According to @RocketLab CFO Adam Spice, shareholders should expect to see more M&A activity on the horizon. Speaking virtually with @Douglas__Gorman at Payload’s Off World event in Houston, Spice confirmed that the company is considering more M&A opportunities to continue expanding its capabilities, and win larger, more impactful contracts. Earlier in the week, @IridiumComm shareholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the company's proposed acquisition by Rocket Lab. Spice also discussed the company's move to protest a NASA award to Blue Origin for the Mars Telecommunications Network. Full story below ⬇️

@NASAAdmin Jared Isaacman is less than a year on the job, but he’s already upended the way the agency interacts with the rest of the world. @NASA doesn’t want to go it alone as it drives a US-led effort to return American astronauts to the Moon. But the agency is done “stitch[ing] together coalitions for the sake of coalitions,” Isaacman said at Payload’s Off World event in Houston on Wednesday. Payload reporter @Douglas__Gorman unpacked Isaacman's comments and how they reflect the evolving transatlantic relationship in this week's edition of Payload Europe.

When FUSE was founded in 2020, the goal was to bring the Bay Area VC experience to software firms in Seattle, WA. However, the VC firm has since found success among the stars and broadened its reach across the US. In January 2024, FUSE dipped its toe into the space industry for the first time, leading the $6M seed round for Quindar. The firm has since made eight space investments, with the latest dropping this week: leading the seed round for Pluto Aerospace Inc., an Indiana-based reusable launch company working to allow the industry to get components and hypersonics flight time for rapid testing and iteration. Payload editor @jacqfeldscher spoke with FUSE founding partner @Bmwales about the firm's growth in the space sector and what comes next. Link below.

Otter is ready to get to work. @StarfishSpace announced today that it will launch its first operational Otter spacecraft to begin conducting commercial missions for customers. The spacecraft is expected to launch next month on SpaceX’s Transporter-18. Otter’s first mission is for @NASA. During the Small Spacecraft Propulsion and Inspection Capability, aka SSPICY, mission, Otter will approach and inspect multiple US defunct satellites, whose operators have agreed to receive a visit from the spacecraft. Read more about the mission, and how Starfish got here, from Payload editor @jacqfeldscher. Link below.

.@hubble_network, the Seattle, WA-based startup building a constellation of asset tracking sats using Bluetooth technology, announced a $200M Series C yesterday at a $1.6B valuation. The new capital will grow Hubble’s constellation in both size and scope. Hubble operates just six satellites in orbit today, but plans to deploy 54 more by the end of 2029. Payload reporter @Douglas__Gorman dives into the details of Hubble's buildout, and what the technology means for the future of asset tracking around the globe. Link below.

.@NASA will give an update early next month on the timing of its upcoming missions to return humans to the Moon, @NASAAdmin Jared Isaacman said Wednesday at Payload’s Off World. Payload editor @jacqfeldscher sat down with Isaacman yesterday to discuss the future of America's lunar ambitions, and how he's working within the agency and alongside industry to win the race back to the Moon. See the full breakdown of the discussion through the link below.

Just like your favorite Pokémon, @vast is evolving! The space infrastructure company is establishing a Lunar Programs division, Vast announced today. The company will build on its commercial space station and satellite development work to support @NASA's Moon Base ambitions. Payload reporter @vicky_woodburn explored the details of Vast's phase approach to deploying its lunar architecture. Link below.

A new partnership between @Astrolab_Space and @IstellarMapping is one giant leap for mapkind. Interstellar Mapping will support Astrolab’s mission to hunt for water on the lunar surface later this year as part of NASA’s mission to build the Moon Base, the companies exclusively told Payload. It’s Interstellar Mapping’s first time working on a US commercial rover mission. Under the partnership, Interstellar Mapping will study what’s lying underneath the lunar surface, specifically looking for “hydrogen-bearing volatiles,” aka the water and ice that will be crucial to the Moon serving as a strategic gas station for missions to Mars and beyond. Payload editor @jacqfeldscher dives into the details of the mission. Link below.

@outpostspace, the reentry startup building shipping-container-sized Earth return vehicles, announced a new program today—called Space Factories—that will offer customers a way to manufacture goods in orbit, without needing to build bespoke hardware of their own. Each of the Space Factories is a standardized module that will give in-space manufacturers a way to produce products in space, including pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and advanced crystals, and get them back shortly after production wraps. Outpost will be the first user of the Space Factory platform. The company plans to use the module to produce StarFiber, its next-gen metal fluoride optical fiber, on a mission NET 2028. Payload reporter @Douglas__Gorman spoke with members of the Outpost team about how the new manufacturing service will bring new capabilities to the in-orbit economy. Link below.