Middle East quagmire and Satellites galore
Space Technologies
Good morning,
Will we ever break out of the Middle East? It doesn’t look likely. As Iran warns of a ‘crushing response’ to Israel’s response to Iran’s response to Israel’s shwacking of senior Hezbollah and Hamas leaders in response to (oh to hell with it, you get the idea), the U.S. announces it’s sending more bombers, warships to the Middle East. Speaking of Iran, they launched a couple of satellites last night on Russia’s Soyuz rocket that carried 4x research satellites, Irans 2x satellites, and 51x other small sats. That’s a lot of satellites.
Now let’s blast off!
News Headlines:
U.S. sending bombers, more warships to Middle East (AP)
Iran's Ayatollah threatens Israel and U.S. with 'crushing response' over Israeli attack (AP)
U.S. calls on silent China to use its sway over Russia and N. Korea (AP)
Satellites:
Launches:
Upcoming Launches:
Space News:
Pentagon's commercial satellite internet services program soars 14x to $13B (SN)
Space Force, SpaceCom transition two Deltas to fully-integrated mission deltas (USSF)
Space startups flag lack of local manufacturing ecosystem, say paying premium for components (ET)
Researchers unveil game changing optical communication tech for space (DB)
Multimode propulsion could revolutionize how we launch things to space (UT)
Maxar: Robots increasingly directing satellites (DO)
SpaceX is increasingly involved in the spy satellite game, a fact that when combined with Elon Musk's emerging connections with Russian and Chinese leaders is giving some Pentagon insiders cause for pause (NYT)
Astranis partners with Xona Space for U.S. military GPS backup program (SN)
NRO awards study contracts to Cognitive Space, Impulse Space, and Starfish Space for 'Agile Launch Innovation and Strategic Technology Advancement' (SN)
Solestial readies rad-hardened solar cells for mass production (CT)
Satellite imagery shows mystery ship built in China amid breakneck naval expansion (CNN)
Foreign Space News
Australia cancels $7B JP9102 geostationary satellite effort with Lockheed Martin to explore 'multi-orbit' options (SN)
ESA picks consortium for sovereign satellite broadband system IRIS2 (DN)
Japan launches Kirameki 3 military communications satellite with H3 rocket (SN)
USAID helping Philippine space agency investigate satellite internet (FS)
China's 'mind-boggling' space militarization raises alarm in the U.S.; Beijing says Pentagon inflating 'China threat' theory (BI)
China rotates crew of taikonauts on Tiangong space station (SN)
China's Shenzhou-19 crew to conduct experiments in space including lunar bricks (DW)
China's Manned Space Engineering Office taps two proposals to develop spacecraft for low-cost space station resupply missions (SN)
Satellites making up China's Starlink-like 'Thousand Sails' found to be exceeding brightness limits (PHY)
Iran advances quickly in space tech using AI in satellites (TVB)
Satellite images show North Korea dug large border trenches after demolishing road, rail links (AP)
Russia to launch two Iranian satellites on Nov. 5, Tehran's Moscow envoy says (RT)
Deal Flow:
Funds
Tamarack Global seeking space investments for new $72M fund (SN)
VC
Remote sensing startup Matter Intelligence raised a $12M seed round led by Lowercarbon Capital (BW)
Chinese launch firm Cosmoleap has secured more than $14M in funding to develop its Yueqian reusable rocket, featuring Starship-inspired chopstick recovery system (SN)
PE / M&A
Lockheed Martin has completed its $450M acquisition deal of small satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital (SN)
Apple agreed to acquire a 20% stake in satellite provider Globalstar for $400M (SN)
Opportunities
The U.S. Space Force on Oct. 30 opened the bidding process for emerging space launch providers to compete for national security missions under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program (SAM)
The European Space Agency has launched its second Space Resources Challenge to pioneer tech to help humans live and work on the Moon (ESA)
Editor's Picks:
No time to read the full report on Space Agenda 2025? The Aerospace Corporation was kind enough to distill it down to this summary.
A TechCrunch Disrupt panel offers insights into how national interest startups should think about government contracts.
Financial Times produced a short and interesting film on Sequoia Capital and the evolution of the VC industry.
Lighter Side:
Keep Building,
BOF