Top Stories
In-space mobility company Impulse Space has raised $500 million. The company announced Tuesday it closed a Series D round led by 137 Ventures and BANNER VC, bringing the total raised by the company to more than $1 billion. Impulse plans to use the funding to hire more staff to scale up production of its Mira maneuverable spacecraft and Helios high-energy kick stage. The company sees strong demand from commercial and government customers, including development of a lunar lander for NASA. [SpaceNews]
Voyager Technologies is acquiring lunar lander developer Astrobotic for as much as $300 million. The companies announced early Tuesday an agreement where Voyager will acquire Astrobotic for $162 million in cash and stock and assumption of $9 million in debt, with up to $129 million in future earnout payments contingent on reaching performance milestones. Astrobotic is best known for developing lunar landers. Its Griffin lunar lander is being prepared for launch later this year. Voyager said the acquisition fits into its strategic lunar initiative announced earlier this year, with Astrobotic's Pittsburgh headquarters serving as the new center of that effort. Astrobotic is also working on other technologies, from reusable suborbital vehicles to lunar power systems, and Voyager indicated those efforts would continue after the acquisition. [SpaceNews]
NASA has backed off plans to develop a "core module" for the International Space Station to support commercial space station development. NASA proposed the concept in March, arguing that such a module, owned by the government and installed on the ISS to host commercial modules, could serve as a bridge to commercial space stations given a lack of commercial demand the agency currently perceived for commercial stations. Companies developing those stations pushed back against the proposal, stating they saw sufficient demand from NASA and other space agencies, along with growing commercial interest in microgravity research, to support multiple stations. NASA said Monday it will stick with industry's preferred approach to support development of commercial stations, with a draft RFP for the next phase of NASA's Commercial LEO Destinations program to be released later this month. [SpaceNews]
Northrop Grumman announced Monday it will work with spacecraft manufacturer Apex on Golden Dome space-based interceptors. Northrop is one of 12 firms selected by the U.S. Space Force to develop concepts for space-based interceptors, one of the most ambitious elements of the Golden Dome missile defense system, while Apex has developed a production line to produce a variety of satellite buses in volume. This partnership comes after Raytheon said it would work with Rocket Lab on interceptors while Anduril Industries has assembled a team that includes several commercial space companies. The partnerships are meant to address a concern about the ability to affordably mass produce interceptors. [SpaceNews]
Vast will fly two French astronauts on private missions to the ISS and Vast's own station. The company said Monday it reached an agreement with the French government in which French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, a veteran of two long-duration ISS missions, will command Vast's private astronaut mission to the ISS in 2027. Arnaud Prost, selected as a French reserve astronaut in ESA's 2022 astronaut class, will be on the first crewed mission to Vast's Haven-1 station in 2027. Vast also announced it will establish its European headquarters in Paris. [SpaceNews]
Vast is also working with the U.K. Space Agency to fly an astronaut with a physical disability. The agency announced Tuesday an agreement to support the U.S.-based company in securing sponsorships to fund a 14-day mission to Haven-1. The mission would fly John McFall, an ESA reserve astronaut who lost his right leg in a motorcycle accident. An ESA study last year medically cleared McFall to fly in space. The agreement could also make McFall the first British citizen to go on an orbital spaceflight since Tim Peake went to the ISS in 2015, although U.K. citizens have flown suborbitally since Peake's mission. [SpaceNews]
|
