K2 Space to Build Mega Satellite for 2026 Mission to MEO

The K2 Space factory. Photo: K2 Space

K2 Space won a U.S. Space Force contract to build its first ‘Mega’-class satellite for a planned launch to Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO). The mission, set for February 2026, is called “Gravitas.”

The contract has a total value of $60 million and includes government funds, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) matching funds, and private funds, K2 Space announced on Dec. 19. Multiple entities within the Department of the Air Force are supporting the mission.

K2 Space is a satellite manufacturing startup focused on building larger, more capable satellites at a lower price point. The Gravitas mission is intended to de-risk the company’s platform and validate on-orbit performance in both Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and MEO.

The Gravitas mission will have commercial and government customers, including national security payloads. It will demonstrate extended operations in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), orbit-raising to MEO, and extended MEO operations.

“This mission is fortunate to enjoy support from various parts of the U.S. Space Force; these stakeholders all recognized that the K2 bus is unique in its ability to provide the capabilities needed for their future missions,” said Karan Kunjur, CEO of K2 Space.

“As we looked at the market, we saw options for Proliferated LEO, but very few options for Proliferated MEO and GEO – the K2 bus is designed to fill this critical gap in our defense architecture,” he added.

Turion Space Wins $32M Space Force Contract for 3 Satellites

Turion’s DROID.002 satellite build completed in November 2024. Photo: PR Newswire via Veteran Ventures Capital

Turion Space won a $32.6 million fixed-price contract to build three satellites for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) with multiple payloads and real-time command and control.

Under the contract announced Dec. 18, Turion Space will rapidly build three satellites with rendezvous proximity operations high-resolution, satellite-to-satellite imagery collection capabilities.

The work is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2028. The company is awarded $8 million in fiscal year 2025 for research and development.

Turion Space, based in Irvine, California, is developing autonomous spacecraft to provide in-space services including space domain awareness, deorbiting defunct satellites, and in-orbit inspections and repairs.

The company launched its first satellite, Droid.001, in June of 2023. It is a 32-kilogram spacecraft to collect space situational awareness data, and this data has been integrated into the U.S. Space Force’s Unified Data Library.

Stéphane Israël to Depart Arianespace at the End of the Year

Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël. Via Satellite archive illustration

Arianespace’s longtime CEO Stéphane Israël will leave the company at the end of the year, the French launcher announced Thursday. Israël led Arianespace since 2013 and supervised 108 launches and played a key role in the development of the Ariane 6.

Israël is leaving the company for another opportunity that has not yet been announced. David Cavaillolès, chief sales officer of Capgemini Financial Services will take over as CEO in 2025. Cavaillolès previously served as ministerial advisor for French space policy in 2017.

Arianespace credited Israël with consolidating the Ariane 5, Vega, and Soyuz launcher families and supporting the development of Ariane 6 and Vega C next-generation launchers, and transitioning Arianespace from from dual Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite launches to solutions designed for large constellations in Low-Earth Orbit and the growing diversity of satellites. He also supervised the James Webb Telescope (JWST) mission for NASA.

Israël won Satellite Executive of the Year in 2016 for ramping up Arianespace’s launch cadence and growing the company’s order backlog amid greater competition.

While Arianespace once held a near-monopoly position in the launch market, the company has had to adjust strategy as SpaceX disrupted the market with reusable rockets.

Over the past few years Arianespace has dealt with a lack of launch capacity as the Ariane 6 debut was delayed, the Vega-C rocket was out of service for two years, and it lost access to the Soyuz rocket due to Russia’s war in Ukraine — leaving Europe without dedicated access to space. In 2024, Ariane 6 made a successful debut and the Vega-C returned to flight.

“Leading Arianespace since April 2013 has been an extraordinary privilege,” Israël said in a statement. “Over the course of 108 launches, each one was a unique and unforgettable journey. We have secured numerous launch contracts, built a robust order book that now includes 30 Ariane 6 missions, with even more exciting news on the horizon. With Ariane 6 beginning its operational journey and Vega-C back on track, the time has come for me to start a new professional chapter in January 2025.”

