SPACE.HAUS · WEEKLY INTEL BRIEFING

Space Industry Weekly Briefing — Friday, April 24, 2026

Weekly intelligence briefing for the commercial space industry, week ending Friday, April 24, 2026. 16 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: 14
Funding activity: $32M+
Top story: SpaceX wins $57M military satellite contract

Funding Rounds & Investment Activity

Univity — France

FUNDING

Apr 23 — Univity closed a €27 million ($32 million) Series A round to fund two demonstration satellites for its Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) connectivity constellation targeting Europe. Source

Contracts, Awards & Government Activity

SpaceX — Hawthorne, CA

CONTRACT

Apr 23 — SpaceX won a $57 million U.S. military contract for a satellite crosslink demonstration program. Source

FCC — Washington, DC

OPS UPDATE

Apr 23 — The FCC rejected requests by SpaceX and other operators to allow sharing in MSS spectrum bands, maintaining exclusive rights for incumbent licensees as direct-to-device (D2D) dealmaking accelerates. Source

Ovzon — Sweden

CONTRACT OPS UPDATE

Apr 24 — Fixed and mobile satcom provider Ovzon reported operating profit, record EBITDA, and the return of the U.S. Department of Defense as a customer. Source

Mergers, Acquisitions & Partnerships

GomSpace — Denmark

PARTNERSHIP

Apr 24 — GomSpace signed a deal with Ukrainian partner Stetman to establish a new joint venture focused on developing sovereign satellite communications capabilities in Ukraine. Source

SpinLaunch — Long Beach, CA

PARTNERSHIP

Apr 23 — SpinLaunch will partner with digital infrastructure provider Equinix to deploy ultra-compact teleports at Equinix data centers to support ground infrastructure for its Meridian constellation. Source

CATALYST — UK

PARTNERSHIP

Apr 24 — CATALYST partnered with DUAL UK to develop a satellite-enabled biodiversity risk solution for the insurance industry. Source

Launch Activity & Mission Milestones

Rocket Lab — Long Beach, CA

LAUNCH OPS UPDATE

Apr 24 — Rocket Lab successfully launched eight satellites for JAXA on its second dedicated mission for the space agency, the Kakushin Rising mission. Source
Apr 24 — Rocket Lab introduced the next-generation High-Performance Star Tracker (ST-HP), designed for longer duration spacecraft missions. Source

Industry Context

NASA — Washington, DC

OPS UPDATE

Apr 24 — Senator Ted Cruz pushed back on NASA budget cuts in the President's fiscal year 2027 budget request, telling Artemis engineers "we'll take care of the politics...so you can do your job," expressing concern about China's lunar ambitions. Source

International Artemis Accords — N/A

OPS UPDATE

Apr 23 — Latvia and Jordan joined the Artemis Accords, bringing the total number of countries that have adopted the U.S.-led principles for responsible behavior on the Moon and beyond to 63. Source

Space Development Agency (SDA) — Washington, DC

OPS UPDATE

Apr 24 — SDA's acting director described technology hurdles, supply chain challenges, and balancing speed with results as the agency strategically paused launches until May, pushing startups to deliver under accelerated timelines. Source

Iridium — McLean, VA

OPS UPDATE

Apr 23 — Iridium reported 2% revenue growth year-over-year in Q1 2026, driven by continued IoT subscriber growth. CEO Matt Desch discussed NTN direct launch plans and spectrum strategy. Source

Additional Updates

Astrobotic — Pittsburgh, PA

OPS UPDATE

Apr 24 — Astrobotic successfully completed hot-fire testing of its Chakram rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE), an advanced propulsion technology designed to improve efficiency over conventional rocket engines. Source

Astra — Alameda, CA

OPS UPDATE

Apr 24 — CEO Chris Kemp stated that Astra is targeting the "Golden Dome" (government/defense market) with its small rocket offerings. Source

OHB — Bremen, Germany

OPS UPDATE

Apr 24 — OHB completed a successful thermal vacuum test campaign for ESA's PLATO space telescope, a key milestone in preparing the exoplanet-hunting mission. Source

Northrop Grumman — Falls Church, VA

OPS UPDATE

Apr 24 — Northrop Grumman integrated AI into spacecraft engineering, reducing design cycles from years to hours. An AI model built with Flexcompute predicts thruster impingement 100 times faster than traditional methods. Source