SPACE.HAUS · WEEKLY INTEL BRIEFING

Space Industry Weekly Briefing — Tuesday, March 31, 2026

Weekly intelligence briefing for the commercial space industry, week ending Tuesday, March 31, 2026. 27 stories across 6 categories including Funding Rounds & Investment Activity, Contracts, Awards & Government Activity, Mergers, Acquisitions & Partnerships, Launch Activity & Mission Milestones, Industry Context, Additional Updates. AI-curated by space.haus from 50+ industry sources.

Sources scanned: 50
Companies with news: 38
Funding activity: $3.7B+
Top story: Artemis II Launch T-1 Day

Funding Rounds & Investment Activity

Shield AI — San Diego, CA

FUNDING

Mar 26 — $2B Series G raised at $12.7B valuation (up from $5.6B). Co-led by Advent International & JPMorganChase. Acquiring tactical simulation company Aechalon and closing $500M preferred equity deal with Blackstone. 80%+ revenue growth targeted to $540M in 2026. Source

Vast Space, LLC — Long Beach, CA

FUNDING OPS UPDATE

Mar 5–6 — $500M raised, led by Balerion Space Ventures with Qatar sovereign wealth fund participation. Haven-1 primary structure completed Jan 10; targeting launch no earlier than May 2026. Won sixth NASA commercial ISS crew contract. Source

Aetherflux, Inc. — San Carlos, CA

FUNDING

Mar 27 — Raising $250–$350M Series B at $2B valuation. Index Ventures leading. Pivoting to orbital data centers / space computing. Opening Seattle satellite development hub. Also selected for NVIDIA Space Computing program. Source

Northwood Space — Torrance, CA

FUNDING CONTRACT

Jan 27 — $100M Series B + $50M Space Force contract. Led by Washington Harbour Partners, co-led by a16z. 82 beams across 18 global ground sites targeted by year-end. Source

Lux Aeterna Space — Denver, CO

FUNDING

Mar 10 — $10M oversubscribed seed round closed. Led by Konvoy, with Decisive Point, Cubit Capital, Wave Function, Space Capital. Developing reusable satellite "Delphi" — sold out payload capacity for 2027 inaugural mission. Source

Hubble Network — Seattle, WA

FUNDING OPS UPDATE

Mar 2026 — $70M Series B raised ($100M total). Demonstrated global Bluetooth-to-satellite at Embedded World 2026. Operating 7 satellites; scaling to 60-satellite constellation by 2028. Source

Contracts, Awards & Government Activity

Voyager Technologies — Denver, CO

CONTRACT

Mar 30 — Awarded contract with Icarus Robotics for mission management of free-flying robotic platform "Joyride" aboard ISS. Source
Mar 2026 — Awarded ELVIS 3 follow-on with NASA Launch Services Program through end of FY.
Feb 2026 — $24.5M NASA JSC Mission Management IDIQ (4-year) for ISS full-service mission management.

AnySignal — El Segundo, CA

CONTRACT

Mar 25 — Selected by the U.S. Space Force to field a Resilient, Agile, and Interference-Defiant Network for Secure Military Satellite Communications. Source

Axient LLC — Huntsville, AL

CONTRACT

Jun 2025 — Selected for $237M U.S. Space Force STEP 2.0 contract (10-year). Part of 12-awardee pool alongside York Space, Lockheed Martin, and others for space technology experiments. Source

Lunar Outpost — Arvada, CO

CONTRACT

Mar 2026 — One of 3 finalists for NASA's Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) contract — $4.6B combined max value. NASA announcement expected in coming weeks. Source

Mergers, Acquisitions & Partnerships

ARKA Group → CACI — Danbury, CT

M&A

Mar 9 — CACI International completed $2.6B all-cash acquisition of ARKA Group. ARKA's 1,100+ employees join CACI. ARKA provides EO/IR and hyperspectral imaging capabilities plus Agentic AI for national security geospatial intelligence. Source

Lynk Global + Omnispace — Chantilly, VA

M&A

Mar 2026 — Merger complete; new entity is Lynk Global Holdings, Inc. Combines Lynk's operational LEO platform + Omnispace's 60 MHz globally-coordinated S-band spectrum. Targeting 5,000-satellite deployment by 2030. Source

