Pari Singh

Voyager Technologies is investing in expandable module developer Max Space. The companies announced Monday that Voyager will make an investment in the "low eight figures" in Max Space to accelerate that startup's development of inflatable modules. The companies announced last month they would partner to combine their capabilities to offer lunar habitats to NASA as the agency begins plans for a lunar base. [SpaceNews] https://lnkd.in/dUr2eAwV

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Rocket Lab just agreed to buy Iridium for $8 billion, and somewhere in Seattle, Jeff Bezos is checking his blast radius. Here's the trade: Rocket Lab gets Iridium's 500+ satellite network, L-band spectrum, and 2.5 million paying subscribers spanning defense, aviation, maritime and commercial. Iridium gets a launch and manufacturing arm it never had. Together they become the kind of vertically integrated space company that designs, builds, launches and operates its own constellation instead of renting a ride on somebody else's rocket. Rocket Lab just fully financed the deal with a $1.94 billion stock offering and got Iridium's lenders to bless the change of control. Close is targeted for mid-2027, pending the usual regulatory blessing. That's a lot of moving parts for a company that started this decade launching small satellites off a converted sheep farm in New Zealand. Compare the field. SpaceX is still the elephant in every room: Falcon 9 cadence nobody touches, Starlink printing subscriber revenue, Starship aimed at heavy lift and eventually Mars. Rocket Lab isn't trying to out-launch that. It's trying to own a working telecom network with government-grade spectrum, which SpaceX and Amazon's Kuiper don't have in this flavor. Blue Origin, meanwhile, is still trying to make New Glenn a reliable habit rather than an occasional event, funded by one very patient billionaire and a lot of patience from everyone else. Firefly, Relativity, Isar and the rest of the small launch crowd are competing over who gets to be the second-best small launcher in the West. None of them just bought a subscriber base and a spectrum license. The real question isn't whether this makes Rocket Lab bigger. It's whether an $8 billion bet on someone else's aging satellite constellation is the fastest way to become a "fully vertically integrated space powerhouse," or just the most expensive way to find out what integration actually costs.

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Ursa Major is proving what American industrial scale looks like in the 21st century. Under Daniel Jablonsky’s leadership, Ursa Major is building more than engines — it’s rebuilding the nation’s propulsion base with the speed, precision, and vertical integration required for sustained aerospace and defense superiority. In the past year, the team opened a 400-acre solid rocket motor facility, executed multiple hypersonic test flights, and booked more than $115M in contracts with the the Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, Stratolaunch, and BAE Systems — all while advancing the next generation of propulsion systems that the U.S. urgently needs. Today, Eclipse is proud to lead the company’s $100M Series E and back a team setting the new standard for industrial-scale innovation in America. More from my Eclipse Partner Seth Winterroth and me: https://bit.ly/3JEmuXq

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El Segundo's/Next-Gen hardware has a secret new role: the Irresponsible Engineer (IRE) 👀 1. Add more Meetings and new Requirements Continuously add scope. If in doubt, book a two hour enigneering wide meeting to check in and discuss. 2. When in doubt - add headcount to make things go faster If one woman can have a baby in nine months. Surely nine woman can have a baby in one month. Add three extra middle managers to really make things are on track. 3. Make Requirements more verobse Who needs a simple Thrust = 5kN when you can add 500 lines of shall statements to really ham it up. Systems Engineers exist to write documentation - not solve real engineering problems - so really show how important you are by throwing a stack of papers at an engineer when they ask you what you do. 4. Spend years building a really good looking gantt chart Let's talk about Jan 2033 in lots of detail. So much detail in fact that the schedule moves to Jan 2034. We need to acknowledge every consievable risk, and then risks on those risks. How much risk is there in not doing good risk management? too much. Hire some more risk people next quarter to be sure. April Fools. This is obviously the opposite of what you should be doing. See the CIA's manual on how to sabotage an organization’s productivity below.

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🚀 We’re thrilled to announce our investment in Samara Aerospace’s $10 million Seed round to help bring more stability to satellites in orbit and enable high-sensitivity radio frequency (RF) detection for defense (e.g. hypersonic missiles) and commercial (e.g. vessels) applications.  The round was led by Balerion Space Ventures, with participation from IllinoisVentures GP LLC, MFV Partners, and Access Holdings Samara’s vision: Samara is building a new generation of high-stability satellites, called Hummingbirds, designed to detect the faintest RF emissions from Earth and its atmosphere. The problem: Modern satellites are optimized for cost and speed, at the expense of: ⚠️ Signal instability reducing data quality and reliability ⚠️ Limited ability to detect aircraft radar, ship transponders, and advanced weather systems ⚠️ Inefficiencies that translate into lost time, resources, and data What Samara does differently: At the core of Hummingbird is MSAC (Multifunctional Structures for Attitude Control), an active vibration-cancellation system. Instead of passively damping movements and jitters, MSAC actively eliminates them, allowing for: ✅ Extreme satellite stability for ultra-weak RF signal detection ✅ Support for much larger antennas and solar arrays without sacrificing agility ✅ Cut satellite size and weight without impacting performance Traction: Samara recently launched its technology demonstrator, “Cicada” with SpaceX and received Non-dilutive funding including a $4M SpaceWERX Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) award and a NASA Phase I contract. These are in addition to more than $800m in LOIs that Samara holds with aerospace contractors and companies. Samara's plans to deploy a full constellation of these stabilised satellites, enabling faint radio signals detection for dual-use application: Defence: tracking fast-moving targets, including hypersonic missiles, with precision beyond existing technology.  Commercial/Civil: providing continuous monitoring and awareness of assets across the globe such as vessels and airplanes. What’s next: 🚀 First mission Hummingbird-1 planned for 2027 🏭 Scaling operations with a new 11,200-sq-ft production facility We’re excited to back Samara Aerospace alongside Balerion Space Ventures and What If Ventures, and are excited for what’s to come. You can read the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/enZyy2Xu 💡 Want access to breakthrough ventures like Samara Aerospace? Join our investor network 👉 https://lnkd.in/g4AedRck Note: This announcement is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy securities. #SpaceTech #Aerospace #DefenseTech #DeepTech #VentureCapital

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We have scaled everything in space except the workforce. The ISS runs on a handful of astronauts stuck doing logistics and upkeep instead of the science only humans can do. At Icarus, we are changing this. Our first robotic mission to the ISS, JOYRIDE-1, launches early next year. We aren't replacing astronauts, we are extending what's possible in orbit. More robots in space means more humans in space. Glad to get into this and more with Mike Gruss and the SpaceNews team on a podcast we recorded today at #SmallSat. In Salt Lake this week? DM me, let's chat robots and space logistics!

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