Space Times

This week Harrison and Paul break the news of Space Phoenix’s $7.5m seed raise and new customer Flawless Photonics during an exclusive interview with CEO Andrew Parlock. They discuss Space Phoenix in the context of other developments with in-space manufacturing, highlighting Space Forge’s plasma generation for on-orbit furnaces and Ombra’s $180,000 contract for an anaerobic bioreactor. They also address growing orbital congestion, noting China’s 90 successful launches in 2025 and its deployment of 136 Guowang satellites, and SpaceX's decision to lower the altitude of about half its Starlink constellation following a near-miss incident that led China to raise safety concerns at the UN General Assembly. Other key topics include China’s acceleration of sovereign space traffic monitoring with the Xingyan network, a collision involving the SpainSat NG II satellite on its way to GEO orbit, and US and European defense contracts awarded to companies such as CACI, L3 Harris Technologies, Avio, and Zenno Astronautics for network modernization, hypersonic motors, and autonomous satellite operations.

On this special episode of Space Times Podcast Paul and Harrison share their predictions for the space industry in 2026. They summarize the patterns that have happened in 2025 and extrapolate into the new year to share opinions on progress that will be made in the sectors of GEO, Space Defense, Direct-to-Device, Lunar Exploration, National Competition, and the Overall Market. Thank you for listening during our first year, and we can't wait to share what is shaping up to be an exciting 2026 with you!

This week Harrison and Paul discuss several recent space launch updates and failures, including Innospace's Handbit Nano rocket failure, Japan's H3 rocket failing to deliver a satellite to orbit, and China's third reusable spacecraft failure this year. Also covered is the successful launch of Space Mobile's Bluebird satellites on an ISRO LVM3 rocket, Tori Bruno's resignation as CEO of ULA to become President of National Security at Blue Origin, and confirmation of Jared Isaacman as NASA Director. Other topics include CACI International's $2.6 billion acquisition of ARCA, the growing lunar economy, and success of optical communication and IoT demonstrations.

This week Harrison and Paul welcome special guest Tjorven Delabie, CEO of Arcsec to discuss their advances in space situational awareness in the context of broader market growth, particularly this week with EraDrive's $5.3 million seed round and Starfish Space's Remora RPO demonstration. Large deals covered include the Rheinmetall and IceEye joint venture's €1.7 billion contract, Hawkeye 360’s $150 million Series E raise, Rocket Lab's $816 million contract win from the US Space Development Agency (SDA) for 18 satellites, and Hungarian provider 4iG investing $100 million in Axiom Space. Other major news included the Niantic and Vantor partnership for GPS-free navigation, ESA's €100 million commitment to convert the Ariane 6's kick stage into an orbital transfer vehicle, Tower Corp. divesting approximately 90% of its stake in AST Space Mobile, Apolink’s LEO relay RF subsystem, Metaseismic’s electronic vibration mitigation metamaterial, and Max Space’s pivot to building a commercial space station.

This week Paul and Harrison discuss SpaceX's $800 billion valuation and $1.5 trillion IPO target, driven by the Starlink direct-to-device market and the orbital data center play, an area seeing increasing competition from companies like Blue Origin, Relativity Space, Star Cloud, and Aetherflux. They also covered significant funding for K2 Space, the growing importance of Space Domain Awareness, the militarization of space with the US Space Force and IDIQ contracts for companies like Trace Systems, Momentus, and Proteus Space, and the expansion of launch capacity by SpaceX and the European Space Agency's $1 billion European Launcher Challenge. Further growth of the small GEO market was covered, along with advancements in space solar power led by Overview Energy and Starcatcher, IonQ’s investment in quantum technology, Rocket Lab's Neutron reusable architecture, and developments in satellite cybersecurity, data processing, and propulsion systems.

