LONG BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov 19, 2025--
SpinLaunch, a pioneer of disruptive space solutions, today announced the appointment of aerospace pioneer and investor Dómhnal Slattery and Peter Hadinger, who previously served as Chief Technology Officer and as President, US Government at Inmarsat, to the SpinLaunch Advisory Board.
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The appointments mark an important milestone in the company’s mission to scale the Meridian constellation - a highly differentiated, low-CAPEX LEO broadband system purpose-built to support defense, government, and sovereign communications. Slattery and Hadinger bring a proven track record across aerospace finance, secure satellite platforms, and national-level communications networks, reinforcing SpinLaunch’s growing role as a trusted partner in resilient, interoperable global satcom infrastructure.
“Dómhnal and Peter each bring a remarkable combination of expertise and perspective that will be invaluable as we expand Meridian’s reach across commercial and sovereign markets,” said Massimiliano Ladovaz, CEO of SpinLaunch. “Their experience across aerospace and defense systems, corporate finance, capital raising, and large-scale commercialization will help position Meridian as a cornerstone for secure global connectivity.”
Dómhnal Slattery is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading aviation-finance pioneers. As founding CEO of Avolon, he built one of the largest aircraft leasing companies globally with a balance sheet approaching $30 billion. Slattery currently serves as CEO and Chairman of Clahane Capital, as well as Chairman of Vertical Aerospace (NYSE: EVTL), a company electrifying air travel through zero-emissions aircraft. Over the past three decades, the businesses Slattery has built have raised and deployed more than $75 billion to finance aircraft for airlines and aircraft investors around the world. Slattery previously served as Chairman of the SpinLaunch Board of Directors, providing early strategic guidance as the company expanded into satellite communications systems.
“I’ve had the privilege of seeing the vision for Meridian from its earliest stages,” said Slattery. “What the team has achieved in such a short time - technically, commercially, and strategically - is a testament to their discipline and credibility. I’m delighted to continue supporting SpinLaunch as it turns that vision into reality.”
Peter Hadinger brings more than four decades of technical and executive leadership in satellite communications, defense systems, and advanced space technologies. At Inmarsat, he served as President, US Government and later as corporate CTO, overseeing the company’s global satellite and ground-network development. Earlier in his career, he spent three decades at TRW/Northrop Grumman developing major spacecraft and secure-communications programs. Hadinger has also held key industry leadership roles, helping craft the global Telecom Services Agreement at the WTO and serving as Vice-Chair of both the FCC’s WRC Advisory Committee and the Satellite Task Force for the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
“SpinLaunch represents the kind of innovation that can redefine how resilient and sovereign space infrastructure is built,” said Hadinger. “As defense and government users increasingly depend on assured, adaptable connectivity, the Meridian constellation offers a capable and cost-effective foundation for secure global communications.”
Following recent funding and reflectarray antenna validation milestones, SpinLaunch continues to expand its partnerships and capabilities to meet growing global demand for sovereign and defense-grade satellite communications infrastructure.
About SpinLaunch
SpinLaunch is a space technology company revolutionizing how we access and operate in space. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Long Beach, California, the company has demonstrated a fundamentally new approach to launch and satellite communications. In 2025, SpinLaunch introduced Meridian Space, a next-generation technology platform designed to dramatically lower the cost and complexity of deploying satellite infrastructure. SpinLaunch is building the foundational technologies for a new era of scalable, affordable space access and connectivity. Learn more at www.spinlaunch.com.
SpinLaunch announces the appointment of Peter Hadinger to its Advisory Board.
SpinLaunch announces the appointment of Dómhnal Slattery to its Advisory Board.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments at 10 a.m. ET over the constitutionality of President Donald Trump’s order to end birthright citizenship for children born in the United States to someone in the country illegally or temporarily.
The birthright citizenship order, which Trump signed on Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, is part of his Republican administration’s broad immigration crackdown.
Trump plans to be in attendance. He will be the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the nation’s highest court.
Every lower court to have considered the issue has found the order illegal and prevented it from taking effect. A definitive ruling by the nation’s highest court is expected by early summer.
Here’s the latest:
Sauer, Trump’s top Supreme Court lawyer, is at the lectern, defending the president’s birthright citizenship order. Trump is in the courtroom.
On American Samoa, an island cluster in the South Pacific roughly halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand, native-born children are considered “U.S. nationals” — a distinction that gives them certain rights and obligations while denying them others.
American Samoans are entitled to U.S. passports and can serve in the military. Men must register for the Selective Service. They can vote in local elections in American Samoa but cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.
