Iceye Raises €1B at €10B Valuation, NASA Names Artemis III Crew to Dock SpaceX and Blue Origin Landers, Space Force Awards Viasat-Intelsat $437.7M

[ 01 ]

The briefing

Iceye disclosed Europe's largest space financing of the year: a Series F led by General Atlantic that raised €450 million in primary capital and values the Finnish SAR operator above €10 billion, with secondary sales taking it over €1 billion. Iceye will scale output from 50 to 100 spacecraft a year by 2028 to work down a €1.5 billion backlog of sovereign defense orders, including a $1.9 billion German contract via its Rheinmetall partnership and €200 million MikroSAR for Poland. 2025 revenue topped €250 million with over €100 million in EBITDA, among the few profitable space unicorns in SpaceNews tallies.

NASA named commander Randy Bresnik, pilot Luca Parmitano and mission specialists Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas to Artemis III, a 2027 low-Earth-orbit test where Orion docks first with a Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 2 prototype, then a SpaceX Starship V3; Bob Hines is backup. The redesign drops a lunar landing but locks both human-landing-system providers into a multi-launch sequence, less than two weeks after Blue Origin's New Glenn explosion at Cape Canaveral. NASA said on May 26 the failure forced decoupling the Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo missions; Couluris said New Glenn will be ready for 2027.

Defense procurement moved too. Space Systems Command awarded Viasat and Intelsat a combined $437.7 million to build, integrate, launch and check out the first two operational Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global satellites, Swarm-1, for jam-resistant X- and military Ka-band service in geostationary orbit (GEO). The NRO modified BlackSky's contract by an eight-figure amount, taking total value above $150 million, to speed the AROS broad-area satellites toward a 2028 system cueing its Gen-3 fleet. The FCC waived Amazon's July 30 deadline to launch half its 3,232-satellite Amazon Leo constellation, with 331 on orbit, but attached spectrum-priority limits on Gen1 launched after the deadline.

[ 02 / 6 items ]

The headlines

Iceye raises over €1B at a €10B-plus valuation to double SAR output

Iceye closed a €450 million Series F led by General Atlantic with Solidium, Tesi, Varma, Ilmarinen, Lifeline Ventures, Nokia, Qatar Investment Authority and TCV, plus a secondary placement that pushed the total transaction above €1 billion at a valuation north of €10 billion. CEO Rafal Modrzewski said proceeds will scale SAR satellite production from 50 to 100 spacecraft a year by 2028 to deliver a €1.5 billion backlog anchored by sovereign defense contracts including a $1.9 billion German military contract won via its Rheinmetall partnership and €200 million for Poland's MikroSAR system.

NASA names Artemis III crew to dock with SpaceX and Blue Origin landers in Earth orbit

SpaceX

NASA named Randy Bresnik commander, Luca Parmitano pilot, and Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas mission specialists for Artemis III in 2027, with Bob Hines as backup. Now redesigned as a low-Earth-orbit test, the roughly two-week mission will see Orion launch on SLS and dock first with a Blue Origin Blue Moon Mark 2 prototype, then with a SpaceX Starship V3, before splashing down in the Pacific. NASA officials describe it as one of the most complex crewed missions ever flown.

Space Force awards Viasat and Intelsat $437.7M for first PTS-G anti-jam satellites

VSAT

Space Systems Command contracted Viasat and Intelsat for production of the first two operational Protected Tactical SATCOM-Global satellites under awards collectively worth $437.7 million. The Swarm-1 satellites will be built, integrated, launched and checked out for GEO service in X- and military Ka-bands using the Protected Tactical Waveform. PTS-G was initiated in 2025 with a $248 million budget, and the FY26 R&D account carries nearly $237 million with $150 million requested for FY27.

FCC grants Amazon Leo deadline waiver with spectrum-priority strings attached

SpaceX

The FCC waived Amazon's July 30 deadline to launch half of its 3,232-satellite Amazon Leo constellation, with the operator currently at 331 satellites on orbit. Amazon must still complete deployment by July 30, 2029, and the waiver carries spectrum-priority restrictions on Gen1 satellites launched after the milestone. The FCC framed the conditions as a response to concerns from SpaceX about competitive treatment.

NRO accelerates BlackSky AROS broad-area satellites with contract modification

BKSY

The National Reconnaissance Office modified its existing contract with BlackSky to accelerate development of the AROS broad-area collection satellites, with the agency telling Breaking Defense the eight-figure add brings total contract value above $150 million. BlackSky says the funding supports a flight-ready multi-spectral large-area mapping spacecraft and foundation data collection system in 2028, integrated with its Gen-3 high-resolution fleet so wide-area scans automatically cue the sharper satellites to detect aircraft, vessels and vehicles.

Isar Aerospace closes €270M Series D and sets June 15 to 21 Spectrum return-to-flight

Isar Aerospace closed a €270 million Series D with Island Green Capital and Molten Ventures joining HV Capital, Lakestar, UVC Partners and KfW Capital, bringing total funding to about €800 million. The company set a launch window of June 15 to 21 from Andøya for the second Spectrum flight after the March 2025 maiden failure, an aborted March 25 countdown and a scrubbed April 9 attempt over a pressure vessel leak. Proceeds fund a Munich-area factory targeted at up to 40 Spectrum vehicles a year and a planned Canadian launch site at Spaceport Nova Scotia.

[ 03 / +11 / -33 ]

Market pulse

Archived snapshot from this edition. Prices and moves are not live.

Gainers+11

Decliners-33

Big mover GLW+10.4%

LHX: L3Harris received a $170 million order from a Central European nation for its Falcon IV family of tactical radios, citing NATO interoperability and force-modernization use.

Asset	Snapshot	Move
GLWCorning	$193.57	+10.4%
MTRNMaterion	$271.36	+2.8%
APHAmphenol	$164.95	+2.4%
ASTSAST SpaceMobile	$78.10	-8.6%
VOYGVoyager Space	$35.79	-7.1%
LHXL3Harris Technologies	$291.87	-6.8%

[ 04 / 7 in window ]

Filings

S-1

Starfighters Space, Inc. · S-1

2026-06-09 · Starfighters Space filed an S-1 registration statement, the initial step toward a public offering of securities.

Form 4

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. · Form 4

2026-06-10 · AST SpaceMobile, Inc. filed a Form 4 ownership update; no operating, financing, or governance event is attached to the filing.

Form 4 x10

Viasat, Inc. · Form 4 x10

2026-06-10 · Viasat, Inc. filed 10 grouped Form 4 ownership updates; no operating, financing, or governance event is attached to the filings.

Form 4

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. · Form 4

2026-06-10 · Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. filed a Form 4 ownership update; no operating, financing, or governance event is attached to the filing.

Form 4

EchoStar Corporation · Form 4

2026-06-09 · EchoStar Corporation filed a Form 4 ownership update; no operating, financing, or governance event is attached to the filing.

Form 4

Corning Incorporated · Form 4

2026-06-09 · Corning Incorporated filed a Form 4 ownership update; no operating, financing, or governance event is attached to the filing.

[ End of Issue 008 ]

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