Rocket Lab Clears Antitrust Review on Iridium and Files Its S-4, Space Force Splits $60M Across Five Data-Network Vendors

Rocket Lab moved its Iridium acquisition past the first regulatory gate, announcing that the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period expired on August 12 and that it has filed its Form S-4 with the SEC and joint FCC applications to transfer Iridium's licenses. Iridium CEO Matt Desch told employees the companies are still targeting a mid-2027 close. Alongside the update, Rocket Lab replaced its prior at-the-market equity program with a new agreement covering the unsold portion, up to roughly $1.94 billion in stock, earmarked to fund cash payments for the Iridium deal and reduce its $3.6 billion bridge loan commitment.

Voyager Technologies raised its full-year revenue guidance from roughly $240 million in May to about $290 million after closing its July acquisition of Astrobotic. The Denver company signed $113 million of new orders in the second quarter against $53 million delivered, a 2.1 book-to-bill and a record $336 million backlog, with three-quarters of new orders tied to Golden Dome work. CFO Phil De Sousa said the quarter's backlog included nothing from the Astrobotic deal, leaving the acquisition's bookings contribution to show up in later periods.

On the Pentagon side, Space Systems Command spread $60 million across Amazon Leo for Government, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Rocket Lab and York Space Systems to prototype how outside satellites plug into the SpaceX-built Space Data Network backbone, an early move to keep the $2.29 billion mesh architecture multi-vendor. Space Kinetic drew a separate $50 million Other Transaction Authority award to develop Whirlwind, a centrifugal deployment system for small maneuverable satellites, its largest contract to date. Firefly Aerospace added a Defense Innovation Unit and Space Development Agency contract to complete a preliminary design review for an Elytra deorbit mission.