The Mynaric acquisition agreement with Rocket Lab has been under a Foreign Direct Investment review at the German Ministry of Economic Affairs for months.

Rocket Lab’s integration of Mynaric is described as necessary to fulfill Rocket Lab’s $515 million prime contract for the U.S. Space Development Agency’s Tranche 2 Transport Layer.

A final decision from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs regarding the Mynaric deal was expected by the end of March 2026.

Rheinmetall AG decided on March 11, 2026 not to submit a formal bid for Mynaric AG.

With Rheinmetall no longer pursuing a bid, Rocket Lab is the sole remaining suitor for Mynaric.

Rocket Lab signed a $150 million acquisition agreement for Mynaric in September 2025.

Mynaric has delivered over 350 laser communications terminals, with dozens currently active in orbit.

Rheinmetall concluded Mynaric’s technology could be accessed through commercial licensing or subcontracts rather than a full acquisition.

Mynaric’s backlog is reported to derive over 90% from U.S. defense revenue.

Theresa Condor is Chief Executive Officer at Spire Global.

The launch will include Spire Global’s seventh Optical Inter-Satellite Link satellite for direct optical communication between satellites.

Spire Global operates a scalable, multipurpose small satellite constellation with more than a decade of operational experience.

The spacecraft will be carried into orbit as part of the Transporter-16 rideshare mission with SpaceX.

Spire Global has designed, built, and launched more than 220 satellites across over 40 launch campaigns.

Ten multipurpose satellites manufactured by Spire Global and integrated via Germany’s launch integrator Exolaunch have arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The launch will include one Spire Global constellation replenishment satellite.

All ten satellites were designed, manufactured, integrated, and tested in-house at Spire Global’s manufacturing facility in Glasgow.

Eight of the satellites will support customer missions across RF data collection, cybersecurity-focused space capabilities, Internet of Things connectivity, and remote sensing image data services.

Exolaunch is a German launch integrator that integrated the ten Spire Global satellites for the Transporter-16 mission.

Spire Global operates a vertically integrated satellite platform spanning in-house design, manufacturing, integration, and operations that supports deploying satellites at scale within a single launch campaign.

The blackout has made reporting on the region more challenging for journalists who rely on timely Earth-observation imagery.

Planet Labs expanded the blackout area to include all of Iran and nearby allied bases, in addition to the Gulf States and existing conflict zones.

Planet Labs’ blackout severely limits public access to up-to-date imagery over the affected region.

Planet Labs implemented the blackout to proactively limit the risk of misuse of its data in the conflict and to prevent imagery from being tactically leveraged to target allied and NATO-partner personnel and civilians.

Planet Labs consulted experts inside and outside of government before extending the commercial access restrictions, and the decision was not the result of a request from any government entity.

Planet Labs is attempting to deny Iran’s ability to use timely commercial Earth-observation data to target allied bases.

Connectivity in Iran fell to 1% of normal levels since the outset of the war.

At the time of this reporting, Planet Labs was the only Earth-observation provider to publicly announce limitations on commercial access over the region.

The blackout has forced at least some journalists who use Planet imagery to consider working with a broader range of Earth-observation providers.

Planet Labs extended restrictions for commercial access to its Earth-observation data covering the Middle East from 96 hours to two weeks.

US Central Command destroyed Iran’s military space command less than one week into the conflict, denying Iran the ability to conduct electronic warfare actions against US and allied forces.

Planet Labs’ satellites can revisit sites more frequently than many other Earth-observation providers.

Smile traveled to the Guiana Space Centre together with the Vega-C upper stage, and the Vega-C upper stage will remain attached to Smile until the last moment before placing it into a precise Earth orbit.

Vega-C is a four-stage rocket in which each stage consumes its propellant and separates sequentially to propel Smile away from Earth’s surface.

The Vega-C fourth stage (upper stage) provides precision propulsion to place Smile into low Earth orbit.

Smile will undergo final launch preparations at the Guiana Space Centre ahead of a Vega-C launch scheduled between 8 April and 7 May.

Smile will undergo a full check for travel-related damage and will be loaded with 1500 kg of propellant before mating with its launch vehicle.

From low Earth orbit, Smile will use its own propulsion to reach its operational highly elliptical orbit that rises to 121,000 km over the North Pole and then descends to 5,000 km over the South Pole to downlink data to ground stations.

The cargo ship Maritime Nantaise Colibri that transported Smile docked in Kourou and its containers carrying the spacecraft and equipment were unloaded and trucked to the spaceport.

Technicians have begun assembling the Vega-C rocket on the launch pad, starting with the P120C first stage, followed by the Zefiro-40 second stage and the Zefiro-9 third stage.

The P120C, Zefiro-40, and Zefiro-9 stages use solid propellant and provide most of the thrust needed to launch the 2300 kg Smile spacecraft.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences provides three scientific instruments and the spacecraft platform and is responsible for operating the spacecraft in orbit.

The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Smile will carry four scientific instruments to study how Earth responds to the solar wind, improving understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and space weather science.

ESA is contributing to the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) instrument and to mission operations once Smile is in orbit.

The Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (Smile) spacecraft arrived at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana after a two-week voyage from the Netherlands.

ESA is providing the Smile payload module that carries three of the four scientific instruments, the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument, the launcher, and Assembly, Integration and Test facilities and services.

The agreement will combine B2Space and Airbus GeoTech capabilities in advanced sensor integration and sophisticated data acquisition systems under B2Space’s operational leadership.

B2Space has more than nine years of activity and is one of the most active operators of stratospheric balloon platforms and HAPS.

The alliance between B2Space and Airbus GeoTech aims to combine their capabilities to create a complete ecosystem for high-altitude missions.