Apex — Los Angeles, CA
FUNDING
- — Apex raised $200 million at a valuation of $2.3 billion, marking a significant funding milestone for the satellite bus manufacturer as it scales production of its Aries platform. Source
SPACE.HAUS · WEEKLY INTEL BRIEFING
Space Industry Weekly Briefing — Friday, June 5, 2026
Weekly intelligence briefing for the commercial space industry, week ending Friday, June 5, 2026. 23 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
- 22
- Funding activity
- $377M+
- Top story
- SpaceX IPO at $1.77 trillion valuation
Funding Rounds & Investment Activity
Axiom Space — Houston, TX
FUNDING OPS UPDATE
- — Axiom Space added more than $175 million to its ongoing funding round, supporting development of its commercial space station and expanding international operations. Source
- — Axiom Space established a Swiss subsidiary to anchor its European engagement and facilitate collaboration with European space stakeholders. Source
SpaceX — Hawthorne, CA
FUNDING
- — SpaceX is preparing to go public with shares priced at $135 each, yielding a valuation of $1.77 trillion and making it the 7th-most valuable American company. Source
Contracts, Awards & Government Activity
Planet Labs — San Francisco, CA
CONTRACT
- — The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) awarded Planet Labs a $22 million option on its Luno B contract to provide AI-enabled data analytics for maritime domain awareness for U.S. Combatant Commands. Source
Pilot Photonics — Dublin, Ireland
CONTRACT
- — Pilot Photonics secured a €1 million contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to advance integrated photonics technology for space applications. Source
Viasat — Carlsbad, CA
CONTRACT
- — Viasat secured a contract from Lockheed Martin to provide communications systems for NOAA's next-generation aircraft, supporting advanced environmental monitoring capabilities. Source
U.S. Space Force — Washington, DC
CONTRACT
- — The House Armed Services Committee's NDAA markup challenges the Space Force on satellite programs, signaling potential changes to procurement strategy and program oversight. Source
Mergers, Acquisitions & Partnerships
Eutelsat — Paris, France
PARTNERSHIP
- — Eutelsat signed a partnership with Tototheo Global to deliver LEO connectivity services to the maritime sector, expanding its presence in commercial maritime communications. Source
SES — Luxembourg
PARTNERSHIP
- — SES partnered with Viva to launch multi-orbit in-flight connectivity services, combining GEO and MEO capacity for enhanced aviation connectivity solutions. Source
Infinite Orbits — Toulouse, France
PARTNERSHIP
- — Infinite Orbits tapped Open Cosmos to build two satellites named 'Tom & Jerry' for a rendezvous, maneuvering, and inspection mission in LEO demonstrating on-orbit servicing capabilities. Source
Mbryonics — Dublin, Ireland
PARTNERSHIP
- — Mbryonics signed an MoU with NTT to collaborate on building a high-speed optical communications backbone infrastructure for space, leveraging photonics technology. Source
KSAT — Tromsø, Norway
PARTNERSHIP
- — KSAT and iQPS expanded their strategic alliance to accelerate deployment of iQPS's high-frequency SAR constellation through enhanced ground station services. Source
Southern Launch — Adelaide, Australia
PARTNERSHIP
- — Southern Launch and SpaceWorks reached an agreement to conduct orbital re-entries to the Koonibba Test Range, supporting development of return and recovery technologies. Source
Launch Activity & Mission Milestones
China National Space Administration — Beijing, China
LAUNCH
- — China's Qianfan constellation reached 200 satellites on orbit following successful Long March 8 and Long March 6A launches, advancing the country's mega-constellation ambitions. Source
SpaceX — Hawthorne, CA
LAUNCH
- — SpaceX launched back-to-back Starlink missions from both coasts 19 hours apart, deploying more than 50 satellites from California and Florida to expand its constellation. Source
NASA — Washington, DC
OPS UPDATE
- — NASA officially ended the MAVEN mission after 11 years at Mars when the orbiter stopped communicating in December 2025. The spacecraft will crash into Mars within the next 100 years. Source
Unseenlabs — Rennes, France
LAUNCH
- — Unseenlabs' BRO-22 satellite will be the first foreign commercial satellite to launch aboard Japan's H3 launch vehicle, marking international expansion of the H3 manifest. Source
Industry Context
NASA — Washington, DC
OPS UPDATE
- — NASA head urged Blue Origin to find a new launcher for its moon landers to meet Artemis mission deadlines after a New Glenn testing explosion destroyed the rocket and damaged Launch Complex 36 one week prior. Source
Canadian Space Agency — Ottawa, Canada
OPS UPDATE
- — Canada and ESA are both responding to NASA's sidelining of Lunar Gateway, with Canada having already decided on its strategic approach to maintain human spaceflight engagement. Source
Seraphim Space — London, UK
FUNDING
- — Seraphim, the only publicly traded space index fund, reported a record 31% jump in portfolio value in the three months ending March 31, 2026, reflecting strong commercial space sector performance. Source
Additional Updates
The Exploration Company — Munich, Germany
OPS UPDATE
- — The Exploration Company completed a drop test of its Nyx capsule in the Mojave Desert on May 19, verifying the deployment sequence from drogue to main parachutes during the landing phase. Source
- — The Exploration Company revealed it is developing a reusable heavy-lift rocket powered by its Storm engines, according to an update on its website, though no official public statements have been made. Source
AstroForge — Huntington Beach, CA
OPS UPDATE
- — AstroForge completed assembly of its DeepSpace-2 spacecraft, the company's asteroid mining demonstration mission designed to rendezvous with and characterize a near-Earth asteroid. Source
Kaman Precision Products — N/A
OPS UPDATE
- — Kaman Precision Products deployed advanced magnetic sensors for next-generation launch propulsion systems, supporting enhanced monitoring and control capabilities for launch vehicles. Source