Posted: Sat, Aug 1 10:40 AM ET (1440 GMT)
Satellite manufacturer K2 Space has raised $500 million to expand production for both commercial and government customers. The Series D round, led by Kleiner Perkins and ICONIQ, values the company at $6.8 billion, the company announced Thursday. K2's valuation has more than doubled since it raised a $250 million Series C at a $3 billion valuation last December. The new financing gives K2 the resources to expand production as it works toward the capacity to build as many as 100 large satellites a year. The company is working on defense programs including those linked to Golden Dome, while its largest disclosed commercial project is tied to a planned SES communications network in medium Earth orbit.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  GeekWire article
•  Bloomberg News article
•  K2 Space press release

Posted: Sat, Aug 1 10:34 AM ET (1434 GMT)
NASA's Roman Space Telescope is on track for launch in a month. At a briefing Wednesday, NASA officials said prelaunch preparations were going as planned for Roman, set to launch Aug. 30 on a Falcon Heavy from the Kennedy Space Center. Once launched, Roman will take about 100 days to reach the Earth-Sun L-2 Lagrange point, and during that time engineers will work to calibrate the telescope and its instruments. Roman is on track to launch nine months early, which project officials previously credited to careful planning as well as adherence to a cost cap.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  Aerospace America article
•  Space.com article

No date yet for next Starliner flight
Posted: Sat, Aug 1 10:31 AM ET (1431 GMT)
NASA is not ready yet to set a date for the next Boeing CST-100 Starliner flight. At a briefing Thursday about upcoming International Space...

Space Force awards SpaceX $1.6 billion contract for 18 launches
Posted: Sat, Aug 1 10:30 AM ET (1430 GMT)
The Space Force selected SpaceX for 18 Falcon 9 launches to deploy military satellite constellations. The Space Force announced Wednesday it awarded two task orders...

Proposed FAA rule would waive environmental regulations for launch licensing
Posted: Sat, Aug 1 10:28 AM ET (1428 GMT)
A proposed FAA rule would exempt commercial launches from many environmental regulations. The proposal, published Thursday in the Federal Register, would waive requirements from 13...