FCC Chairwoman Looks to Allocate More Spectrum for Space Launch

Falcon 9 launches the Koreasat-6A mission to orbit from Florida on Nov. 11, 2024. Photo: SpaceX

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has proposed allocating more spectrum for space launch communication. The proposal announced on Dec. 19 would reallocate the 2360–2395 MHz band on a secondary basis for space operations. Rosenworcel said this will provide “certainty and predictability” for commercial launches.

According to the release, “these rules would add spectrum to support space launch activities and build upon commission action in 2023 that will enable companies to conduct launch activities without needing to request temporary authority from the FCC for each space launch.”

Rosenworcel has asked her fellow commissioners to vote on the proposal prior to Dec. 25, which is a statutory deadline set in the Launch Communications Act.

“We are living in a New Space Age with more frequent and lower cost launches creating all kinds of innovative opportunities for space technology,” Rosenworcel said. “By identifying more bandwidth for vital links to launch vehicles, we are making it simpler for new competitors to get consistent access to the spectrum they need.

The FCC already increased the spectrum allocation for launches in recent years as the pace of commercial launch increases, with an action in 2023.

Maxar Wins 2 New Contracts from Asia-Pacific Customers, With Umbra Tasking

An Umbra SAR image on the right, and WorldView Legion satellite on the left. Maxar graphic

Maxar Intelligence has received $35 million in total for new tasking contracts from two government customers in the Asia-Pacific region. Maxar said these contracts are the first purchase of direct access to WorldView Legion imagery. Maxar has four WorldView Legion satellites in orbit to collect 30 cm class imagery.

As part of Maxar’s Direct Access Program it also includes the ability to task Maxar partner and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) provider Umbra. Maxar has a dedicated access agreement with Umbra, which allows Maxar customers to directly task Umbra’s SAR satellites through Maxar’s platforms. The company recently announced a similar partnership with Satellogic.

“With rising geopolitical insecurity around the world, our customers need more advanced geospatial insights that can provide them with near real-time situational awareness over key areas of interest,” said Anders Linder, general manager of International Government at Maxar. “With four WorldView Legion satellites on orbit, including two in mid-inclination orbit, we offer the most 30 cm class tasking capacity from dawn to dusk.”

NASA Awards Firefly Aerospace a 2028 Blue Ghost Lunar Mission

Firefly’s first Blue Ghost lander before it shipped to the launch site ahead of the January 2025 mission. Photo: Firefly Aerospace

NASA awarded Firefly Aerospace a $179 million award to deliver six experiments to the Moon in 2028. This will be Firefly’s third lunar mission and it is its fourth NASA task order.

The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload (CLPS) initiative and will utilize Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander, its Elytra Dark orbital vehicle, and a rover from an industry provider. Firefly will deliver and operate six NASA instruments in the Gruithuisen Domes on the Moon’s near side in 2028.

This award comes as Firefly is preparing to launch its first Blue Ghost mission to the Moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in mid-January. Its second lunar mission is planned for 2026.

In this mission profile, Firefly said the Elytra Dark transfer vehicle will deploy the Blue Ghost lander into lunar orbit and provide long-haul communications. Blue Ghost will land in the Gruithuisen Domes, deploy the rover, and support operations for more than 14 days on the lunar surface. NASA announced the demonstrations and experiments that will be onboard the mission, including a robotic arm to collect samples of lunar regolith.

Firefly also said it has room for additional customers on the mission for orbital transfer or long-haul communications in cislunar space from Elytra, and lunar surface delivery.

“Firefly is dedicated to flying annual missions to the Moon for both government and commercial customers as we continue to pave the way for a lasting lunar presence,” commented Brett Alexander, Firefly Aerospace chief revenue officer. “We’re seeing growing interest from organizations looking to unlock the Moon’s resources and build a robust lunar ecosystem, and we welcome additional partners to join us.”

Airbus and CNES Complete TELEO Optical Link Demonstration

The TELEO payload onboard the Badr-8 satellite. Photo: Airbus

Airbus and the French Space Agency CNES have completed the TELEO mission demonstrating very high throughput laser communications between Geostationary Orbit (GEO) and Earth. TELEO is an optical communications payload hosted onboard the Arabsat Badr-8 telecommunications satellite that launched in 2023.

According to CNES, TELEOS demonstrated reliable links to the prototype ground station called FrOGS (French optical ground station) under a wide range of conditions and demonstrated bi-directional laser transmissions at up to 9 Gbps. There were 22 days of demonstrations between TELEO and FrOGS for more than 60 hours of active communication.

