s needs for Golden Dome are, in many ways, at odds with the engineering, procurement, and scaling realities of traditional space-based interceptors. That has opened the door to two alternative space-based approaches: A deep magazine approach and directed energy. 
The post High Fire Volume Systems: An Alternative to Space-Based Interceptors  appeared first on Payload Pro.