en.Wedoany.com Reported - Axiom Space announced on June 4 that it has completed a new funding round totaling over $525 million. The company had previously announced a $350 million round in February, led by Type One Ventures and the Qatar Investment Authority, and the latest addition of over $175 million has further expanded the round.
Axiom Space stated that the additional funds represent an "opportunistic expansion" of the round, aimed at capitalizing on investor interest in the company's commercial space station plans and its project to develop lunar extravehicular suits for NASA's Artemis lunar exploration program. Axiom Space President and CEO Jonathan Cirtain said in a statement that investor interest in the funding exceeded the company's fundraising target, highlighting the significance of the current moment.
The expansion of the funding round introduced a new investor—Japan's largest bank, MUFG Bank Ltd., while existing investors also participated in the capital injection. Takumi Hashizume, Managing Director and Head of the Space Innovation Office at MUFG Bank, stated in the announcement that Axiom Space is building the orbital infrastructure that will define the next era of the space economy. MUFG is committed to supporting companies that enable the long-term sustainable development of commercial human space exploration and the global space economy, and believes Axiom Space's leadership is crucial to that future.
Axiom Space said the additional funds will be used to support its space station and extravehicular suit projects, as well as a broader roadmap for space infrastructure and technological advancements.
The new funding arrives just days after Axiom and other commercial space station companies learned that NASA will no longer pursue an alternative approach to support the commercial successors to the International Space Station. A NASA spokesperson said on June 1 that the agency would abandon a previously disclosed proposal from March's Ignition event to develop a government-owned "core module" to be installed on the International Space Station, to which commercial modules could dock. NASA believes this would provide a more viable path for independent commercial space stations, given the agency's view that demand for such stations is growing slowly.
Most commercial space station developers opposed the proposal and stated their objections in responses to NASA's request for information. Joel Montalbano, NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Operations, said at a June 2 meeting of the National Academies of Sciences that NASA received 1,500 pages of feedback from the industry, which indicated a desire for NASA to return to the original options. Montalbano confirmed that NASA will stick with its approach of supporting companies working on space stations, and an industry day regarding the agency's plans is expected in the coming weeks. He said the industry's response was loud and clear, and NASA has accepted it.
Axiom is among the companies welcoming NASA's decision not to pursue the core module. In a social media post on June 2, the company stated that Axiom appreciates NASA's decision to continue the Commercial LEO Destinations program within its established framework, and believes that collaboration between the private sector and NASA is essential to maintaining a sustained U.S. human presence in low Earth orbit.
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