Weekly Recap #57 - Rocket Powered Doordash

Main Topics Space Responsivity * Eradrive won a $13M US DoD APFIT contract to provide vision based autonomy nodes to the USSF [source] * Orbital Operations wins up to $35M from the US DoD for their Astraeus cryogenic maneuverable spacecraft, and closes $7M seed extension led by DTX Ventures. [source] * Infinite Orbits raised $58M from the European Innovation Council and booked 4 Impulse Space OTV flights for their Endurance GEO servicing satellites. [source] * Momentus awarded a NASA task order to formulate a mission for Fly Foundational Robotics resupply. [source] * Space Robot raised $15M to deploy a constellation of servicing satellites. [source] * Sinxbot raised tens of millions to develop robotic arms for satellite servicing. [source] New Capabilities * SpaceX’s Bandwagon 5 launched: * SES & Planet’s Pelican-12 tested data relays for NASA Communications Service project. [source] * Rocket Lab’s Maxwell satellite manufactured for Viasat to demonstrate NASA Communications Service project. [source] * Varda’s W-7 to manufacture cancer pharmaceuticals with improved solubility. [source] * SpaceX Starfall to test rapid delivery of military equipment for AFRL. [source] * First 6 Xona Pulsars for an alternative to GPS. [source] * Samara won a $1.3M NASA contract to demonstrate attitude control technology in a lab setting. [source] * Warpware closed a $1.2M pre-seed round to develop an AI engineering platform for space software. [source] * AstraQua was awarded a $1.27M Phase II contract from NASA for autonomous machine health intelligence. [source] * OHB awarded a feasibility study for ESA’s OASIS program to develop lunar infrastructure. [source] Defense * Space Force selected six companies for their SDA Commercial Reserve Fleet: Anduril, Intrack, Slingshot, LeoLabs, EOS, and Northstar. [source] * SSC launched ACES for commercial access to classified space programs. [source] * SDA released a Request for Information for Tranche 4 missile-tracking of PWSA. [source] Business Moves * Xona raised a $250M Series D led by Future Ventures, valuing them at $2.45B. [source] * Apex pursuing $500M Series F led by Washington Harbour Partners, for a $4B valuation. [source] * Telesat offered a $3.2B rescue package from lenders ahead of December default. [source] * FCC authorized Globalstar’s C-3 D2D constellation. [source] * Arqiva got a 3-year satellite service agreement with Kuwait’s Gulfsat. [source] Tech Advances * Marble Imaging and Reflex Aerospace selected Odysseus laser terminal for their first satellite mission. [source] Get full access to Space Times at spacetimespod.substack.com/subscribe