Castelion Raises $1B for Blackbeard as Firefly Books Zeno Power for 2028 Lunar Night Demo and NASA Ends Katalyst's Swift Rescue

Castelion, the SpaceX-alumni hypersonic startup, closed an $800 million equity round and a $250 million revolving credit facility that values the four-year-old company at $13 billion, with JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group, Andreessen Horowitz and Carlyle funds co-leading. The capital funds expanded production of the Blackbeard strike missile in Sandoval County, New Mexico, and work on a longer-range precision weapon and air and missile defense systems. Castelion says it has secured more than $500 million in U.S. military contracts over 18 months, with initial Blackbeard fielding targeted for 2027 and the Navy already funding integration on the F/A-18E/F.

Firefly Aerospace signed Zeno Power to fly a 5-watt americium-241 radioisotope heater unit on its CS-8 Blue Ghost lunar lander, launching no earlier than 2028 to the Moon's near side. The self-contained "Survive-the-Night" package is designed to keep its own communications, power and thermal subsystems alive through the 14-day lunar night at temperatures near minus 170 degrees Celsius, meeting an incentive in a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services task order awarded in June. It is Zeno's first booked lunar mission and Firefly's first commercial payload targeting the survive-the-night requirement NASA has flagged as central to any sustained lunar base.

NASA and Katalyst Space Technologies called off the planned capture and reboost of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory after Link's attitude control problems, including the loss of two of three reaction wheels, could not be overcome. Link will still attempt rendezvous and proximity operations with Swift to gather servicing data, but without a boost NASA expects Swift to reenter later this year, closing out a $30 million contract awarded in September 2025 that was meant to demonstrate rapid commercial servicing.