Rocket Lab USA said it has closed its $275 million purchase of Geost LLC, an Arizona-based maker of electro-optical and infrared sensor payloads used in missile-warning, missile-defence and space-domain-awareness satellites. The transaction, completed on 12 August, shifts Geost from private-equity owner ATL Partners to Rocket Lab’s expanding national-security division, giving the launch-services provider in-house payload capabilities in addition to rockets and spacecraft buses. Geost’s roughly 250-person operation will be integrated into Rocket Lab’s existing manufacturing network, allowing the Long Beach, California-headquartered company to bid for forthcoming US Space Force contracts that call for large constellations of missile-tracking spacecraft. Rocket Lab said the deal positions it to offer end-to-end defence space systems at a time when Pentagon demand for rapid deployment of sensing satellites is accelerating. In a separate development, India’s space-promotion agency IN-SPACe awarded a consortium led by Bengaluru start-up Pixxel the contract to design, build and operate the nation’s first fully indigenous commercial Earth-observation constellation. The group, which includes satellite integrator Dhruva Space, plans to invest about ₹1,200 crore (approximately $137 million) to deploy 12 imaging satellites over the next four to five years, with launches to take place on Indian rockets. Under the public-private partnership model, the government will provide strategic and policy support while the consortium retains ownership of the satellites and commercialises the data. The constellation is expected to supply high-resolution imagery for agriculture, climate monitoring, disaster response and national security, reducing India’s reliance on foreign providers and signalling a further opening of the country’s space sector to private capital.