ICEYE — Finland
FUNDING
- — ICEYE received investment from the Scaleup Europe Fund, marking the fund's first investment. The SAR satellite imagery company is simultaneously deepening its UAE presence with new CEO appointments. Source
SPACE.HAUS · WEEKLY INTEL BRIEFING
Space Industry Weekly Briefing — Friday, August 7, 2026
Weekly intelligence briefing for the commercial space industry, week ending Friday, August 7, 2026. 35 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
- 35
- Funding activity
- $0
- Top story
- SpaceX doubles revenue to $7.8B, AI exceeds space
Funding Rounds & Investment Activity
BlackStar Orbital Technologies — N/A
FUNDING M&A
- — BlackStar Orbital Technologies announced plans to go public through a SPAC merger with Pono Capital, developing a reusable spacecraft platform. Source
Contracts, Awards & Government Activity
Telesat — Ottawa, Canada
CONTRACT
- — Canada's military awarded Telesat a $1.9 billion contract for additional Lightspeed satellites to provide Arctic broadband capabilities. This represents Canada's largest military satellite communications procurement. Source
Rocket Lab — Long Beach, CA
CONTRACT
- — U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command awarded Rocket Lab a $397 million contract for Space Based Airborne Moving Target Indication (SB-AMTI), to build and launch 'Flatellites.' Total SB-AMTI awards including STR LLC totaled $615 million. Source
Capella Space (IonQ subsidiary) — San Francisco, CA
CONTRACT
- — Capella Space, Iceye US, and Umbra received Radar Commercial Augmentation (RCA) sole source contracts from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. Source
Iceye US — Irvine, CA
CONTRACT
- — Iceye US received a Radar Commercial Augmentation (RCA) sole source contract from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for commercial SAR imagery. Source
Umbra — Santa Barbara, CA
CONTRACT
- — Umbra received a Radar Commercial Augmentation (RCA) sole source contract from the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for commercial synthetic aperture radar imagery. Source
NATO — Brussels, Belgium
CONTRACT
- — NATO's Project 7 issued a solicitation for commercial satellite communication services to be provided to the alliance on an as-needed basis. Source
LiveEO — Berlin, Germany
CONTRACT
- — LiveEO secured a grant from the German Space Agency (DLR) to develop a multimodal 'Vision Foundation' AI model for Earth observation applications. Source
Lunar Outpost — Golden, CO
CONTRACT
- — NASA selected Lunar Outpost to advance its 'Starweave' autonomous robotic swarm software for lunar surface operations. Source
Mergers, Acquisitions & Partnerships
Intuitive Machines — Houston, TX
M&A
- — Intuitive Machines completed the acquisition of Goonhilly Earth Station and COMSAT, positioning the company as a vertically-integrated prime contractor with ground station capabilities. Source
Nineteen Group — N/A
M&A
- — Nineteen Group acquired Space-Comm Expo Europe from Lunar Ridge Ventures, expanding its portfolio of space industry events. Source
Kreios Space — Spain
PARTNERSHIP
- — Kreios Space partnered with Kongsberg NanoAvionics to demonstrate air-breathing electric propulsion (ABEP) system in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO). NanoAvionics will provide the spacecraft bus for the demonstrator. Source
European Commission (IRIS²) — Brussels, Belgium
PARTNERSHIP
- — The European Commission, ESA, and commercial partners SES, Eutelsat, and HispaSat reached agreement on the IRIS² satellite constellation architecture and cost. The implementation agreement was signed with the SpaceRISE consortium. Source
Spartan Space — France
PARTNERSHIP
- — ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot completed a third test of the EuroSuit prototype aboard the ISS. The intravehicular activity spacesuit was developed by a French consortium led by Spartan Space under CNES contract, including Decathlon. Source
Launch Activity & Mission Milestones
SpaceX — Hawthorne, CA
LAUNCH OPS UPDATE
- — SpaceX launched 24 Starlink satellites on the Starlink 17-53 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, marking the 90th Falcon 9 launch of 2026. The next Starship test flight (IFT-14) will deploy operational Starlink Version 3 satellites to orbit. Source
- — SpaceX is replacing MRAPs with Tesla Cybertrucks for emergency pad evacuations beginning with Crew-13 launch in September, marking the first operational use of Cybertrucks in crew operations. Source
AST SpaceMobile — Midland, TX
LAUNCH
- — AST SpaceMobile accelerated its network presence across Europe following the launch of three new BlueBird satellites to its orbital constellation, expanding direct-to-device mobile coverage. Source
L3Harris Technologies — Melbourne, FL
OPS UPDATE
- — L3Harris confirmed successful deployment of its first perimeter truss reflector onboard the ViaSat-3 Flight 3 satellite, launched by SpaceX in late April. Source
