Star Catcher
May 19 — Star Catcher raised **$65 million** in Series A funding to build the first power grid in space, enabling orbital power beaming capabilities.
SPACEHAUS · Commercial space intelligence
Space Industry Weekly Briefing — 2026-05-19
Commercial space news and intelligence for the week ending 2026-05-19.
Week ending
Funding Rounds & Investment Activity
Tomorrow.io
May 19 — Tomorrow.io extended its Series F funding round to **$210 million** with additional investment from Pitango and Harel Insurance, supporting its weather intelligence satellite constellation.
Contracts, Awards & Government Activity
Northrop Grumman
May 18 — Space Force's Space Systems Command awarded Northrop Grumman a **$398 million** firm-fixed price contract to develop and build an Enhanced Protected Tactical Satellite Communications-Prototype (PTS-P).
Astrolab
May 18 — Astrolab's first lunar rover FLIP will carry **four NASA payloads** on a mission planned to launch later this year under NASA's lunar exploration program.
Lynk Global
May 19 — Lynk Global secured FCC regulatory approval to test direct-to-device (D2D) satellite communications for private utility networks using terrestrial spectrum from Anterix in the United States.
Skynopy
May 18 — Skynopy won a contract from Toulouse-based U-Space to provide ground station services for the operation of two small satellites.
NASA
May 18 — The U.S. Senate confirmed Matt Anderson as NASA's deputy administrator on May 18, making him the second-in-command of the space agency.
Mergers, Acquisitions & Partnerships
York Space Systems
May 19 — York Space Systems announced plans to acquire Solestial, a radiation-resistant solar technology company, strengthening its satellite manufacturing capabilities.
European Space Agency (ESA)
May 18 — ESA and French space agency CNES signed off on a three-year, **$1.16 billion** investment in Europe's Guiana Space Center spaceport to maintain and upgrade launch infrastructure.
Launch Activity & Mission Milestones
European Space Agency (ESA)
May 19 — ESA's SMILE mission, developed jointly with China, successfully launched aboard a Vega C rocket from French Guiana at 04:52 BST to study Earth's magnetosphere and solar wind interactions.
SpaceX
May 18 — SpaceX delayed the first Starship V3 test flight (Flight 12) by one day, now targeting Wednesday, May 20, from Starbase in Texas. The new Starship V3 design represents the latest iteration of the megarocket.
NASA
May 18 — NASA released video footage showing the Artemis 2 Orion capsule's separation from its service module just before the spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere on April 10, 2026.
Industry Context
Pentagon / Golden Dome
May 18 — Pentagon officials overseeing Golden Dome are courting commercial space founders, venture investors, and software companies to build missile defense as a modern technology platform rather than a traditional weapons system.
European Earth Observation Companies
May 18 — European Earth-observation firms are moving to fill the gap left by U.S. satellite imagery companies that have pulled back from sharing visuals of Iran and the broader Gulf conflict area.
Additional Updates
Vast
May 19 — Vast launched a new satellite bus business line, expanding beyond its commercial space station development activities.
iDirectGov
May 18 — iDirect Government released WCore, a new virtualization tool supporting **16 waveforms** designed for rapid waveform deployment, scaling, and management in government satcom applications.
Starlink
May 18 — Starlink raised prices across its U.S. satellite internet plans, with the 100Mbps Residential plan increasing from **$50 to $55/month** and the 200Mbps plan rising from **$80 to $85/month**.
KVH
May 18 — Maritime connectivity provider KVH reported that Starlink and OneWeb now represent **45% of revenue** (up from 30% a year ago), with **3,100 units** shipped in Q1 2026.
SpaceX
May 18 — OSHA is investigating a worker death at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas, the latest safety issue at a site with a higher injury rate than all other SpaceX locations.