Topic
The design and production of spacecraft platforms and payloads, including the move from one-off bespoke builds toward factory-rate series production.
Amazon has built its 1,000th Leo broadband satellite and says commercial service is weeks away. TNW puts the count in orbit at 396, unchanged since July, so what customers can buy now depends on how fast the rockets fly.
Reality
A review in Acta Astronautica compares space solar cells at the start of a mission, and on that measure silicon is cheaper and lighter, while triple-junction cells are still expected to hold more of their power after five years in orbit.
Reality
The Harwell company says five profitable years and more than $370M of signed contracts back the round, and the concrete gain it can show is Earth observation intelligence arriving in 30 minutes, down from up to 48 hours.
Reality
The round is one of several nine-figure European space raises this year. It goes to a manufacturer that says it has been profitable for five years and had not taken outside money since a 50 million dollar Series B in 2023.
Reality
An August 2026 review grew IRIS² from around 290 satellites to 348 and its planned investment from 10.6 billion euros to more than 15.6 billion, and the largest single build order, 2.4 billion euros for 264 platforms, went to Belgium's Aerospacelab.
Reality