Keep pulling the thread on Eric Romo.
The U.S. Space Force budget request has increased from $17 billion a few years ago to $71 billion.
The U.S. defense strategy for assets in MEO and GEO relies on maneuverable spacecraft that can rapidly reposition, rather than proliferation.
Ground-based observation of new satellites launched by China into GEO is insufficient to determine their capabilities, such as whether they have robotic arms or weapons.
Impulse Space raised a $500 million Series D funding round.
Following its Series D round, Impulse Space's total funding now exceeds $1.025 billion.
Impulse Space's recent funding round was led by 137 Ventures and Banner VC.
For its Caravan missions, Impulse Space purchases the Falcon 9 launch vehicle and has a free launch agreement with SpaceX.
Eric Romo asserts that the market for LEO-to-LEO "space tug" services has not materialized, with almost no completed commercial transactions.
The product-market fit for the Impulse Space Mira vehicle is for high-speed military applications, analogous to a fighter jet, rather than a commercial "tugboat."
The U.S. Space Force's primary use case for the Mira vehicle is to rapidly approach and characterize spacecraft from foreign adversaries.
China has a massive program with approximately five different companies aiming to replicate SpaceX's launch capacity for both commercial and defense purposes.
Impulse Space concluded that the commercial LEO orbital transfer market was not viable due to a small market size, low margins of around 20%, and poor working capital dynamics.