Jack Kuhr

1 month ago | payloadspace.com | Jack Kuhr

Former Google chief Eric Schmidt took over as CEO of Relativity earlier this month after investing a billionaire’s bounty into the struggling rocket startup. Once valued at over $4B, Relativity hit a liquidity wall in November as mounting costs stemming from its big-bet pivot from its small launcher Terran 1 vehicle to its heavy-lift reusable Terran R drained company resources.

1 month ago | payloadspace.com | Argyris Kriezis |Jack Kuhr

Last week, SES announced an investment and strategic partnership with direct-to-device startup Lynk Global. The relationship will allow Lynk to leverage SES’s MEO relays for routing traffic from its LEO satellites, integrate with SES’s ground systems, and expand its manufacturing footprint into Europe. SES sees Lynk as an avenue to enter the direct-to-device gold rush. Lynk sees Europe as a way to gain access to a large market while mitigating some of the upfront capital costs.

2 months ago | payloadspace.com | Jack Kuhr

The Space Development Agency (SDA) announced last week it is pushing the launch of its Tranche 1 satellites until late summer due to system readiness and supply chain issues. Officials said they would then target a one-per-month launch cadence until the 158-bird T1 constellation is fully deployed in early 2027. Ups and downs: SDA deployed 27 Tranche 0 prototype sats in 2023. Tranche 1 launches were scheduled to begin in September 2024 but are now a year behind schedule.

2 months ago | payloadspace.com | Jack Kuhr

SpaceX lost its Starship second-stage vehicle nine minutes into its eighth test flight today, raining debris over the Caribbean—a scene nearly identical to its last failed test flight in January. After successfully catching the rocket’s Super Heavy booster with its “Mechazilla” chopstick launch pad arms for the third time, Starship’s spacecraft began tumbling mid-flight with telemetry showing multiple engines out and a loss of attitude control.

2 months ago | payloadspace.com | Jack Kuhr

Eutelsat stock has surged over 500% this week, adding more than $3B in market cap, driven by expectations of increased usage and a priority on EU defense. Friday’s dust-up with Zelenskyy and Trump in the Oval Office set the stock in motion. Trump’s subsequent freeze of military aid to Ukraine, prospects of the EU ramping up defense funding, and the bloc weaning off Starlink then added fuel to the fire.