Weekly Recap #39 + Eradrive Interview

This week includes a special interview with Sumant Sharma, CEO of Eradrive! Launch * ISAR scrubbed the most recent scheduled launch of their Spectrum vehicle, marking the fourth such scrubbing this year. [source] * Chinese startup Landspace’s Zhuque-2E rocket, launched on June 9th, experienced an upper stage failure during parts of its disposal burn. [source] * China continued its accelerated launch cadence with a series of 4 missions over a 72 hour period concluding with the liftoff of a Kuaizhou-11 solid rocket from the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation on Wednesday the 17th[source] Comms / Data * Gilat acquired Comtech’s Satellite and Space Communications Segment this week in an all cash $157.5M deal intended to push revenue above $700M. [source] * The USSF ordered two additional GPS satellites from Lockheed Martin. [source] * Ororatech selected for NASA Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition contract. [source] * Northstar won over $40M from 3 Canadian Space Division to advance sovereign space domain awareness. * Look Up and Skynopy announced a partnership to provide an automated collision avoidance service titled ‘Atlas2’ Space Safety Program. [source] Logistics * Katalyst raised $12M for their Nexus GEO servicing mission in a round led by Geodesic Capital. [source] * Quantum Space won a Pentagon contract to develop and demonstrate refueling spacecraft. [source] * DARPA issued an open solicitation for solutions for ‘rapid reconstitution of space systems’. [source] * Austrian startup GATE Space won €6.3M in EU grants and equity funding through the EIC accelerator. [source] * Elevation Space raised a $40M Series B to develop space-to-Earth transportation and a space environment utilization and recovery platform through a third party allotment of shares. [source] Business Moves * AFRL announced a partnership with PiLogic for autonomous fault prediction using the latter’s “Exact AI” engine to diagnose and predict electrical and power failures aboard spacecraft platforms. [source] * Dawn Aerospace raised $25M Series B to accelerate global expansion of reusable space transportation. [source] * EQT announced the intent to acquire satellite deployment and launch mission management company Exolaunch. [source] * MDA announced the intent to purchase Colorado-based Blue Canyon for $620M. [source] * SpaceX executed its option to purchase Cursor for $60B in stock. [source] Tech Advances * NASA announced that Relativity Space would design, build, and launch the spacecraft that carries NASA’s Aeolus instrument suite to orbit around Mars. [source] * Boeing demonstrated their quantum protocol Q4S payload prior to their scheduled year long mission launching in 2027. [source] * LeoLabs deployed their Scout-S, a new class of transportable 3D search radar, to the Indo-Pacific. [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe