The Saturday Morning Newsletter #94
What To Do About Children, El Nino Is Here, and Growing Insects for Animal Nutrition
This Week I’m Tracking: 12 developments across the sectors shaping our future
Reading Time: 5 minutes of curated insights
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Let’s dive in.
#1: Helion
Description: Helion is a developer of fusion power plants.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Helion recently raised $465M in venture capital funding. Helion uses natural resources in its fusion plants, derived from water and from prior fusion reactions. Helion has recently achieved many industry-first milestones with its Polaris prototype, becoming the first privately funded fusion machine to operate with deuterium-tritium fuel.
#2: Iceye
Description: Iceye is a satellite intelligence startup.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Iceye recently raised $1B in venture capital funding. This is my second time covering Iceye in the newsletter. Since our last discussion, they’ve further solidified their position in the sovereign and commercial space-based intelligence markets. Seven governments across Europe have procured satellites from Iceye, making it the leading provider of space-based intelligence, with further momentum propelling the company to expand materially going forward.
#3: Innovafeed
Description: Innovafeed is an insect agriculture firm.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Innovafeed recently raised $51M in venture capital funding. Innovafeed is a leading insect producer for animal and plant nutrition. They grow flies, offering alternatives to fishmeal and vegetable oils currently used in fish and animal feeds. They’ve launched specific products for trout, poultry, and pork, driving impressive change and growth in each market. They continue to innovate today, constantly targeting new markets.
#4: NewOrbit
Description: NewOrbit is a developer of very-low Earth orbit satellites.
Why Is This Company Interesting? NewOrbit recently raised $18.5M in venture capital funding. NewOrbit is engineering very-low Earth orbit satellites that fly at 1/3 the altitude of conventional satellites. This increases the area over which we can deploy satellites, although it shortens their lifespans because they are subject to more of Earth’s gravity.
#5: Orbital
Description: Orbital is a developer of orbital data centers.
Why Is This Company Interesting? Orbital recently raised $5M in venture capital funding. As the demand for AI continues to skyrocket, Orbital is among many seeking to put data centers in space. Their first mission is to demonstrate AI in space through a payload on a Falcon 9 rocket. From there, they will build their first data center satellite and launch it in 2028, aiming to be one of the first to market, drive returns, and validate the model.
Department of Energy: Celebration of First Advanced Reactor Criticality
This week, as part of the Department of Energy Reactor Pilot Program, Antares Nuclear’s advanced reactor design completed a zero-power fueled criticality demonstration. This confirms the reactor can operate safely and will allow subsequent reactors to produce electricity in the coming years, further advancing the commercialization of advanced reactor designs.
The New York Times: NOAA Declares El Niño Is Here
Meteorologists have found that El Niño has formed and will intensify in the coming months. The store can affect global weather patterns, supercharging floods and droughts. El Niño events reach their peak strength during winter in the northern hemisphere.
SpaceNews: New Glenn Failure Worsens Constrained Launch Market
The recent explosion of the New Glenn rocket will significantly impact the commercial space market. In the 2016 explosion at a SpaceX site, it took them 15 months to rebuild the pad. Blue Origin has not yet commented on the rebuild timeline, but experts estimate it will be close to that amount. There are no other pads available for New Glenn at this time, so experts are guessing it may take over a year before the rocket can launch again.
Pitchbook: Visualizing SpaceX Over Time
SpaceX became a publicly traded company this week. This article visualizes how the company has grown, adding Starlink subscribers, creating new rocket designs, and continuously innovating over its two decades of history to become the largest IPO in history.
The New York Times: Meet the Astronauts of Artemis III
This week, NASA unveiled the four astronauts set to make up the Artemis III crew: Randy Bresnik, Luca Parmitano, Frank Rubio, and Andre Douglas. This crew will not go to the moon but will instead fly to LEO to test rendezvous and docking maneuvers with lunar landers. This is essential work to validate the planned 2028 moon walk.
The New York Times: Billionaires’ Billions Are Increasing Faster Than Ever
In 2010, the world’s billionaires collectively owned $4.5T. By 2024, that figure had increased to $14.2T. Now in 2026, that number is $20.1T. This reveals the chaotic trend of increasing concentration at the top, where the richest of the rich are becoming ever wealthier. The growing concentration and dominance of the world’s conglomerates continue to consolidate wealth.
Vox: I don’t want children. I do want children. What should I do?
Letter to the editor, summarized below:
“Facing age-related pressure to decide on parenthood, I feel deeply ambivalent because while I don’t desire the daily grind of early caregiving, I fear a lonely and depressing old age without adult children. I am torn between the wish to pass on my values and the reality that a child may rebel and become their own person, leaving me struggling to support them. Ultimately, I am stuck trying to navigate the immense ethical weight and unpredictability of this life-altering decision based on motives that feel inherently selfish.”
The discussion of how and when to have children is very complicated. I can’t claim to be anywhere near an expert in this case.
That’s a wrap on this week’s roundup.
Drew Jackson
Founder & Writer
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Next Deep Dive: Fluctuat Nec Mergitur - June 24th, 2026
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