Satellite Spotlight | AST SpaceMobile Lands $43M SDA Deal

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// Fascinating topics to discuss this week

deal flow

• Albedo wins $12M US Air Force data deal on visible thermal imagery in VLEO (SN).

• Maxar Space Systems designed 16 satellite buses as LEO constellation project for L3Harris (BW).

• QuantWare raises $19M Series A for quantum error correction QPU (TC).

• Voyager in partnership with Palantir to offer edge computing for Golden Dome (SN).

• UK embarks on rearmament programme budgeting 2.5% of GDP (AT).

• HII Mission secured $70M task for US Air Force systems cyber security & resilience (AT).

• Lonestar with Phison launch 1GB RAM & 8TB data center in space on growing hardware demand (TC).

• Nomagic raises $44M Series B for robotics in warehouse automation (TC).

headlines

• Spire Global taps data transmission 3100 miles out with two-way OISL (SN).

• NYU’s cached-DFL allows autonomous cars, robots & swarm intelligence to share knowledge (AR).

• NASA FireSense drone dual sensors measure high resolution, real time wind and atmospheric data for wildfire management (AR).

• 3DR's AI Labs delivers 3D workflow automation & insights for medical imaging workflows (AR).

• Globalstar debuts two-way SatComms chipset in beta test for ONGC to transportation (ST).

community spotlight

today, 03/04

• -1 to Satya Nadella (SF).

• Civic tech happy hour (SF).

wednesday, 03/05

• Brex Supper Club (NYC).

• Founders & Investors Lunch (NYC).

• AWS community connect (SF).

• Frontier tower summit (SF).

• Startup Cafe x Eric Pulier (LA).

thursday, 03/06

• Drones & robotics summit (NYC).

• Life sciences happy hour (LA).

• AI policy happy hour (LA).

• Hardware meetup (SF).

• AGI demo night (SF).

• AI demo night x Modal Mistral (SF).

friday, 03/07

• Bootstrappers breakfast (SF).

• Angel Investing & Industry Trends (SF).

saturday, 03/08

• Pitches, panel, party (LA).

sunday, 03/09

• Robotics humanoid launch (SF).

• Undercover economist (SF).

• AI Hackathon (SF).

upcoming

• Hardware dinner (SF).

• AFA Warfare symposium (Aurora, CO).

• SXSW (Austin, TX)

• Satellite conference (Washington DC).

• GovMilSpace (Washington DC).

cosmic weekly insights

implications of US Policy & Tariffs

opportunities

• Boost in domestic procurement for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (ISR) and tactical communications.

• Space grade startups pivot to domestic foundries for AI ASICs & edge computing processors.

• Regional & bilateral deal, trade and collaboration accelerator.

challenges

• Higher duties on imported raw materials and electronics impact solar arrays & batteries for LEO.

• Ongoing trade volatility & material shortages disrupt high-frequency RF components, sensors, and antennas critical for SatCom.

• Higher short term production costs, strain R&D allocation across mining, advanced materials, propulsion & next-gen launch vehicles.

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