On Monday morning, El Segundo, CA-based Aerojet Rocketdyne ($AJRD) reported Q2 net income of $16.4M. Aerojet develops liquid- and solid-fueled propulsion products for major space players and missile makers. The propulsion provider missed on top- and bottom-line expectations, with quarterly earnings coming in at $0.20 per share (vs. $0.47 est. and -66% YoY). The company […]
Congress has spent the last few weeks hammering out next year’s authorizations and funding decisions. On the policy side, CHIPS and Science passed in both the House and Senate last week. On the funding side, policymakers have been reviewing and amending next year’s NDAA, which will provide funding for military space programs. CHIPS and Science […]
Ahead of its second orbital launch attempt, Firefly Aerospace tells Payload it’s made a slew of new executive leadership hires. Though the Cedar Park, TX launch unicorn has been through the ringer in recent months, its Alpha rocket is vertical at Vandenberg and liftoff is seemingly weeks away. Moreover, Firefly is sounding a confident note […]
The White House has decided it’s time to do something about space junk. On Friday, the National Science and Technology Council released a 44-point national orbital debris implementation plan that aims to nip the littering problem in the bud before it threatens the safe operation of satellites in orbit. Multiple US agencies are currently involved […]
There’s been a changing of the robotic guard responsible for bringing samples of Mars rocks back to Earth. Perseverance and a pair of Ingenuity-esque helicopters will now play a greater role in ferrying the samples back home. Mars sample return: NASA and ESA have together hatched a plan to bring samples of Mars rock back […]
It’s been a five-coffee-a-day week for analysts tracking the “primes” and publicly traded contractors that make up the US defense and aerospace (A&D) industrial base and sell fighter jets, weapons systems, and advanced spacecraft to the Pentagon. Of the US’ prime contractors, Lockheed posted Q2 earnings last week, with Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics, and […]
Boeing ($BA) Q2 results fell short of Wall Street expectations yesterday, due to weaker defense sales and program delays. Robust commercial plane orders softened the blow, and the company stuck by its forecast to return to positive free cash flow this year. The overall numbers: Operating cash flow = $100M Revenue = $16.7B, a 2% […]
Airbus ($AIR) reported its H1 2022 earnings yesterday. Supply chain issues led the European aerospace giant to cut commercial aircraft estimates, but Airbus expects little short-term impact as it maintains its free cash flow targets. The overall numbers: Revenue = €24.8B ($25.3B), a 1% YoY increase Free cash flow = €2.0B ($2.0B) Adj. EBIT = […]
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and fights over spectrum rights. Certainty No. 3 continued to deliver earlier this week, with a SpaceX regulatory filing to launch a new mobile service. Specifically, SpaceX petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for approval to provide mobile satellite service (MSS) in the 2 GHz band. MSS […]
Iridium ($IRDM) was doing 2020s-era space stuff before it was cool. The McLean, VA company deployed a constellation in low-Earth orbit and used those satellites to provide connectivity to devices in hard-to-reach areas around the world. It went bankrupt once upon a time, and in 2009 it went public via SPAC. Now, Iridium appears to […]
The in-space collaboration between the US and Russia may be coming to an end. Yesterday, newly installed Roscosmos chief Yuri Borisov announced Moscow’s intention to walk away from the ISS partnership in 2024 and commence construction on its own space station. In recent memory… Russia’s hostile invasion of Ukraine almost immediately sent the already-strained ISS […]
On today’s episode of Pathfinder, we’re joined by Tim Ellis, the CEO and cofounder of Relativity Space. Tim was in his late twenties when he started Relativity with cofounder Jordan Noone six and a half years ago. Fast forward to today: Relativity’s 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket is at the pad in Cape Canaveral and an orbital […]
