NewSpace Navigator – Fourth Edition 11 December 2025

Europe’s position in the global space sector strengthens as Airbus, Leonardo and Thale combine their space businesses.

Raising capital remains a priority for NewSpace companies with Reflex Aerospace and Stoke Space achieving large-scale funding, highlighting investor confidence in satellite constellations and reusable launch systems.

Launch activity remains strong, with SpaceX completing a large number of missions and milestones reached by a number of NewSpace companies including Blue Origin, ULA, and Arianespace.

M&A/CORPORATE

November 2025:

• York Space Systems filed a registration statement for a proposed IPO and intends to list on the NYSE;
• Voyager Technologies acquired Estes Energetics, an energetic materials and propulsion manufacturer, bolstering end-to-end production and supply chain;
• IonQ is acquiring Skyloom Global, accelerating its quantum-secure communications and distributed quantum entanglement capabilities;
• Firefly Aerospace has acquired SciTec, adding critical defence software, big data processing and state-of-the-art facilities; and
• Intuitive Machines entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Lanteris Space Systems, aiming to ‘expand its space infrastructure services from LEO to GEO, beyond the Moon, and to Mars’.

October 2025:

• Airbus, Leonardo and Thales agreed to join forces, combining their space businesses, to create a leading European presence in the global space market; and
• Voyager Technologies acquired electric propulsion developer ExoTerra Resources.

September 2025:

• OrbitsIQ Global acquired UNIO Enterprise, to drive growth in connectivity between space and terrestrial networks.

FINANCE

November 2025:

• Reflex Aerospace secured €50m , the largest in European New Space, to accelerate the development and deployment of sovereign satellite constellations;
• Janus Henderson announced it will make a strategic investment in space station developer Starlab Space;
• U-Space raised €24m for scaling its satellite production;
• Eutelsat launched a €670m rights issue as part of a €1.5bn capital raise, aiming to acceleratethe deployment of its LEO satellite activities and supporting the future IRIS2 constellation;
• Quindar raised US$18m to establish a classified mission operations centre; and
• Ursa Major raised US$100m to fund scaling manufacturing and production.

October 2025:

• Stoke Space raised US$510m to fund its reusable launch vehicle;
• HyImpulse, a German launch start-up, raised €45m;
• EnduroSat secured US$104m to scale satellite production;
• Nxgsat, a Belgium startup, raised €1.2m to accelerate development and deployment of its 5G satellite modem; and
• the Maldives launched a US$50m fund for ‘building sovereign infrastructure, applying space data for urgent challenges, and advancing frontier innovations that secure the future of island nations’.

September 2025:

• Apex raised US$200m , this further investment raised the valuation of the satellite bus manufacturer to US$1bn ;
• ReOrbit raised €45m to accelerate manufacturing;
• Cailabs raised €57m to scale up production of its optical ground stations;
• Hubble Network raised US$70m to fund expansion;
• Galactic Energy raised US$336m ; and
• GHGSat secured US$34m in new funding, to expand its emissions monitoring constellation.

LAUNCH OVERVIEW

ICEYE launched five new SAR satellites aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-15, including a Gen4 unit with 16cm resolution, expanding its constellation to 62 satellites and supporting sovereign programs in Europe;

Spire Global launched 11 satellites aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-15, including payloads for GHGSat to monitor greenhouse gas emissions and four IoT satellites for Lacuna Space;

the IRIDE constellation added eight Eaglet II satellites aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9, bringing the constellation to 16;

the European Space Agency launched twin HydroGNSS smallsats aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-15 to study Earth’s water cycle using GNSS reflectometry;

ULA launched Viasat’s second ViaSat-3 satellite, its highest capacity satellite, aboard an Atlas V rocket;

Blue Origin New Glenn rocket launched a pair of EscaPADE spacecraft, successfully landing its first-stage booster;

Arianespace launched the Sentinel-1D radar imaging satellite for Europe’s Copernicus programme;

RocketLab launched QPS-SAR-14, their sixth mission for iQPS and a single satellite for a BlackSky and their seventh radar imaging satellite for Synspective;

SpaceX completed 11 Starlink missions in each of September, October and November 2025, as well as the Transporter-15, Sentinel-6B, and Bandwagon-4 missions, Starship’s eleventh  flight test, the SPAINSAT NG II, SDA’s Tranche I Transport and KF-03 missions and the NASA IMAP, NROL-48, SDA First Tranche 1 and Nusantara LIMA missions;

Japan launched the first HTV-X cargo spacecraft to the ISS;

China launched another group of satellites adding to the Guowang broadband megaconstellation;

Blue Origin launched its sixth crewed New Shepard flight for 2025 carrying six passengers on a suborbital flight to the edge of space; and

ULA launched 27 Amazon LEO (formerly Project Kuiper) broadband internet satellites bringing the constellation total to 129.