Iridium Shareholders Approve the Rocket Lab Merger, L3Harris Clears Design Review on 18 Tranche 3 Missile-Tracking Satellites, and Hubble Network Raises $200M at a $1.6B Valuation

Iridium stockholders approved the Rocket Lab merger agreement at a special meeting on September 24, where holders of about 81.4% of the shares outstanding on the August 21 record date were present or represented, and also passed the advisory vote on executive golden parachutes. The deal, signed June 28, makes Iridium an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Rocket Lab once regulatory approvals and other closing conditions are met.

On the defense side, L3Harris completed the preliminary design review for the Space Development Agency's Tracking Layer Tranche 3 program, confirming baseline designs for the 18 missile-warning satellites it was contracted to build in December 2025. The company says it now has more than 70 missile tracking and defense satellites on order for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture, keeping its SDA Tracking Layer pipeline on a spiral path from Tranche 0 through on-orbit operations.

In commercial space, Hubble Network raised a $200 million Series C led by Smith Point Capital at a $1.6 billion valuation, lifting total funding to $300 million. The company operates six satellites today and plans 54 more by the end of 2029, and each new satellite will carry ten times more Bluetooth-detecting antennas. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also said an Artemis acceleration update is due in early October, potentially aligned with the Crew-13 launch now targeted for October 1.