Intuitive Machines, LLC — Houston, TX

M&A OPS UPDATE

Q1 2026 — $800M acquisition of Lanteris Space Systems expected to close. Positions IM as next-gen commercial, civil & national security space prime. Building lunar communications network. Source

York Space Systems — Denver, CO

M&A CONTRACT

Mar 12 — Acquired Orbion Space Technology, a flight-proven propulsion system manufacturer, to vertically integrate spacecraft supply chain. Also STEP 2.0 awardee (Space Force). Source

Launch Activity & Mission Milestones

Varda Space Industries — El Segundo, CA

LAUNCH

Mar 30 — W-6 reentry vehicle launched aboard SpaceX Transporter-16. Sixth mission; first entirely Varda-made vehicle. Carries government payload. Targets Australia for reentry. Source

K2 Space — Torrance, CA

LAUNCH

Mar 30 — GRAVITAS — first Mega Class satellite — launched aboard Transporter-16. Tests 20kW Hall-effect thruster, large solar arrays, high-voltage power systems. Source

Firefly Aerospace — Cedar Park, TX

LAUNCH

Mar 11 — Alpha Flight 7 "Stairway to Seven" launched from Vandenberg SFB. Delivered Lockheed Martin demonstrator. Stage 2 engine relight validated. Source
Mar 19 — Q4 & FY2025 results: revenue up 163% YoY. 2026 revenue guidance: $420–450M.

SpaceX Transporter-16 — Vandenberg SFB, CA

LAUNCH

Mar 30 — Falcon 9 launched 119 payloads to SSO. Booster B1093 (12th flight) landed on OCISLY. Key payloads: K2 Space (GRAVITAS), Varda Space (W-6), plus payloads from 13 countries. Source

Orbit Fab Inc — Lafayette, CO

LAUNCH

2026 — First in-orbit refueling demonstration expected to launch this year. Partnering with Astroscale for GEO refueling system launching June 2026 — "fuel truck" will refuel a military satellite and orbital fuel depot in GEO. Source

Industry Context

NASA Artemis II — Kennedy Space Center, FL

LAUNCH

Mar 30–31 — Countdown underway. Launch window: April 1 at 6:24 PM EDT. 80% favorable weather. 4-person crew: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen. 10-day lunar flyby mission. First crewed SLS/Orion flight. Source
Mar 2026 — NASA pivoting from Gateway to direct lunar surface outpost ("Moon Base") strategy announced mid-March. Accounts competing for LTV, CLPS, and CLD awards are in active procurement cycles.

Axiom Space, Inc. — Houston, TX

CONTRACT OPS UPDATE

Mar 2026 — Secured new NASA ISS mission. Partnering with NVIDIA for orbital data center computing. Haven-2 proposal in active development for NASA CLD Phase 2 (selection mid-2026). Source

Additional Updates

True Anomaly — Colorado Springs, CO

OPS UPDATE

2026 — Expanding Jackal satellite operations to GEO and cislunar space in 2026. Plans to double workforce to 450 by year-end. Acquired 90K sq ft production space in Long Beach. Source

Stoke Space Technology — Kent, WA

OPS UPDATE

2026 — Completing facilities at Cape Canaveral LC-14 for Nova rocket launch. Fully reusable rocket program advancing toward first launch. Source

Impulse Space, Inc. — Redondo Beach, CA

OPS UPDATE

2026 — Helios kick stage on track to fly in 2026. Expanding Colorado engineering facility. Targeting MEO, GEO, and beyond delivery capability. Source

Planet Labs PBC — San Francisco, CA

OPS UPDATE

Mar 16 — Selected for NVIDIA Space Computing program — using NVIDIA accelerated computing for next-generation Earth observation missions. Source

Muon Space — Mountain View, CA

LAUNCH OPS UPDATE

Q1 2026 — Three RF sensing satellites for Sierra Nevada Corp. launching Q1. Three wildfire monitoring satellites launching mid-year. 20 satellites manifested over 20 months. MuSat XL platform unveiled. Source

Apex Technology (Apex Space) — Los Angeles, CA

OPS UPDATE FUNDING

2025/2026 — $200M Series D closed. Planning space-based interceptor technology demonstration within the next year. Satellite bus production for national security customers accelerating. Source