Those who wish to become citizens can do so, but the process costs hundreds of dollars and can be cumbersome. In 2022, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal seeking to extend birthright citizenship to American Samoa.
An Alaska appeals court is weighing whether to dismiss criminal charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa after she was elected to a local school board.
Crowds watched from the sidewalks as Trump’s motorcade drove along Constitution and Independence Avenues, passing the Washington Monument and the National Mall on the way to the court building.
Justice Felix Frankfurter, a native of Austria, was the last of six justices who were born abroad. The current court is American from birth.
Still, the citizenship issue hits close to home for some justices.
Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson are descended from enslaved people who eventually had their citizenship established by the 14th Amendment.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s parents were born in Puerto Rico, where residents became citizens under a 1917 law enacted by Congress. The justice most closely tied to an immigrant is Alito, whose father was born in Italy.
Way back in 1841, former President John Quincy Adams represented a shipload of African men and women who had been sold into slavery in the famous Amistad case.
Former President William Howard Taft became chief justice nearly eight years after leaving the White House in 1913. Charles Evans Hughes left the Supreme Court for a presidential run in 1912, which he nearly won, then returned to the court in 1930 as chief justice.
In 1966, Richard Nixon argued his only Supreme Court case, which he lost.
Twenty-four Democratic state attorneys general put out a statement Wednesday morning saying they’re “proud to lead the fight against this unlawful order.”
While Democratic attorneys general have sued the Trump administration scores of times, the plaintiffs in this case are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups.
The Democratic attorneys filed court papers supporting their position. Twenty-five of their Republican counterparts filed a friend-of-the-court brief backing the Trump administration.
The only state sitting this one out is New Hampshire.
More than 250,000 babies born in the U.S. each year would not be citizens, according to research from the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University’s Population Research Institute.
The order would only apply going forward, the administration has said. But opponents have said a court ruling in Trump’s favor could pave the way for a later effort to take away citizenship from people who were born to parents who were not themselves U.S. citizens.
The president and first lady Melania Trump showed up for the court ritual marking the arrival of a new justice following the confirmations of Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017 and Justice Brett Kavanaugh a year later.
The ceremony for Trump’s third appointee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, was delayed a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and Trump, who was no longer in office, did not attend.
Traditionally the president has avoided attending arguments to maintain distance between the government branches — since the executive officer’s presence is seen by many as a way to pressure the independent court to rule in their favor.
Given the unusual nature of it all — Trump’s presence in the courtroom spotlights how high the stakes are for him, as the court’s decision will have massive consequences on his longstanding promise to crack down on immigration.
Last year, Trump said that he badly wanted to attend a hearing on whether he overstepped federal law with his sweeping tariffs, but he decided against it, saying it would have been a distraction.
Adam Winkler, a constitutional law professor at UCLA, told the The Associated Press that Trump’s attending SCOTUS oral arguments signals how important the president views this case.
However, Trump’s presence “is unlikely to sway the justices,” Winkler said, adding that the SCOTUS justices “pride themselves in their independence, even if some agree with much of Trump’s agenda.”
The fanfare of Trump being in the courtroom will make for a different experience for the justices themselves, however, as “Trump’s presence will make the atmosphere a little bit more circus-like,” Winkler said.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer is making his ninth Supreme Court argument and second in as many weeks. Sauer’s biggest win to date was the presidential immunity decision that spared Trump from being tried for his effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Sauer was a Supreme Court law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia early in his legal career.
ACLU legal director Cecillia Wang, the child of Chinese immigrants, is presenting her second argument to the Supreme Court. In the first Trump administration, a 5-4 conservative majority ruled against Wang’s clients in another immigration case.
It’s not an April Fool’s joke. Alito was born this day in 1950. Only Thomas, who turns 78 in June, is older than Alito among the nine justices.
In the post-pandemic era, the other justices allow the 77-year-old Thomas, the longest-serving member of the court, to pose a question or two before the free-for-all begins.
In a second round of questioning, the justices ask questions in order of seniority. Chief Justice John Roberts, whose center chair makes him the most senior, gets the first crack.
The justices have routinely gone beyond the allotted time since returning to the courtroom following the Covid-19 pandemic.
A buzzer and the court marshal’s cry, “All rise,” signal the justices’ entrance from behind red curtains. The livestream won’t kick in for several minutes, until after the ceremonial swearing-in of lawyers to the Supreme Court bar.
FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington on Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
People arrive to walk inside the U.S. Supreme Court, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. The Supreme Court justices will hear oral arguments today on whether President Donald Trump can deny citizenship to children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
