Stories on space business, including company updates, funding announcements, and contract awards.
After a few weeks of tension, Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) has decided to call off its acquisition of missile and rocket propulsion manufacturer Aerojet Rocketdyne (NYSE:AJRD). ICYMI: In late January, the FTC sued to block a $4.4B acquisition deal between Lockheed and Aerojet, originally announced in 2020. The commission alleged that the merger would allow Lockheed to inflate the […]
On Monday, Spire Global (NYSE:SPIR) released preliminary Q4 and full-year 2021 financial results. The “space-to-cloud analytics” provider expects to post Q4 revenues of $15.3M, a 111% year over year increase, and full-year revenue of $43.7M, a 53% YoY jump. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) is expected to be ~$70.8M, a 96% YoY increase. And ARR customer count climbed […]
One-month performance (before market open, Jan. 31). Chart: Promus Ventures Last week, the big names in US defense and aerospace contracting reported earnings. Ongoing supply chain and labor were a persistent headwind across the sector, and more broadly, results were a mixed bag. Let’s run through the space highlights. On Tuesday, Raytheon (NYSE:RTX) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) […]
What does the year ahead hold for space investors? Before trying to answer that question, let’s take stock of how last year drew to a close. The space economy, broadly speaking, is growing. “Space infrastructure” companies raised $10.3B YTD through the end of Q3, setting new records, per Space Capital. SpaceX cleared a $100B valuation after secondary share […]
Yesterday, Euroconsult’s World Satellite Business Week wrapped in Paris. The conference gathered together leaders in the burgeoning global satellite industry, many of whom shared project updates and reflections on the state of the industry. Some key highlights: Megaconstellation critiques: Too many companies are filing plans for megaconstellations that probably won’t (or shouldn’t) be built, according to some WSBW […]
From Tuesday to Wednesday, TechCrunch held TC Sessions: Space 2021, with excellent programming and speakers from startupland, the investment community, NASA, academia, and more. We took diligent notes and wanted to share some of the notable highlights below. Debris: A spacecraft is 10X more likely to be hit by a dead satellite or cataloged debris than an […]
Virgin Orbit and Spire Global have signed a buzzer-beating deal to send a Spire space debris-monitoring satellite to orbit. The satellite will launch aboard Virgin’s “Above the Clouds” LauncherOne mission later this month. The deal went through in record time, as the satellite gained FAA approval and was integrated within a day and a half […]
Due to the data transmission and latency benefits of optical laser communications, it’s not just NASA tinkering with the technology. In China, researchers recently trialed laser-based communications between ground stations and the BeiDou constellation. In the private sector…Mynaric, which makes laser comms systems for the space industry, recently IPO’d on the Nasdaq. The German company […]
Last week, the seventh annual China Commercial Aerospace Forum (CCAF) convened in Wuhan, China. Leaders from China’s civil, commercial, and military sectors met to discuss the country’s ascendant space program—and positive spillovers in the private sector. State updates: China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp. (CASIC), the country’s state-owned aerospace company, hosted the forum. CASIC reps […]
ICYMI: Blue Origin has lost its federal lawsuit over NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) contract. Yesterday, Court of Federal Claims Judge Richard Hertling ruled against Blue Origin in its lawsuit against NASA. Hertling did not share many details in his 192-word statement. What happened? NASA initially intended to award two separate HLS moon lander contracts. Then, citing budgetary constraints, the agency […]
Astra, Hughes, Inmarsat, and Telesat filed plans yesterday with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit (LEO). The FCC parcels out and regulates radio frequency (RF) usage in the US. Why all at once? A coincidence? But of course not. Yesterday was the deadline for the FCC’s new processing round for satellite V-band […]
Can anyone catch SpaceX? That’s the question posed by a Morgan Stanley Research team in a recent, updated note to investors. Spoiler alert: The analysts seem to believe the answer is no. Payload read and digested the updated memo, which was first covered Tuesday by CNBC. For starters, the report is front-loaded with choice quotes from investors: […]
