On Monday, E-Space came right out of the gate with ambitious mega-constellation aspirations. The startup has raised a $50M seed from Prime Movers Lab, which it says will fully fund two “beta” satellite test batches, launching in March and then the end of 2022. E-Space also claims that mass production is set to begin in […]
Launcher has reserved three more missions for Orbiter, its orbital transfer tug, to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) on future SpaceX Transporter rideshares. The Hawthorne, CA-based space transportation startup’s first Orbiter mission is scheduled to fly on Transporter-6 in October. Last-mile services: The Orbiter vehicle is designed to link up with satellites that have reached generic orbits through rideshare missions […]
Wyvern has received a CAD $4M (~$3.2M) investment from STDC, just weeks after the Canadian satellite imaging startup announced a $4.5M seed round and its inclusion in Y Combinator’s Winter 22 (W22) batch. STDC, or Sustainable Development Technology Canada, is an “arm’s-length” foundation funded by the Canadian government. STDC’s grant is non-dilutive and tied to […]
Viasat (NASDAQ: VSAT) reported earnings last Thursday. Highlights for the satellite communications player: $720M in Q4 2021 revenues, which is up 25% year-over-year. Sales in Viasat’s Satellite Services segment were $310M, a YoY increase of 43%, largely driven by new aviation customers. Viasat posted a net loss of $6.6M, which the company attributed to “higher depreciation and […]
BryceTech’s latest quarterly launch briefing is out. We read these reports, then reread them, and then drill each slide like it’s a flashcard, so that all the data is etched into our memories. Without further ado, BryceTech’s Q4 orbital launch data: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) led Q4 ’21 with 15 launches. SpaceX had eight […]
Right now, a $10 billion space telescope is orbiting an empty point in space a million miles from home where the gravitational forces of the Earth and Sun balance out. The observatory, which took some of the world’s best engineers and scientists more than 20 years to build, is gearing up to take its first […]
Astra announced on Twitter yesterday that it expects to receive the first-ever Part 450 launch license from the FAA by Friday. That could allow the company to launch from the Florida Space Coast for the first time Saturday, carrying four NASA CubeSats aboard a Rocket 3. Part 450? In light of the growing commercial launch sector and, in turn, the […]
Starlink+? If it was following in the footsteps of streaming services, that’s what SpaceX’s satellite internet division would have named its new premium offering. But SpaceX marches to the beat of its own drum and instead went with Starlink Premium, unveiled Tuesday. Price details: The Starlink Premium package costs $2,500 upfront for equipment, along with a $500/month […]
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is prepared to award $1.2B+ in new broadband payouts through its Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). The RDOF is intended to reduce the US’s digital divide by subsidizing broadband deployment in rural and underserved areas. The two-phase auction will pay out up to $20.4B to internet service providers over the course of […]
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 […]
China and Russia are still planning on signing an agreement to build a lunar research station by 2035, CNSA officials confirmed Friday. The station, called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), was originally announced in June and represents the two nations’ response to NASA’s Gateway project. ILRS 101: The proposed station would consist of an orbiting outpost and a […]
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) […]
