Business
Stories on space business, including company updates, funding announcements, and contract awards.
ispace is Raising Money to Cover Growing Losses
Despite two solid efforts, ispace has yet to successfully land on the lunar surface—and the company’s financial position reflects that.
Exclusive: OrbitAID to Support Indian-Aussie Collab with Refueling Tech
A young Indian sustainability startup is getting its feet wet in orbit during an international joint mission. OrbitAID, a Bangalore, India-based startup building satellite servicing and sustainability tech, has signed a contract to supply ground fueling services and a refueling port to Aussie firm Space Machines Company in support of the upcoming MAITRI mission, a…
DARPA Awards Safran a Quantum PNT Contract
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced yesterday that it awarded Safran Federal Systems a contract to develop robust and reliable quantum sensors to improve the US military’s PNT architecture in multiple domains, including in space. To effectively manage its troops and personnel across the world, the DoD says it needs extremely—and increasingly—precise ways…
The EU Space Act Raises Questions
ICYMI: This week, Payload Europe hosted its first ever webinar—all about the EU Space Act.
Intuitive Machines Closes $30M KinetX Acquisition
KinetX has joined the Intuitive Machines family after years of working alongside it. Yesterday, Intuitive Machines ($LUNR) announced that its $30M acquisition of KinetX, a space infrastructure company with experience in constellation management, is complete. The companies first announced the deal in August. The $30M acquisition was structured like this: IM is planning to use…
Exclusive: Albedo Drops its Commercial Imagery Business
Albedo will abandon its imaging business to focus entirely on building VLEO satellite buses for other payload operators.
Maxar Companies Rebrand to Lanteris, Vantor
More than two years after Maxar split into two separate companies, both entities have rebranded to alleviate confusion in the industry and ensure their names reflect their individual missions.
Powering Mars Settlements With the Sun
A startup looking to power human missions on Mars is open for business.
Zeno Power Signs Deal for Material To Scale Nuclear Space Power
The company will make a “multi-million-dollar” payment to Orano, a manager of the nuclear fuel cycle, to acquire a large amount of Americium-241 each year from Orano’s recycling site in France.
Quantum Space Acquires Phase Four’s Propulsion Tech
The deal opens the door for Quantum to integrate Phase Four’s unique propulsion capabilities to fuel Quantum’s Golden Dome ambitions.
The Ground Segment Takes Center Stage in Paris
Whatever the future holds for satellite operators, it’s safe to assume that the ground segment will be a lock step in making advancements of their own.
UK’s Defense Investment is Headed to the Space Sector
Payload chatted with half a dozen UK space leaders to find out just how much of the investment could trickle down to their sector.
True Anomaly Hires Sarah Walter As COO
“I am a big proponent of go fast, fail, learn and repeat, and continue to get better.”
