Two weeks before the 13th Space Capital Summit, SpaceX closed the largest IPO on record at @Nasdaq. On June 26, the people architecting the space economy were in the same room. The skepticism phase is over. Highlights from the day, full recap here: bit.ly/4yDaeLq @NASA | @MuonSpace | @GoToImpulse | @CNBC

.@RocketLab’s planned @IridiumComm acquisition shows where launch capability can lead: spectrum, an established subscriber base, and a global communications business. That’s the Launch+ thesis we outlined in Space IQ. @Peter_J_Beck is right. Faster regulatory action is giving companies room to run.

Lunar mobility takes expertise across mechanical engineering, power systems, software and mission assurance. For people looking to bring their skills into the space economy, @LunarOutpostInc is a team to explore.

.@MuonSpace has demonstrated a zinc-fueled Hall-effect thruster in orbit, giving satellite builders flight data on an alternative to xenon and krypton propulsion. For teams building constellations, the value goes beyond propulsion performance. Simpler integration and a more readily available propellant can remove friction from every spacecraft produced. Across dozens or hundreds of satellites, those gains can meaningfully change the economics of scaling a constellation. Read Muon’s flight results: muonspace.com/muon-space-ach…

Space Capital portfolio company @LeoLabs_Space is bringing its radar technology and operating experience to SciTec’s $93.7M ground-based radar digitization program for the U.S. Space Force. The program aims to create a common architecture for radar upgrades, giving teams a shared foundation for modernizing different systems. LeoLabs has long reflected our infrastructure thesis: more activity in orbit requires better tools to see and understand what is happening there. This work brings that commercial expertise into the systems supporting national security.

Eclipse Space unveiled CitraSat for direct-to-device connectivity, SliceSat for broadband and SurgeSat for orbital computing. It plans to start with CitraSat, then carry what it learns into the other two markets. That sequencing matters. The first market gives the team a narrower set of customer requirements to execute against, while the shared platform allows engineering work to carry forward. CEO Derek Huerta shared more about the strategy with @payloadspace. payloadspace.com/eclipse-spa…

We backed @RocketLab as part of our focus on the infrastructure powering the space economy. IMM Apex shows how far that infrastructure now extends beyond launch. The new solar cell delivers 31.5% beginning-of-life efficiency at 40% lower cell mass. It also removes the germanium substrate used in heritage cells while retaining mechanical and electrical compatibility with existing systems. For customers, that means less supply-chain risk without a costly redesign.

Space Capital news, all in one place. Catch our latest interviews, Space IQ briefings, Summit conversations, and coverage here: spacecapital.com/newsroom

A $100B spaceport means fuel production, vehicle processing, and deep-water shipping, built to handle thousands of Starship flights a year. Launch volume is calling, and so is everything that has to support it. cnbc.com/2026/08/25/spacex-l…

India. The Netherlands. South Korea. @ICEYE_Global’s expansion points to the same shift: governments want critical space-based capability built locally, rather than sourced from abroad. Sovereign capacity is becoming part of the requirement from the start. Read the full announcements at iceye.com/newsroom

Our Space IQ data tracked $31.6B invested across 129 companies in Q2. With that, 2026 has already surpassed 2025’s full-year investment total. Capital formation across the space economy is accelerating. The market increasingly values the full technology stack. For more, Crunchbase's latest sector snapshot also cites our Q2 Space IQ analysis. news.crunchbase.com/venture/…

The U.S. Space Force has awarded @LeoLabs_Space $20.68M to deliver a modified Scout system for a new defense mission set. Scout adds rapidly deployable sensing capacity that can integrate with existing defense architectures. As space-domain awareness becomes more operational, sensing infrastructure needs to move with the mission.

More than 1 GW of Nordic-owned AI capacity by 2030. That’s Fossefall’s plan across Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Space Capital portfolio company @armada_ai has been selected as a technology partner. The first order: five Leviathan modular data centers totaling 9+ MW, expected by Q1 2027. AI infrastructure is moving closer to the power it depends on.

What happens when government stops prescribing every step and starts paying for the outcome? @GoToImpulse President & COO @_Eric_Romo explains why prize-based competitions create the right incentives for defense and space companies: set an ambitious goal, move fast, get paid for results. Watch the full “Shield & Spear” panel from the Space Capital Summit: bit.ly/3UkFTBv

Another Space Capital portfolio company is headed for the public markets. @ursamajortech plans to go public in a transaction valuing the combined company at ~$2.3 billion, with at least $350 million in committed financing to support its next phase of manufacturing expansion. The company has grown from rocket engines into hypersonics, solid rocket motors, and in-space propulsion, and is now preparing to scale production across that portfolio. @SpaceNews_Inc shares the full story on Ursa Major's path to the public markets and what comes next: bit.ly/46tAyKM

Defense has lived on the ground for sixty years. Radars, sensors, interceptors, all rooted to the Earth. That center of gravity is moving to orbit. At the Summit, Space Capital Founder & CEO @chadsonofchad brought together the architect and the builder of that shift: Marcia Holmes, Deputy Director of Golden Dome for America, and @_Eric_Romo, President and COO of @GoToImpulse. One defines the largest defensive space architecture the country has ever attempted. The other builds the vehicles that move. "Our homeland is no longer a sanctuary," Holmes told the room. The conversation covered why the old defense doctrine breaks down in the orbits that matter most, what it actually costs to defend against a threat that's doubling, and where Chad thinks the real white space is for founders and investors watching this build. Read the takeaways and watch the full "Shield & Spear" panel here: bit.ly/3UkFTBv

“More and more of the technology infrastructure on Earth will move to space and merge with it.” @MuonSpace CEO @jonnydyer highlights how the line between space and terrestrial technology is already dissolving, and why every hyperscaler will have to run this experiment eventually. Watch the full “When Kepler Met Turing” panel from the Space Capital Summit: bit.ly/4glKR8h