The Deep End #84

Scout Space, Dawn Aerospace complete first spaceplane surveillance flight

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Scout Space and Dawn Aerospace launch Aurora, a suborbital platform for a new mission

Scout Space and Dawn Aerospace have successfully completed their first suborbital Space Domain Awareness (SDA) test flight aboard the Aurora spaceplane, reaching Mach 1.03 and soaring to 67,000 feet. This milestone marks a significant advancement in space security, enhancing surveillance capabilities in the rapidly evolving low Earth orbit environment.

This flight also marks Scout as the first commercial operator to fly on Dawn Aerospace’s Aurora – a rocket-powered high-altitude aircraft, under a strategic partnership in which Scout will develop a first-of-its-kind tactically responsive Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) space domain awareness capability. The combination of supersonic flight testing and runway-based operations gives Scout a unique, accelerated path to proving new SDA technologies that are easier, more repeatable and more affordable.

Scout Space & Dawn Aerospace

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Tech Terrain

Energy

• Radiant Nuclear strikes deal to mass-produce microreactors for US military bases

  Trend to watch: Radiant Nuclear announced an agreement with the Pentagon on Wednesday for delivering the first-ever mass-manufactured microreactors to military bases by 2028.

• Dow and Amazon take a big chance on a small nuclear reactor

Defense Tech

• Palantir was awarded a $10B Army agreement to consolidate 75 contracts into a single arrangement

  Why it matters: The agreement gives the government the flexibility to purchase products and services whenever needed. Moreover, it provides volume-based discounts available not just for the Army but also for other DoD components.

• Point72 Preps $400M venture fund for focused on defense

Space

• Slingshot Aerospace unveiled an AI training system for the Space Force

  Trend to watch: The AI powered training system designed to prepare military satellite operators for contested space operations.

• Astranis brings Anuvu satellites online, marking debut of private GEO network

Advanced Computing

• OpenAI’s GPT-5 is out. Here’s what you need to know.

  Why this matters: GPT-5 can automatically switch between providing quick, efficient answers to queries and taking time to reason longer over more complex questions, depending on how you ask them.

• Quantum computing startup QuamCore raises $26M in Series A

Future Mobility

• Orkid (a Colombian company) is entering the US market with a new SATCOM-enabled VTOL drone

  Trend to watch: Orkid will showcase its flagship tactical VTOL drone at the Commercial UAV Expo, taking place September 2–4, 2025, in Las Vegas.

• YC-backed Orbital Operations raises $8.8M in seed funding to develop high-thrust orbital vehicles

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