Observable Space wins contract after successful venture funding

Observable Space grew out of PlaneWave Instruments and is known in the astronomy community for building some of the finest amateur and observatory class telescopes. Today the company also develops optical systems for laser communications and space domain awareness. It has raised $90 million dollars and secured a US Space Force contract. The funding and government award are being used to scale production, expand manufacturing capacity, and broaden partnerships while continuing to build on its long standing work in precision telescope and optical system design.

Funding round details and investors

The company closed a $90 million dollar Series A round led by Lux Capital and co led by Upfront Ventures, Detroit Venture Partners, Island Green Capital and RTX Ventures. BRV Capital and Fathom Fund also participated. This level of backing reflects growing confidence in the role of free space optical technologies across defense, commercial connectivity and scientific applications. The financing strengthens the balance sheet needed to accelerate product development, increase throughput, and enter new international markets through collaborative programs.

Observable Space plans to direct the funding to laser communications systems and in space optical payloads, while expanding international partnerships and field support. The company develops laser communication ground systems, ground optical telescopes and space based optical systems designed for broadband links, space domain awareness and astronomy. Near term goals include higher rate optical terminals, rapidly deployable telescope systems, and mission ready software to fuse observations into actionable insights for operators and researchers.

Company leadership frames light control as central to the next phase of the space economy. The ability to precisely track objects, navigate spacecraft, and move large volumes of data through optical links defines competitiveness for both companies and nations. Investors point to the historical pattern in which fiber optics enabled the terrestrial internet, and see free space optics as the backbone for orbital and cislunar infrastructure. Observable Space is building across the stack with manufacturing, lasers, systems and software to address performance and cost targets that large scale adoption will require.

Contract scope and operational impact

The US Space Force selected Observable Space for an indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract with a maximum value of $94 million dollars focused on optical systems, and issued $22 million dollars in initial task orders for Mobile Attritable Telescopes. The award was made through the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies program to speed transition from prototypes to fielded capability. The contract enables scale up of optical telescopes that can be deployed to track objects in orbit and to feed custody grade data into operational networks. The department has stated an urgent need for mobile, off grid robotic telescopes, referred to as Deployable Attritable Optical Systems, to deliver high fidelity space domain awareness to the joint force.

The company has demonstrated telescope utility for ground based laser communications. In collaboration with Australian National University, its team set up an optical communications ground station in Australia to receive laser transmissions from the Orion spacecraft during an Artemis 2 campaign. The station achieved link lock and sustained data rates of 260 megabits per second from lunar distance, providing a practical example of how ground optical systems can support high throughput deep space communications.

The same competencies translate to space based systems. Observable Space has developed Iguana, a 200 millimeter multispectral imager for spacecraft integration. An Iguana unit is manifested to fly on a mission with Apex, extending the company portfolio into hosted payloads for on orbit sensing. These payloads are designed to complement ground networks by adding persistent views and spectral data for tracking, characterization and science.

Manufacturing footprint and facilities plan

Observable Space currently builds optical systems in Adrian, Michigan, and is preparing a new facility in Detroit to expand capacity and bring more manufacturing steps under one roof. The company operates spacecraft, engineering and design labs in Los Angeles to shorten design to build cycles and support rapid iteration. Scaling production while maintaining calibration standards and throughput is a core focus, supported by investments in automated test, alignment and data driven quality control.

In addition to defense and communications, the company manufactures telescopes for astronomy. Schmidt Sciences is funding a set of observatories that includes the Argus Array, which will use one thousand two hundred small telescopes produced by Observable Space. The Argus Array demonstrates how modular optical systems can create new scientific capabilities by trading single aperture size for parallel coverage, opening opportunities in transient detection and time domain astronomy.

Observable Space sees demand converging from defense operators who require resilient sensing, commercial providers who need higher bandwidth at lower latency, and researchers who benefit from affordable and scalable optics. By aligning venture investment with a production contract, the company aims to reduce time to fielding while lowering unit costs. Continued collaboration with partners across the United States and allied nations is a priority to ensure interoperability and shared situational awareness. The company is positioning to deliver reliable systems that can be deployed quickly, survive in contested environments, and evolve through software defined upgrades.

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