Viasat ($VSAT) kicked off another busy week of space earnings after the bell Monday. The satellite operator reported Q1 FY23 revenues of $678M (+2% YoY), with a GAAP net loss of $22M (vs. $17M of net income last year). Viasat reported total consolidated awards of $783M (+32%YoY) for the quarter, good for a book-to-bill ratio […]
Today, we’re tackling the topic of space junk on Pathfinder with Dr. Moriba Jah. Moriba is an astrodynamicist, space environmentalist, and associate professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at UT Austin (obligatory 🤘 from Ryan). He’s also the chief scientist and cofounder of Privateer, with Alex Fielding and Steve “Woz” Wozniak. Pathfinder is brought […]
Benchmark Space Systems is ready to bring a last-minute collision avoidance kit to market, the Vermont startup said this morning. Dubbed COLA, the tiny thruster system is designed compactly so it can be retrofitted onto satellites that already have finalized designs, Benchmark EVP Chris Carella told Payload. All that junk out there: The orbital environment […]
Earnings season is fully upon us, with companies from both sides of the launch and satcom aisle releasing results last week. The SPAC side of last week’s reporting left much to be desired, as companies adjust to a harsh macroenvironment, program delays, and shortening runways. Starting with the launch SPACs… $ASTR: Astra won’t launch again […]
Benchmark has agreed to acquire plasma thruster technology from AASC, the two announced this morning. Benchmark is short for Benchmark Space Systems, a chemical propulsion provider based in Burlington, VT. Benchmark’s Starling and Halcyon satellite propulsion systems are its bread and butter. AASC is short for Alameda Applied Sciences Corporation. The Oakland-based entity keeps a […]
Consolidation is the order of the day in the legacy satellite world. The latest: Luxembourg-based SES and American satellite operator Intelsat are in talks to tie the knot, the FT reports. The GEO operators are long-standing competitors, and in recent memory, duked it out in bankruptcy court. Is it time to let bygones be bygones? […]
Integrate Space Corp. aims to modernize how you launch your payload through its new software stack. The newly hatched startup is creating a collaborative tool for spacecraft manufacturers, rideshare aggregators, and launch providers to organize missions digitally. The basics: Launched by space industry veteran John Conafay and technical lead Paul Reesman earlier this year, Integrate […]
Xona Space Systems, a San Mateo, CA-based startup building a GPS alternative in LEO, has raised an funding round. First Spark Ventures led the round, with participation from a range of new and existing investors, including Lockheed Martin Ventures. Xona now raised $25M+ to date, putting this round somewhere around $15M based on previous fundraising […]
Reading-based Isotropic Systems has gotten a rebrand. The UK antenna manufacturer, now known as All.Space, also has new product details to share. All.Space has unveiled its 5th-gen “smart terminal,” which is moving into initial production and slated for release before the year is out. Once it does, capacity will be booked out for at least […]
Slingshot Aerospace has its sights set on being the industry leader in space situational awareness (SSA). This morning, the company announced that it has acquired Numerica’s Space Domain Awareness (SDA) division and UK-based Seradata. “These acquisitions bring a single, unified space intelligence platform to the market that the market needs, and hasn’t seen,” said Melanie […]
Yesterday, NASA released an updated list of requirements for private astronaut missions to the ISS, and it seems that future tours will need extra supervision. Future private missions to the ISS will need to be accompanied by a former NASA astronaut. ICYMI: In April, Axiom launched Ax-1, the first-ever private astronaut mission to the ISS. […]
On this week’s episode of Pathfinder, we sit down with Jordan Noone, the cofounder and founding CTO of Relativity Space. Noone now holds the same titles at Embedded Ventures, a self-described deeptech VC “skunkworks” that he runs with cofounder Jenna Bryant. Embedded Ventures has partnered with the US Space Force on R&D, and backed early-stage […]