This week Harrison and Paul discuss major updates in the launch and Earth observation markets. In the launch industry Northrup Grumman's signals growth in solid rocket motor production, Castelion raises $350 million for hypersonic missile production and solid rocket manufacturing, Moonshot Space raises $12 million for a kinetic electromagnetic launch system, Isar Aerospace secures a launch contract, and international launch success from China and South Korea. In Earth observation, MDA space wins a C$44.7 million contract for Radarsat extension and Iceye achieves a valuation of €2.8 billion following their Series E round. Other news includes Reditus Space’s $7 million seed round for reusable re-entry vehicles, Space Leasing International's purchase of two satellites from Ascendark, Transcelestial's expanded funding and collaboration with JAXA for high altitude optical terminals, funding for nuclear power companies Antares and X-Energy, and a new partnership for in-space refueling between Dawn Aerospace and Cosmoserve Space.

This week Paul and Harrison discuss NASA revising the Starliner contract to cargo-only missions due to quality issues and propulsion leaks, contrasting this with the quick astronaut recovery of the Chinese Shenzhou 22 mission, while also addressing the significant setback to human spaceflight capacity caused by damage to the Russian Soyuz MS-28 mission pad. They cover the successful launches of the Boeing-manufactured Viasat 3 F2, the contract for OmanSat-1 geocommunication satellite, and the competitive landscape with companies like Thales and Airbus against new entrants such as Astranis and AscendArc, as well as growth in ground station and optical relay markets with Astrolight and Gilat Satellite Networks. The discussion concluded by noting the ESA ministerial's €22.1 billion funding pledge, new contracts for in-orbit servicing to Orbit Fab and Infinite Orbits, and advancements in radiation-hardened electronics by BAE Systems and thermal infrared imaging technology with the Hibiscus imager, alongside Blue Origin's entry into the Space Domain Awareness market with the Blue Ring spacecraft and ACME Space's plans for a balloon-launched orbital manufacturing vehicle.

This week Paul and Harrison discuss Ursa Major securing $100 million in Series E funding to scale hypersonics and solid rocket motors, reflecting a growing market demand driven by wartime production and new use cases like on-orbit interceptors. They also examined Voyager Space's strategic acquisition of Estes Energetics as part of its post-IPO growth, Rocket Lab's impressive launch cadence, a $44 million DARPA contract secured by Redwire for the VLEO satellite, the significant European investments in space sovereignty and military space, the shifting GEO market with Echostar's decision to refer customers to Starlink instead of funding its Hughesnet subsidiary. Announcements for new funding of software, communications, and in-orbit technology demonstrations are covered noting important developments in lunar power connectors by Yank Technologies and attitude control systems by Zenno Aerospace and Samara Space.

This week Harrison and Paul discussed the successful New Glenn launch of the ESCAPADE mission and the successful launch of the Sentinel 1D satellite by Ariane-6, Avio's significant $460 million investment for growth in solid motor manufacturing, the Chinese space program’s 70 launches despite a setback with Galactic Energy’s Ceres-1 failure, and maturation of in-space manufacturing with Varda and Space Forge securing agreements with United Semiconductor. Also covered are Momentus's $5 million NASA contract for hosted payloads and the general trend of vertical integration in the industry, exemplified by OHB's expansion and IonQ's targeted acquisitions of quantum technologies like Skyloom.

This week Harrison and Paul discuss Intuitive Machine’s acquisition of Lanteris Space Systems, the strategic implications of the SpaceX and EchoStar spectrum deal’s expansion, and SpaceX possibly acquiring Globalstar and its implications on Rocket Lab’s constellation contract. They assess the potential impact on Rocket Lab's acquisition of Mynaric, and broader implications for the EU space industry like for recently funded companies Reflex Aerospace and Endurosat, with goals of enhancing Europe’s sovereignty in space. Further talking points included the FAA's temporary commercial launch curfew due to staffing challenges, which affects missions like New Glenn's launch of the Escapade mission, and Gravitics' positioning of its "Diamondback orbital carrier" as a space-based interceptor platform. Other advances in technology are covered such as Planet's partnership with Google for TPU testing in space, Besxar's orbital manufacturing, and satellite augmented drone geolocation from Vantor.