Why Military Contracts Are Critical to Business

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As Americans celebrate their independence this week, I am reminded of the essential, yet perhaps little understood, link between space and U.S. national security.

I get the impression that – outside of the industry – when most people hear the word “space” or think of “investing in space,” they think of science, exploration, astronauts, and maybe some Hollywood-corrupted images of alternative space shuttles.

But the reality is that space has been a “warfare domain” from the beginning, as the Pentagon calls it. The first orbital rockets, satellites, and even the Apollo architecture were born out of the military and its aerospace contractors. The U.S. Space Force, which has been around for less than five years, already has a larger annual budget than NASA, even though 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 at NASA, chances are you’ll find “logged combat flight hours” on astronaut resumes, just like on other resumes.

Historically, the largest defense contractors have long won the biggest space contracts—and that’s still true. SpaceX has earned a coveted spot in that role for the military, whether it’s launching rockets for Space Force or building satellites for the NRO.

The best pure-play aerospace companies get a significant, if not the majority, share of their revenue from military work under contracts with the U.S. and its allies. And often these military aerospace deals represent “we made it” moments for companies — a point Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told me earlier this year when his company landed a spot in the $10 billion PWSA Sweepstakes.

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

And the importance of military contracts extends further into the future, as venture capital increasingly targets startups that win and deliver on military contracts early.

Global conflicts such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the rising tensions between China and Taiwan underscore the importance of space capabilities for the world’s militaries – whether the US or its adversaries.

So tomorrow, when you’re eating hot dogs and looking up at the sky for the local fireworks, it’s worth remembering why what’s happening above you is so important to the military than what’s happening down here. And that includes seemingly unrelated parts of space, like private space stations or a return to the moon.

Happy 4th of July!

• NASA and Boeing delay Starliner return by ‘weeks’ for more booster tests, the agency and company announced. They have not yet set a new target date and plan to wait until they have completed a test campaign of the spacecraft’s thrust technology at White Sands, New Mexico. – CNBC
• SpaceX and NASA miscalculated the risk of space junk reaching the groundas multiple incidents in which spacecraft parts survived re-entry highlight the need to re-examine the issue of the “survivability” of spacecraft parts. – Ars Technica
• Chinese company accidentally launches Falcon 9-sized rocket during test: Space Pioneer conducted a static fire test with its Tianlong-3 rocket, but the booster unexpectedly broke away and flew for about a minute before hitting the ground in a fireball. – SpaceNews
• SpaceX to Use Dragon-Based Design for US Deorbit Vehicleaccording to a NASA official who said the company will have to make “some modifications and changes to the hull” so the spacecraft can navigate the ISS through re-entry. – Read more
• Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa’s canceled Starship contract was worth $500 millionbut Maezawa allegedly failed to pay the full amount before canceling DearMoon’s lunar voyage. – The Information
• Amazon Kuiper postpones commercial launches until Q4after previously setting the first half of this year as a target. – Via Satellite
• Report says Europe lags far behind US in venture capital funding for space startupsand a survey by the EU’s lending arm found that VC investors in the regions have a negative view of fundraising. – SpaceNews
• Mars simulator crew leaves habitat after more than a yearand left the confines of their home at NASA’s Johnson Center in Houston after 378 days. – NASA
• Former cryptocurrency group SERA plans reality TV contest for seats on Blue Origin space flight: The Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA), formerly known as the Crypto Space Agency, has purchased a future New Shepard flight and will hold an open competition for the six seats, the group announced. – Space.com

• SpaceX wins $69M NASA contract to launch COSI telescope in August 2027 on a Falcon 9 rocket. COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) is a wide-field gamma-ray telescope. – NASA
• Space Force adds Blue Origin and Stoke to OSP-4 launch programwhich Space Systems Command (SSC) runs. OSP-4 includes a wide variety of rocket companies bidding on contracts for experimental or small payload missions. – Space Force
• Spanish rocket company PLD Space offers free satellite flights on first two launches under the company’s MIURA 5 Spark program. The company said small satellite organizations can submit bids to launch the two MIURA 5 rocket demonstration flights 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
• Momentum Board members lend company $500,000whereby the six directors jointly issue secured bonds that “must first be used for the payment of earned employee retention payments.” – Momentus
• German spy satellites built by OHB are malfunctioning: 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 CTOwho joined the company from Terran Orbital, where he was VP of Technology. – Aerospacelab
• Lee Levy joins the advisory board of space mining startup Lunasonde, a retired Air Force general who also served on NASA’s advisory board. – Lunasonde
• Andre Douglas Named Backup Astronaut for Artemis II by NASAa role he will fill if one of the agency’s three primary crew members on the mission is unable to fly. Douglas graduated from astronaut training programming in March. – NASA

• July 4: Firefly Alpha launches NASA VCLS demonstration 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 first flight from French Guiana.
• July 10: NASA’s Starliner astronauts hold press conference in space of the International Space Station.