Payload

The Pentagon office charged with going fast is at least six months behind on its next project. The Space Development Agency’s Tranche 1 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, which was expected to launch in September, is now on hold until March or April, SDA Director Derek Tournear said last week. https://lnkd.in/ezGY-3tT

Blue Origin launched its ninth crewed New Shepard mission to space on Friday, sending a six-person crew for a brief visit 107 km above the Earth from the company’s spaceport outside of Van Horn, TX. https://lnkd.in/ehYj27HX

The Space Force awarded Anduril Industries a $99.7M contract yesterday to give its Space Surveillance Network (SSN) a much-needed makeover. https://lnkd.in/ej4REaD9

Maxar Technologies shared the first imagery from its WorldView Legion 3 and 4 satellites this week. Payload caught up with CEO Dan Smoot about what these satellites enable and what he’s been up to during his first year leading the company. https://lnkd.in/e-xpJQ7W

Last week, Payload held one of the most important investor events for the space industry. We brought together 250+ of the industry's leading executives and institutional investors, representing $8T+ in AUM. It was an incredible day. A huge shoutout to all the attendees and the Payload Summit Squad --> Audrey Evangelo, Jack Kuhr, Ari Lewis ????, Brian D'Erario, Ashley Cox, and Cynthia Moll. Of course, none of us this would’ve been possible without our sponsors: Bank of America, Sceye, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Deloitte, VAST, KAL Capital Markets LLC, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Loft Orbital, Founders Fund, Source Energy, Generation Space, Aerospacelab, Radian Aerospace, Savills and SpiderOak. See you next November in West Hollywood!

Hot on the heels of another productive test flight, two new lunar customers have been added to the flight manifest for SpaceX’s Starship. https://lnkd.in/e6QrFcuc

Inversion, a California startup trying to crack space-based delivery with an autonomous reentry vehicle called Arc, announced a $44M Series A yesterday. https://lnkd.in/eg8Ezeq9

The Netherlands is preparing to boost both its domestic space industry and its national security capabilities in orbit with the launch of its first military EO sat, to be built by a consortium of Dutch companies. https://lnkd.in/edabAUrg

SpaceX launched Starship on its sixth flight test yesterday but called off its Super Heavy booster catch attempt back at the pad, instead diverting the 233-ft-tall vehicle to a controlled water splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. https://lnkd.in/eM27ENKp

The Exploration Company got a little more free ranging yesterday, announcing a $160M Series B that puts the European firm on track to send a cargo space capsule to the ISS by 2028. https://lnkd.in/eScgDrUt