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Embedded Ventures $100 Million Fund

Los Angeles-based Embedded Ventures has launched a $100 million fund to provide venture capital to commercial and national security companies, with a particular focus on the space sector.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (Rocket Lab USA PR) — Rocket Lab USA, Inc (Nasdaq: RKLB) today announced its upcoming 30^th Electron launch will deliver its 150^th payload and 300^th Rutherford engine to space. The mission is a dedicated launch for Japanese Earth-imaging satellite constellation operator Synspective.

“The Owl Spreads Its Wings” mission is scheduled to lift-off from Pad B at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand during a launch window opening in mid-September. The mission is the second of a bulk buy of three Electron launches by Synspective to deliver their StriX satellites to low Earth orbit. StriX-1 is Synspective’s first commercial satellite for its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation to deliver imagery that can detect millimeter-level changes to the Earth’s surface from space, independent of weather conditions on Earth and at any time of the day or night. “The Owl Spreads Its Wings” will be Rocket Lab’s third mission for Synspective after successful launches in December 2020 and February 2022.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Powered by 33 flights of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster, the United States leads all nations with 48 launch attempts through the first seven months of the year. The total is three short of the number of U.S. launches attempted last year, and far ahead of the 27 launches conducted by second place China through the end of July. The U.S. has conducted more launches than the 43 flights conducted by the rest of the world combined.

A number of notable flights were conducted. SpaceX launched two Crew Dragons to the International Space Station (ISS), including the first fully privately funded mission to the orbiting laboratory. United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched Boeing’s CST-100 Starship crew vehicle on an automated flight test to ISS, a crucial step before astronauts to fly on the spacecraft. Small satellite launch provider Rocket Lab conducted its first deep-space mission by sending a spacecraft the size of a microwave to the moon.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Rocket Lab reported a $26.7 million first quarter loss on revenues of $40.7 million, with space systems such as satellites producing the majority of revenues rather than the launches for which the company is best known. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the quarter was $7.98 million.

Rocket Lab earned $34.1 million in revenues from space systems. That amount represented 84% of first quarter revenues, an increase of 1,873 percent from the first quarter of 2021.

TOKYO, 29 March 2022 (Synspective PR) – Synspective Inc., a SAR satellite data and solutions provider, announced that the company has raised US $100M (11.9 billion yen) including a Series B funding round. The latest funding was led by Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. (Tokyo, Japan), Nomura SPARX Investment, Inc. (Tokyo, Japan), and Pavilion Capital Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) among others, as well as bank loans, and it is supposed to be ranked within the top ten largest startups in Japan. This puts our total funding value at US $200M (22.8 billion yen) since our founding.

MAHIA, New Zealand, March 1, 2022 (Rocket Lab PR) – Rocket Lab USA, Inc (Nasdaq: RKLB), a leading launch and space systems company, has successfully deployed a second Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite to orbit for data and solutions provider Synspective, bringing the total number of satellites deployed by Rocket Lab to 110. ‘The Owl’s Night Continues” mission is Rocket Lab’s 24th Electron launch.

The mission is the first of three upcoming dedicated Electron launches for Synspective and demonstrates Rocket Lab’s flexible and responsive launch capability

LONG BEACH, Calif. (Rocket Lab PR) — Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a globa leader in launch services and space systems, today announced the launch window for a dedicated Electron mission for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective. The 14-day launch window opens February 28th UTC and will lift-off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Originally slated to launch after Rocket Lab’s next mission for another customer, Rocket Lab has brought the Synspective mission forward in the manifest to accommodate shifts in customer timelines.

The missions follow on from the launch of Synspective’s first satellite, StriX-α, by Rocket Lab in 2020

LONG BEACH, Calif., December 7, 2021 (Rocket Lab PR) – Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (“Rocket Lab” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: RKLB), a leading launch provider and space systems company, has today announced it has signed a deal with Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective to carry out three dedicated Electron launches.

TOKYO and BERLIN (Exolaunch PR) – Synspective Inc., a SAR satellite data and analytic solution provider, announced a new Launch Agreement with a small satellite launch services provider, Exolaunch, to launch Synspective’s third demonstration SAR satellite “StriX-1” on a Soyuz-2 launch vehicle in mid-2022. The companies extended their collaboration after signing a launch agreement for the second Synspective’s demonstration SAR satellite “StriX-beta”, which is currently under the final preparations for launch later this year. 

TOKYO (JAXA PR) — Synspective Inc., (Head Office: Koto Ward, Tokyo, CEO: Dr. Motoyuki Arai) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) (Headquarters Office: Chofu City, Tokyo; President: Hiroshi Yamakawa, hereinafter referred to as “JAXA”) have started co-creation activities under the “JAXA Space Innovation through Partnership and Co-creation (J-SPARC)” for the “Social Implementation of Disaster Situation Monitoring Services Using a Small SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) Satellite Constellation.” In this program, we will demonstrate the improvement of analysis accuracy by using SAR constellation to analyze Saga torrential rain as a case study, and demonstrate the improvement of SAR onboard satellite performance.