Defense Production Act Giveth, Defense Production Act Taketh Away

The rideshare contracts that SMC planned for 6 companies have been withdrawn. The list of companies included—Aevum, Astra, X-Bow, Rocket Lab, Space Vector and VOX Space (Virgin Orbit)—was lacking some big name, high visibility players, and it seems like leaving them out came back to bite.

I’m guessing it was going to be more pain than warranted to see this batch of contracts through to the finish line, unfortunately.

In other Defense Production Act news, LeoLabs is being awarded a $15 million contract. It’s a small amount, but will obviously be a huge help to a small company like LeoLabs. More interesting to me is the fact that the Department of Defense sees LeoLabs as highly valuable, enough so as to make sure they survive 2020.