“Laser communications to and from space will reshape the telecoms market, similar to how optical fiber transformed telecoms on ground,” commented Philippe Pham, head of Telecommunications and Navigation systems at Airbus. “TELEO is the next generation of laser satellite communication, demonstrating very high speed and resilient connectivity from GEO orbit to the ground.”

Complementary test campaigns were carried out with European Space Agency (ESA), ONERA and France’s Defence Innovation Agency at sites across Europe. The first communication links were achieved with various data rates by an Airbus ground station team in the Netherlands, relying on an existing ESA ground facility in Tenerife, Spain.

Airbus said the payload will likely be reactivated in the future for additional demonstration tests and to assess future optical ground stations.

ThinKom Antenna Supports Satcom for Recent Rapcon-X ISR Flight

The Rapcon-X ISR aircraft. Photo: SNC

A ThinKom ThinAir antenna was the primary communications technology onboard the Rapcon-X aircraft’s recent inaugural flight.

Rapcon-X is an aerial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (A-ISR) solution by Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) that uses a Bombardier Global 6500 jet for its base configuration. In November, Sierra Nevada announced the aircraft’s first successful flight from Hagerstown, Maryland.

ThinKom announced Dec. 17 that its ThinAir GT 2517 phased-array satcom antenna system delivered beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) network connectivity during the test. The phased-array antenna can roam between networks in Geostationary (GEO) and Non-Geostationary (NGSO) orbit.

“As the primary communications pipeline deployed on SNC’s Rapcon-X aircraft, ThinKom’s GT 2517 reliably and securely supports assured mission success whenever and wherever needed,” said Bill Milroy, Chairman and CTO of ThinKom. “The open-architecture platform provides robust and resilient command, control, and communications capabilities.”

The Rapcon-X aircraft has been selected for the U.S. Army’s Theater Level High Altitude Expeditionary Next Airborne ISR (ATHENA) project. The aircraft is designed to be rapidly configurable and it can be adapted for specific reconnaissance missions by switching out the onboard equipment. In its baseline configuration, the aircraft can collect and process signals intelligence, electro-optical reconnaissance and ground moving-target signatures.

Iceye Raises $65M in Additional Funding

An Iceye satellite in orbit. Photo: Iceye

Iceye closed $65 million in extension funding, taking the company’s total raised in 2024 to $158 million. The funding round extension included participation from funds managed by Finnish sovereign wealth fund Solidium Oy, BlackRock, Seraphim, Plio Limited, and Christo Georgiev.

The financing announced Dec. 18 consists of a mix of debt and equity instruments. Iceye plans to use the funds to further build out its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation, its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) platform, and related systems.

This comes after Iceye raised $93 million in April, led by Solidium Oy. Overall, the company has raised more than $500 million.

“Extending the growth funding to support Iceye growth is well in line with our investment strategy. Our view is that Iceye continues to have strong potential to grow to a nationally significant company and foster a completely new technology cluster in Finland,” commented Solidium CEO Reima Rytsölä.

Iceye CFO Susan Repo said this funding will help the company respond to growing demand in the global defense and ISR markets. The company signed a number of deals this year growing its international presence, including a contract to build two sovereign satellites for Greece, and a new joint venture in the UAE with Space42.

SDA Expands SpiderOak Funding Under SBIR Contract

Photo by SpiderOak

The Space Development Agency (SDA) awarded additional funding to SpiderOak to demonstrate integrating the U.S. Space Force’s identity and access management software within the company’s platform. SpiderOak announced the addition to its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract on Dec. 17.

SpiderOak said the company can help the SDA address the cybersecurity challenges of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) and simplify the integration process for preexisting Space Force systems. The work under this contract builds on what the company has done in demonstrating what it calls “topic-level micro segmentation,” which involves applying zero-trust principles in order to secure data.

“SpiderOak is excited to continue this collaboration with SDA to advance cyber resilience for space operations,” said Matthew Erickson, vice president of Solutions at SpiderOak. “The extension allows us to further demonstrate our technology by integrating seamlessly with existing Space Force identity and access management systems, reducing operational costs while strengthening overall mission resilience.”