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[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

The Space & Defense Update is LIVE from the @NYSE

@itsmoislam and @JackKuhr are joined today by:

– @Gedmark, CEO of @Astranis
– @ConnorLoveCA, General Partner at @a16z
– @daynagrayson, Co-Founder of @constructcap
– @e_h_obrien, Managing Editor of @tectonicdefense

We're digging into:

– Astranis' $468M credit facility from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, and how it ramps domestic satellite production and launches.

– a16z's American Dynamism push, and where the firm sees the biggest opportunities in defense, manufacturing, and the industrial base.

– Why Construct Capital is investing in foundational industries, and what it takes to rebuild them.

– Lessons from a week in Kyiv, and what Ukraine's front lines are teaching defense tech.

Comment if you love space and defense (help us share the show!) 👇

https://t.co/aKsUYyxZfW

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

read online: https://t.co/TF7lZr9ouS

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

Rep. @MikeHaridopolos (R-FL) survived the Blue Wave—and he’s optimistic bipartisan support for NASA’s Artemis program means the program will survive the political upheaval on Capitol Hill as well.

The space subcommittee chair spoke with Payload's @vicky_woodburn on the sidelines of the UP.Summit at KSC about why he thinks NASA’s funding and the Artemis schedule can weather a Democratic House, and why he isn’t sweating a launch crunch.

Read the full Q&A online. Link in the comments.

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

read online: https://t.co/egu4Q0AucT

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

The cost of launch is on the rise.

Citing strong demand, @RocketLab ($RKLB) increased the price of a Neutron rocket from $55M to $70M—and prices for Electron and HASTE missions are also going up.

The news comes amid a record breaking quarter. @Douglas__Gorman has the details.

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

read online: https://t.co/lEqHX4DYLF

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

CA-based startup Lyra Systems announced an agreement with the Pentagon today aimed at helping early-stage technologies traverse unscathed across the Valley of Death.

Under the five-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with AFRL, Lyra will aim to use its AI-enabled mission-integration software to help new tech get demo opportunities in orbit faster. The end goal? Enabling tech to become operational in under a year—way down from today’s timelines of over a decade, CEO Tanmayi Sai told Payload.

Payload's @Douglas__Gorman has the full details. Link below.

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

read online: https://t.co/LEiiFfO2L1

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

Canada is ready to give its young launch industry a boost.

The country will upgrade its rockets to medium lift as part of its Launch the North initiative, which is aiming to support sovereign rockets flying from at least two nascent spaceports on Canada’s east coast.

The timeline for the upgrade is not clear, however; the smaller rockets are expected to get off the ground in 2028.

Read the full breakdown from Payload's @howellspace. Link below.

[Vicky Woodburn @vicky_woodburn]

So many good quotes that didn't make the cut for this story, but one of my favorites was from @astro_reid's opening remarks:

“I’m going to start with a joke, though. I know a lot of you are wondering why I’m up here in a sling, and I’m here to tell you that if any of you wrestled Victor, you’d also be up here in a sling.”

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

Read more: https://t.co/aZ1k3xaFsm

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

Twenty-eight astronauts (including two Apollo veterans) and one very large Saturn V shared a room at @NASAKennedy on Friday night for the Artemis Celebration Gala, held the evening before MAX POWER.

@NASAAdmin described the astronauts as “a living connection between those who first taught humanity how to reach another world and those who will learn how to stay there.”

Apollo 16 moonwalker Charlie Duke and Apollo 9 lunar module pilot Rusty Schweickart were the evening’s guests of honor. They were joined onstage by members of both the Artemis II and III crews to share stories on what it means to return to space decades after Apollo.

Payload reporter @vicky_woodburn takes you behind the scenes into the Gala, link below. ⬇️

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

@_Eric_Romo we thought so too, can't wait to see the real thing!

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

Read the full story here: https://t.co/aZ1k3xbdhU

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

NASA unveiled a slate of Moon Base awards Saturday, including new launch orders, a lander pool, and a nuclear rover built.

The agency awarded six VADR launch task orders worth about $1.3B combined in a buy now, payload later setup.

- @SpaceX will fly two missions: CAPSTONE 02 on a Quantum Space tug, and @GoToImpulse carrying multiple @Int_Machines comms sats

- @blueorigin will fly three New Glenns: one with @FireflySpace's Elytra tug delivering NASA's three MoonFall drones, and two with Blue Ring for cargo NASA hasn't picked yet

- Impulse and @relativityspace will pair Terran R with Impulse's Helios kick stage and a lander that drops NASA payloads in cislunar orbit, then attempts a lunar descent

For landers, CLPS 2 named 8 eligible companies under a 10-year contract worth up to $10B. @northropgrumman and @ispace_us_inc are new, alongside @voyagertech_ after its @astrobotic acquisition.

PROMISE is a nuclear-powered rover built from spare Curiosity and Perseverance parts. JPL is leading it, Blue Origin will land it in late 2028, and NASA expects the mission to cost under $400M.

Payload reporter @vicky_woodburn brings you all the details from the MAX POWER briefing ⬇️

[Vicky Woodburn @vicky_woodburn]

and if you want to learn even more about yesterday's updates, you can check it out @payloadspace

https://t.co/pjR3RDrXH3

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

read online: https://t.co/pyWPLNnWo1

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

.@CesiumAstro plans to build a 737-sat constellation—called Synchronicity. Now, it has $730M in fresh cash to get to work.

Payload's @vicky_woodburn spoke with CesiumAstro CEO @Shey_Sabripour at UP.SUMMIT to hear about the company's plans for the new capital. Link below.

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

read online: https://t.co/r63PGYt7LV

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

OPINION: Russia has what it needs to build a jammer, or a spoofer, that can degrade or falsify ICEYE’s SAR imagery of Ukraine, significantly weakening the country’s (and allies’) capability to perform intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance.

Russia will most likely use the data collected during this close proximity mission to build and field such a capability within the next 12 months.

Shield Space CTO Dan Molland authored Payload's latest opinion piece, arguing that Russia's maneuver against an ICEYE satellite last month was likely part of an effort to deny ICEYE's overhead advantage in the Ukraine war. Read the full Op-ed on Payload, link below.

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

read online: https://t.co/It82cuyj5n

[Payload 🚀 @payloadspace]

Amid a growing launch crunch, @AST_SpaceMobile ($ASTS) is building its own ride to space.

Today, the company announced it is building Blacklift, a 20-ton rocket designed to launch its BlueBird D2D satcom constellation to LEO.

Blackliftis targeting a first flight in late 2028, and will be powered by @FireflySpace's Miranda and Vira engines.

Payload's editor @jacqfeldscher has the details. Link in the comments.