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☆ Investing in Space: Former NASA official explains 'shots on goal' approach to cargo moon landings
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. We're six years on from NASA declaring it would look to American companies to deliver cargo and research to the moon. As much as CLPS companies are bidding against each other for contracts, it's another example of what I've called space industry coopetition — simultaneous cooperation and competition. Already, Astrobotic represents that dynamic, holding a briefing with other CLPS companies to share the learnings from the company's first effort. But how many CLPS mission failures will NASA tolerate?

Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, it's, Thomas Zurbuchen, Zurbuchen, Z, Astrobotic's, – Organizations: NASA, Payload, Aerospace

☆ Space investment rebounded in 2023 with heavy sector M&A, report says
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Investment in the space sector bounced back last year, rebounding closer to the record high of 2021, according to a report Tuesday by New York-based Space Capital. The firm's fourth-quarter report found that space infrastructure companies brought in $2.6 billion of private investment during the period. Top raises during the fourth quarter included funds announced by space companies Firefly Aerospace, Ursa Major, D-Orbit, Stoke Space and True Anomaly. The quarterly Space Capital report divides investment in the industry into three technology categories: infrastructure, distribution and application. Space infrastructure companies have been resilient through the recent downturn.

Persons: Chad Anderson, Anderson Organizations: Infrastructure, Space Capital, Firefly Aerospace, Ursa, Space, CNBC Locations: New York

The Austin-based rocket builder and in-space services company is close to announcing the closure of an oversubscribed capital raise, its CEO Bill Weber told CNBC's Manifest Space. Firefly can currently launch its medium-launch rocket, Alpha, every two months. "Alpha has a demand signature for the next three to four years, which is more than good enough for what we want to do with it," Weber told CNBC. Weber told CNBC the company is also in talks with the intelligence community about classified payloads. The macro environment, which has largely stunned public space companies, will help to decide timing.

Persons: Firefly's, Bill Weber, CNBC's, Weber, Morgan Brennan, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Organizations: Firefly's Alpha, Vandenberg Space Force Base, Alpha, Firefly Aerospace, CNBC, Spaceflight Inc, Virgin Orbit, U.S . Space Force, Systems, NASA, Lockheed, Antares Locations: Austin, Austin , Texas, North Carolina, Ukraine, Russian

☆ Investing in Space: Here are the rockets chasing to compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

SpaceXCNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. Overview: Chasing the FalconNo rocket has been better-described as a "workhorse" than SpaceX's Falcon 9. Aside from Blue Origin's New Glenn, the early theme is rockets that are close to the capability of Falcon 9 and less expensive. – CNBC, which the lawsuit says were used for NASA projects including the International Space Station and the Space Launch Systems rocket. – Firefly Aerospace: The rocket builder says the deal will bolster its launch, spacecraft, and lunar lander businesses.

Persons: CNBC's Michael Sheetz, Phil Smith, SpaceX's, Glenn, Smith, –, Smith doesn't, CNBC ULA, Tory Bruno, Jeff Bezos, ULA, – Read, Shepard, Bob Smith, Jim Free, Artemis, HawkEye, – Hydrosat, Leonardo DiCaprio, – Momentus, Westinghouse EchoStar's Hughes, – EchoStar, Iris Lan, Sumara Thompson, King, Lan, – NASA Celeste Ford, Ford, – SpiderOak Melissa Quinn, Quinn Organizations: SpaceX CNBC's, SpaceX, Falcon, Boeing, NASA, CNBC, CNBC Department of Defense, Ukraine, Starlink, Pentagon, –, Space Station, Systems, CNBC SpaceX, Cargo, International Space, FAA, Intelsat, Japan Airlines, Embraer, – Intelsat, Rocket, ONE, Washington, Spaceflight, Aerospace, Aerospace Spacecraft, York, MaC Venture Capital, Broom Ventures, Veto, TechCrunch Viasat, Air Force, Viasat, Westinghouse, U.S . Department of Justice, – NASA, Ford, Stellar Solutions Locations: Florida, China, Russia, Colorado, Ukrainian, Bellevue , Washington, Cortado, Cornwall

☆ Rocket maker Firefly buys on-orbit servicing company Spaceflight
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 8 (Reuters) - Rocket maker Firefly Aerospace, founded by a former SpaceX engineer, said on Thursday it has acquired launch services company Spaceflight Inc in a push to boost its on-orbit servicing capabilities. Firefly is a space transportation company that helps customers such as NASA and General Atomics with launch, lunar and in-space services, while Spaceflight offers servicing for satellites and other spacecraft while in orbit. Demand has also shifted from launching a few satellites on small rockets to launching swarms of satellites at once using bigger rockets such as the ones made by SpaceX. Texas-based Firefly is trying to mass-produce its medium-sized rocket, while developing a larger launcher under a new partnership with Northrop Grumman (NOC.N). Firefly is among a handful of U.S. space companies vying to launch small satellites into space.

Persons: Atomics, Samrhitha, Devika Organizations: Firefly Aerospace, SpaceX, Spaceflight Inc, NASA, Spaceflight, Virgin Orbit, SpaceX ., Northrop Grumman, Industrial Partners, Thomson Locations: U.S, SpaceX . Texas, Bellevue , Washington, Bengaluru

☆ Rocket builder Firefly takes on high-speed Space Force mission for crucial next launch
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Michael Sheetz | In Michaeljsheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The Alpha rocket for the Space Force's Victus Nox mission stands on the launchpad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The mission for the military's Los Angeles-based Space Safari team calls for flying a Millennium Space Systems-built satellite on Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket — on remarkably short notice. The Alpha rocket for the Space Force's Victus Nox mission stands on the launchpad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Space Force selected Firefly and Millennium for the Victus Nox contract in October, setting off a chain of events starting with the build phase. Firefly's opportunitywatch nowFirefly originally planned to fly a NASA mission on its third Alpha rocket launch, after the company reached space with its second launch in October.

