Japan will join the group of nations headed for the Moon next week when it launches a spacecraft designed to make a precision landing on the lunar surface.

Welcome to Biz Briefs! In this edition, Axiom Space raised $350 million, the Space Development Agency (SDA) awarded $1.5 billion in contracts to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, Sidus Space and SCOUT Space made acquisitions, Redwire and Sierra Space partnered on biotech manufacturing, and much more.

Welcome to S-SPACⁱ! In this edition, Momentus announced a reverse stock split to avoid being delisted, Redwire will supply a biotech manufacturing facility for Sierra Space’s station, there was news about Virgin Galactic’s next flight, and Planet Labs, Rocket Lab and Satellogic won new contracts. Plus second-quarter results from BlackSky, Intuitive Machines, and BigBear.ai.

Welcome to the Launch Roundup! In this week’s edition, crew and cargo ships are heading for the International Space Station, a Japanese spacecraft will be launched to the moon, and SpaceX reached one milestone in deploying its Starlink constellation and should reach another one later today (August 22). But, first some Flight Bytes about Virgin Galactic’s next launch, skepticism about Spaceport America, India’s new spaceport, and Rocket Lab’s latest contract.

The launch of thousands of satellites has created major headaches for ground-based astronomers, who find streaks from the spacecraft ruining the images they take of the night sky. A small startup in Los Angeles believes it has found a solution to the problem by taking inspiration from a creature in the ocean.

Welcome to Biz Briefs! In this edition, Spire Global won two satellite data contracts, SpeQtral selected contractors for its quantum key distribution demonstration satellite, Northrop Grumman reached a milestone with its Arctic broadband program, and much more.

In-space transportation provider Momentus said this week it laid off 30 percent of its workforce amid “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue to operate over the next 12 months as the company’s accumulated deficit approached $350 million.

Welcome to Biz Briefs! In today’s edition, BAE Systems announced it will purchase Ball Aerospace, Telesat moved forward with its Lightspeed broadband constellation, a joint venture of KBR and Intuitive Machines won a big NASA contract, Rocket Lab inked a deal for another suborbital launch, a new Australian spaceport signed a major launch deal with a South Korean startup, and NOAA eliminated some major restrictions on satellite operations.

Welcome to S-SPACⁱ! In this week’s edition, Intuitive Machines set a launch window for its first lunar landing mission, AST SpaceMobile raised money to fund its first five satellites, Terran Orbital reported higher second-quarter revenue, and Virgin Galactic flew tourists for the first time. Plus we’ve got second-quarter results for Astra and Momentus and the latest about Planet Labs and Rocket Labs.

Terran Orbital (NYSE: LLAP) reported record revenue of $32.2 million in the second quarter and a backlog of orders for more than 370 satellites worth in excess of $2.6 billion. The company said the $2.4 billion, 300-satellite constellation it is building for Rivada Space Networks is on schedule, and that the customer is current on all payments.

AST SpaceMobile (Nasdaq: ASTS) said it has raised up to $179 million in additional funds to build its first five BlueBird satellite-to-cell phone communications satellites and to launch them during the first quarter of next year, according to the company’s second-quarter earnings.

Welcome to the Launch Roundup! This week, we will look at the latest launches and news from SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Firefly Aerospace, and Amazon. And, did you know that Japan is gearing up to launch the world’s fourth mission to land on the Moon this year? We’ve got the details.