Why military contracts are crucial for companies

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As Americans celebrate our independence this week, I’m reminded of the intrinsic but perhaps little-understood connection between space and US national security.

My impression is that – outside of the industry – when most people hear “space”, or think about “investing in space” for that matter, it comes with connotations of science, exploration, astronauts and maybe some corrupt Hollywood views. Alternative spaceships.

But the reality is that space has been what the Pentagon calls a “battlefield” from the beginning. The first orbital rockets, satellites and even the Apollo architecture were born from the military and its aerospace contractors. The US Space Force, which has been around for less than five years, already has a larger annual budget than NASA. although the latter is old enough to be the grandfather of the Space Force and holds a coveted position as one of the most beloved federal agencies.

Even among the NASA corps, you’re as likely to find “combat flight hours logged” on astronaut resumes as anything else.

Historically, the largest defense contractors have long been the winners of the largest space contracts – and this is still true today. SpaceX has earned a coveted spot in that role for the military, whether it’s launching rockets for the Space Force or building satellites for the NRO.

Major companies in the fair play space receive a significant amount, if not the majority, of revenue from military work under contracts from the US and its allies. And often, these military space deals represent “we did it” moments for companies — period Rocket Laboratory CEO Peter Beck did me earlier this year when his company won a spot in the $10 billion PWSA lottery.

“This is really our entry into the world of being a [defense] prime minister… essentially doubles the company’s backlog overnight with one contract,” Beck told me at the time.

And the importance of military contracts is moving further upstream, as venture capital looks more clearly toward startups that are winning and offering early military deals.

Global conflicts such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or the rising tensions between China and Taiwan, further highlight the importance of space-based capabilities for the world’s militaries – be they the US or its adversaries.

So, as you tuck into some hotdogs tomorrow and look to the sky for your local fireworks, it’s worth understanding why what’s up there is so important to the military about what’s down here — and that includes seemingly unrelated parts of space. , like private space stations or going. back to the moon

Happy Fourth of July!

• NASA and Boeing are delaying Starliner’s return by ‘weeks’ for more thruster testing, the agency and the company announced. They have not yet set a new target date and plan to wait until the end of a test campaign of the shuttle’s thruster technology at White Sands, New Mexico. – CNBC
• SpaceX and NASA misjudged the risk of space debris reaching Earth, as the numerous incidents of surviving debris re-entry highlight the need to re-analyze the question of the “survivability” of spacecraft parts. – Ars Technica
• Chinese company accidentally launches Falcon 9 rocket during test: Space Pioneer was conducting a static booster fire test of its Tianlong-3 rocket, but the booster suddenly released and flew for about a minute before hitting the ground again in a fireball. – SpaceNews
• SpaceX will use Dragon-based design for Deorbit Vehicles in the US, according to a NASA official who said the company will need to make “some modifications and some changes to the luggage” for the spacecraft to guide the ISS through reentry. – Read more
• The canceled contract of the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa was 500 million dollars, but Maezawa reportedly didn’t pay the full amount before booking dearMoon’s moon trip. – Information
• Amazon delays Kuiper’s commercial launches in the fourth quarter, having previously targeted the first half of this year. – Via satellite
• Europe lags far behind the US in venture funding for space startups, the report says, and a survey by the EU’s lending arm found that the regions’ VC investors have a negative outlook on fundraising. – SpaceNews
• The crew of the Mars simulator will leave the habitat after more than a year, leaving the confines of their environment at NASA’s Johnson Center in Houston after 378 days. – NASA
• Former cryptocurrency group SERA plans reality TV competition for seats on a Blue Origin space flight: The Space Research and Exploration Agency (SERA), formerly known as the Crypto Space Agency, has purchased an upcoming flight of New Shepard and will hold a public competition for the six seats, the group announced. – Space.com

• SpaceX awarded NASA a $69 million contract to launch the COSI telescope in August 2027 on a Falcon 9 rocket. COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) is a wide-field gamma-ray telescope. – NASA
• adds Space Force Blue origin and the departure program from Stoke to OSP-4, which is run by the Space Systems Command (SSC). OSP-4 features a wide range of rocket companies competing for experimental or small payload mission contracts. – Space Force
• Spanish rocket company PLD Space is offering free satellite rides on the first two launches under the company’s MIURA 5 Spark program. The company said small satellite organizations can submit bids to launch two demonstration flights of MIURA 5 rockets in 2025 and 2026, with “standard launch services at no cost.” – PLD space

• Virgin Galactic regains NYSE listing compliance after the company completed a 1-for-20 reverse stock split last month. – Virgin Galactic
• moment board members lend the company $500,000, with the six directors jointly issuing secured notes that “will be used first for the payment of accrued employee retention payments.” – The moment
• Malfunction of German spy satellites built by OHB: Two OHB satellites for the SARah network failed to deploy their antennas, with the German military saying the company will be responsible for building two replacements. – Ars Technica

• Michael Pavloff joins Aerospacelab as Deputy CTO, joining the company from Terran Orbital where he was VP of Technology. – Aerospacelab
• Lee Levy joins advisory board of space mining startup Lunasonde, a retired Air Force general who also served on the NASA Advisory Council. – Lunasonde
• Andre Douglas named Artemis II backup astronaut by NASA, a role he will fill if one of the agency’s three main crews on the mission are unable to fly. Douglas graduated from the Mars astronaut training program. – NASA

• July 4: Firefly Alpha launches NASA VCLS demo mission from California.
• July 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Starlink satellites from California.
• July 7: SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Turksat 6A satellite from Florida.
• July 9: Arianespace Ariane 6 launches its inaugural flight from French Guiana.
• July 10: NASA’s Starliner astronauts will hold a press conference in space from the International Space Station.