☆ Analysis: Rocket startups face adapt-or-die moment amid investment drought
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Venture investment in space startups has dropped 50% year-over-year in 2022 to $21.9 billion, according to VC firm Space Capital. Astra Space (ASTR.O), which ditched its small Rocket 3.3 for a planned, larger Rocket 4 in the next few years, has struggled to bring its stock price above $1, facing delisting threats from Nasdaq. Despite the startups' struggles, launch demand has soared after sanctions following Russia's invasion of Ukraine cut off access to Russian rockets. Recent failures with Europe's Arianespace's Vega-C rocket have added to demand in the U.S., outstripping the number of available rockets. Private plans to deploy mega-constellations, vast swarms of satellites in low-Earth orbit, have also given launch startups hope for future demand.

☆ NASA awards Firefly Aerospace $112 mln contract for far-side moon lander
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 14 (Reuters) - NASA on Tuesday said it had picked U.S. rocket builder Firefly Aerospace to put a lander on the moon's far side in 2026, under a nearly $112 million contract. "The commercial lander will deliver two agency payloads, as well as communication and data relay satellite for lunar orbit, which is an ESA (European Space Agency) collaboration with NASA," the U.S. space agency said. NASA handed a similar award of $73 million to spacecraft software firm Draper last year to deliver science and technology payloads to the far side of the moon in 2025. NASA awarded Cedar Park, Texas-based Firefly $93.3 million in 2021 to carry a suite of 10 science investigations and technology demonstrations to the moon in 2023. Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Investing in Space: Launch jitters
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. Even today's private U.S. launch leaders, SpaceX and Rocket Lab , had their share of failures when first gunning for orbit. "In a launch vehicle, you have lots of different complex systems … and traditionally, we've been talking about expendable launch vehicles. "We're finally transitioning to a reusable launch vehicle mentality, and I think you're going to see more and more of that kind of testing," Nield said. But even with one-off rockets, Nield remains "very bullish" on the launch market.

☆ Space station company Vast, founded by billionaire Jed McCaleb, acquires startup Launcher
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Space station company Vast announced on Tuesday it has acquired fellow startup Launcher in a move that effectively triples the former's headcount and expands its suite of tech and IP. "Building a space station is this complex undertaking, and you need a lot of people to do it," Vast founder and CEO Jed McCaleb told CNBC. Vast aims to build human habitats with artificial gravity, a step more ambitious than the existing zero gravity environment of the International Space Station, or of other private stations underway. Headquartered in Long Beach, California, at a 115,000-square-foot facility, Vast was stood up last year by McCaleb, who made his fortune in cryptocurrency. Before launching Vast, McCaleb first dipped into the space industry in 2021, joining the board of Firefly Aerospace after an investment through a non-profit he founded called the Astera Institute.

☆ Rocket builder ABL's inaugural launch fails shortly after liftoff, damages launch pad
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The company's RS1 rocket lifts off on its inaugural launch attempt from Kodiak, Alaska on Jan. 10, 2023. The first mission by ABL Space got off the ground on Tuesday, but the company's RS1 rocket suffered an issue early in the flight that caused it to fail shortly after lifting off. ABL President Dan Piemont told CNBC that the RS1 rocket stayed within the predefined "acceptable flight corridor" during the short launch, but after the rocket's engines shut down the vehicle "impacted directly on the launch pad," causing damage. ABL's RS1 rocket stands about 90 feet tall, and is designed to launch as much as 1,350 kilograms (or nearly 1.5 tons) of payload to low Earth orbit — at a cost of $12 million per launch. That puts RS1 in the middle of the commercial launch market, between Rocket Lab's smaller Electron and SpaceX's heavy class Falcon 9.

ROME/PARIS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Italy's Vega rockets have been grounded and an investigation is under way after the latest model failed on its second mission, destroying two Earth-imaging satellites and further complicating Europe's access to space on top of the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson for Arianespace said both the Vega C and its Vega predecessor had been grounded pending the findings of an investigative commission co-chaired by technical officials from the European Space Agency and Arianespace itself. Italy's Vega C rocket is due to play an increasingly crucial role in Europe's access to space after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine forced Arianespace to stop using Russian Soyuz vehicles. But Arianespace has been forced to scrap plans to announce a Vega C launch schedule for 2023 in coming weeks. Analysts said only a few operational alternatives to Vega C exist, such as potential rideshares aboard U.S.-based SpaceX's bigger Falcon 9 or Firefly Aerospace's new Alpha launcher, which can loft roughly half the payload weight of Vega C.Other options, though somewhat larger than Vega C, include rockets from Japan and India.

The space company was valued at more than $1 billion when private equity firm AE Industrial Partners became its controlling shareholder in March. A FireFly spokesperson declined to comment when asked about the fundraising, as did a spokesperson for AE Industrial Partners. It is among a handful of U.S. space companies vying to launch small satellites into space. SpaceX's bigger Falcon 9 rocket costs $62 million and Rocket Lab's smaller Electron rocket costs $7 million. Venture capital investments in space companies fell 44% from a year earlier, according to a quarterly report from VC firm Space Capital.

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