NASA — Washington, DC
OPS UPDATE
- — NASA confirmed a Falcon 9 upper stage from a January 2025 launch crashed onto the lunar surface, marking an unplanned lunar impact event. Source
ESA (ExoMars) — Paris, France
OPS UPDATE
- — ESA's ExoMars mission successfully tested the simultaneous deployment of two landing legs from the landing platform in less than a second using non-explosive actuators. Source
Industry Context
SpaceX — Hawthorne, CA
OPS UPDATE
- — SpaceX reported Q2 2026 revenue of $7.8 billion, nearly doubling year-over-year. AI revenue grew more than 3x to $2.6 billion, exceeding space-related revenue, driven by compute deals with Anthropic and Google. Leadership set a target of $100 billion in annual recurring revenue. Source
- — SpaceX announced plans to build a terrestrial mobile network to compete directly with T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon, aiming to 'acquire quite a few' of their customers. CEO Elon Musk and President Gwynne Shotwell outlined the strategy during the company's first earnings call. Source
- — SpaceX purchased $329 million worth of Tesla Megapacks so far in 2026, illustrating the interconnection between Elon Musk's companies. Source
- — Tesla and SpaceX announced a $16.8 billion investment to build a 'Terafab' chip manufacturing factory in Texas, just north of Houston, following months of speculation. Source
Hughes Network Systems — Germantown, MD
OPS UPDATE
- — Hughes Network Systems filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. Lenders questioned the terms of its transactions with parent company EchoStar as part of the proceedings. Source
Italian Space Agency (ASI) — Rome, Italy
OPS UPDATE
- — Three members of ASI's board resigned, resulting in the board's dissolution and clearing the way for appointment of an extraordinary commissioner following the death of president Teodoro Valente on July 16. Source
CNES — Paris, France
OPS UPDATE
- — CNES set a 2028 target for hot-fire testing a subscale prototype of a future reusable full-flow staged-combustion rocket engine. President François Jacq disclosed the timeline to French National Assembly's Economic Affairs Committee. Source
MaiaSpace — France
OPS UPDATE
- — ArianeGroup decided against dissolving MaiaSpace after the company posted a €37.5 million loss for 2025, pushing shareholders' equity below zero. Despite the loss, MaiaSpace ended 2025 with €114.2 million in cash. Source
Blue Origin — Kent, WA
OPS UPDATE
- — Blue Origin identified the cause of New Glenn's explosion and is targeting a return-to-flight later this year, marking progress in the company's orbital launch vehicle program. Source
Additional Updates
Viasat — Carlsbad, CA
OPS UPDATE
- — Viasat reported essentially flat revenue of $1.2 billion in Q1 FY2027 and confirmed the ViaSat-3 satellites will enter service soon. The company stated the Equatys direct-to-device constellation with Space42 remains in its plans, with satellite financing as the next step. Source
Space42 — Abu Dhabi, UAE
OPS UPDATE
- — Space42 announced a capacity lease on a broadband constellation is imminent. The Equatys direct-to-device project 'occupies 30% of management's time' as the company pursues both GEO and NGSO strategies. Source
BlackSky — Herndon, VA
OPS UPDATE
- — BlackSky reported record service revenue of $33 million in Q2 2026, driven by adoption of its Gen-3 satellite solutions and international growth. Source
Spire Global — Vienna, VA
OPS UPDATE
- — An arbitration panel ruled in favor of Spire in a dispute with NorthStar Earth & Space over satellite deliveries. NorthStar maintains it is still owed 4 replacement satellites. Source
Axiom Space — Houston, TX
OPS UPDATE
- — Axiom Space appointed Dr. Renato Krpoun as Chief of International Operations for its new Swiss subsidiary, expanding the company's European presence. Source
EON (Endeavor Optical Networks) — N/A
OPS UPDATE
- — Endeavor Optical Networks is planning to launch the fastest space laser communications system yet built, aiming to move the data superhighway from ocean fiber to space lasers. Source
Gilat Satellite Networks — Petah Tikva, Israel
OPS UPDATE
- — Gilat demonstrated an interference detection and cancellation technology for satellite communication links, representing a milestone toward improved operations in contested spectrum environments. Source
MatSing — N/A
OPS UPDATE
- — MatSing developed a new proprietary manufacturing technology enabling multibeam, wideband antennas to transmit and receive signals simultaneously across a range of directions and frequencies. Source
University of Warwick — Warwick, UK
OPS UPDATE
- — University of Warwick astronomers detected tiny, previously undocumented and potentially dangerous debris in geosynchronous orbit, raising concerns about orbital safety. Source