The contracts announced on Tuesday are intended to allow the National Reconnaissance Office to access multiple remote sensing phenomenologies from electro-optical to radio frequency and beyond.

Airbus selected Skynopy to support Pléiades Neo ground stations.

Stoke Space previously announced a $510 million Series D funding round in October 2025.

The Strategic Commercial Enhancement program has previously issued contracts to commercial companies.

York Space Systems completed an initial public offering that valued the company at $4.75 billion.

The National Reconnaissance Office uses the Commercial Solutions Opening contracting mechanism to bring in new partners and technologies for its mission.

Viridian Space is based in California.

The National Reconnaissance Office awarded three contracts this week to commercial remote sensing firms.

Stoke Space’s total funding increased to $1.34 billion after the $350 million extension.

Previous backers of Stoke Space include the U.S. Innovation Technology Fund.

The National Reconnaissance Office anticipates awarding more contracts under the CSO framework this year if the budget allows.

The U.S. Army issued a call for personnel to serve as space operators, described as 'space soldiers.'

Stoke Space, a Washington-based launch company, closed a $350 million extension to its Series D funding round.

Viridian Space signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Air Force.

The three companies received awards in the first tranche of the National Reconnaissance Office’s Strategic Commercial Enhancements CSO program.

The National Reconnaissance Office did not release the monetary value of the awards.

Chemical propulsion in the smallsat sector remains dominated by toxic hydrazine and expensive new alternatives.

General Galactic is developing water-based propulsion systems using water electrolysis.

Startups that cannot demonstrate extremely high deorbit reliability risk being excluded if regulators require near-perfect performance immediately.

General Galactic’s propulsion approach targets cost reduction by using water electrolysis rather than toxic chemical propellants like hydrazine.

High-agility maneuver technologies exist but commercial operators are generally unwilling to pay for agility without assurances of near-zero failure.

The Federal Communications Commission’s 5-Year Rule mandates that satellites deorbit within five years of mission completion for satellites operating above 400 kilometers.

Many commercial customers demand proven heritage for propulsion systems before adopting new high-agility maneuver technologies.

The research brief circulating at the SmallSat Symposium identifies reliance on Gallium, Germanium, and Rare Earth Elements as a systemic supply-chain risk due to China’s dominance.

The U.S. Space Force has adopted a philosophy in which satellite maneuverability is treated as a form of defense.

Panelists at the SmallSat Symposium linked rapid fielding and sovereignty to owning and controlling the propulsion supply chain.

Neumann Space uses solid metal propellants such as molybdenum and magnesium that can be sourced from Australia or the Americas.

ION-X CEO Thomas Hiriart described a French defense mission called Toutatis that uses a French launcher, French satellites, and French propulsion.

Commercial constellation operators prioritize thruster reliability and the certainty that a thruster will activate after three years of dormancy in a cold vacuum.

The FCC 5-Year Rule has converted propulsion from an optional capability into a legal requirement for satellites above 400 kilometers.

Industry discussion is shifting away from xenon propellant toward solid or alternative propellants such as iodine and metal after xenon experienced price shocks following the invasion of Ukraine.

Supply chain sovereignty and sourcing of critical minerals are increasingly driving propulsion technology choices.

ThrustMe has industrialized iodine propulsion systems for small satellites.

Neumann Space is flying solid metal propulsion drives.

With its OneWeb expansion and its contribution to IRIS2, Eutelsat has committed over €4 billion in spending.

The European Commission selected SpaceRISE in November 2024 to develop and build the IRIS2 secure communications constellation.

On 11 February, Eutelsat signed a €975 million financing agreement with the French Export Credit Agency.

Eutelsat is a core member of SpaceRISE alongside SES and Hispasat.

Eutelsat's net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 3.88× in June 2025.

Eutelsat committed €2 billion as part of the consortium partner share for IRIS2.

SpaceX’s Starlink network has surpassed 9 million users.

Eutelsat's June 2025 investor presentation identified a need for an additional 340 satellites to expand OneWeb availability until IRIS2 is operational in the early 2030s.

Eutelsat completed a €1.5 billion capital raise in late 2025 backed by investors including the UK and French governments.

Amazon is deploying its Project Kuiper constellation with more than thirty satellites scheduled to be launched aboard an Ariane 64.

The €975 million financing will back the contract with Airbus Defence and Space for 340 LEO satellites on top of the 100 already ordered.

Eutelsat is set to receive almost €1 billion in French government-backed financing to expand its OneWeb broadband constellation.

Eutelsat estimated the cost of the OneWeb extension at between €2 billion and €2.2 billion.

The IRIS2 project is a €10.6 billion programme with 60% of its funding provided by the European Union and consortium partners responsible for the remaining 40%.

Access to the French-backed financing is subject to several conditions, including a bond issuance that would require Eutelsat to raise additional funding from private investors.

Eutelsat reported net debt of just over €2.6 billion in June 2025, an increase of €82.2 million year-on-year.