Main Topics
Communications
SpaceX is rumored to be developing its own Starlink-branded smartphone to connect with the company’s satellite services. The device is intended to help boost revenue as SpaceX prepares for an IPO. [source]
Spanish telco MasOrange will trial Starlink’s Direct-to-Cell service under a new agreement with SpaceX. MasOrange plans to carry out a technical pilot in the Spanish province of Valladolid. [source]
AT&T and Amazon announced an extensive strategic partnership that leverages Amazon LEO network to augment terrestrial fiber infrastructure across the US. [source]
CesiumAstro closes its $470M services C round to scale operations. This includes $200M in debt from EXIM and JP. Morgan that was reported a few weeks ago, along with $270 million in equity announced this week led by Trousdale Ventures. [source]
Gilat Satellite Networks receives an over $10M order from an undisclosed leading ground gateway antenna provider to support rollout of ground infrastructure for a LEO constellation. [source]
Gilmour Space has partnered with Singapore and US-based Transcelestial to integrate and test laser optical communications on their MMS2 ElaraSat mission later this year. [source]
Earth Observation
HEX20 partners with Transcelestial to integrate laser-based inter-satellite communication into their DINK-N Earth observation constellation. [source]
Tomorrow.io raises $175M in equity led by Stonecourt Capital and HarbourVest to accelerate the deployment of their AI weather satellite constellation called DeepSky [source]
Vantor wins a $5.3 million contract under NGA’s Luno B program to detect and deliver automated insights on real-time changes to Earth’s landscape for global mapping and intelligence missions. [source]
Blacksky wins a seven figure multi-year contract with geospatial intelligence fusion company EMDYN to deliver space-based imagery services to international customers including API-enabled automated tip-and-cue tasking and fusing of signals and other intelligence sources. [source]
Launch
SpaceX pausedFalcon 9 launches for four days after an issue with the rocket’s upper stage encountered at the end of a successful Starlink deployment mission on Feb 2. [source]
Artemis II encountered a hydrogen link, the issue has been fixed, but the launch is now delayed to early March. [source]
FAA approves Starship launches from LC-39A, pushing all future Dragon flights to SLC-40; SpaceX has begun construction on LC-39A to accommodate the larger rocket. [source]
Business Moves
SpaceX merges with xAI to form the most valuable private company at ~$1.2B. The combined AI/space capability prepares them for launching orbital data centers, and a planned IPO. [source]
SpaceX has acquired Hexagon Purus ASA‘s high-pressure composite storage cylinder subsidiary for $15 million. [source]
York Space asked to dismiss its protest of Apex’s $46M SBIR contract, filed about a year ago, one day before going public. Judge Loren Smith accepted the motion, formally dismissing the case on Jan. 30 “with prejudice,” meaning it can’t be brought back to court [source]
Morpheus Space has secured a new strategic investment of $15 million to expand their team and boost industrial production at their Reloaded Facility in Dresden, Germany, enabling fast and reliable delivery of their field effect electric propulsion systems at full constellation scale. [source]
Tech Advances
Viridian Space signed a five-year cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the US Air Force to co-develop Viridian’s air-breathing electric propulsion tech, and to work together on studies leveraging VLEO. [source]
Satellite servicing startup Starfish Space taps Quindar for mission operations software for their first three Otter missions.[source]
Voyager Technologies and Max Space announced a strategic partnership to advance expandable space exploration technology, serving as the cornerstone of future lunar and deep-space exploration efforts for habitation and storage. [source]
The Finnish satellite manufacturer ReOrbit announced a partnership with Google Cloud yesterday to build a network of satellites to securely transport and process data on orbit—a network the partnership is calling the “Space Cloud.” [source]
