SpaceX is significantly upping the ante of its Starship test flight program, with the next rocket launch expected to demonstrate payload deployment for the first time. The payload in question will be 10 Starlink “simulators” that will be similar in size and weight to the next-gen satellites SpaceX plans to use Starship to deploy in […]
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Like many highly valued startups, SpaceX sometimes allows its employees to cash out some of their shares by selling to company-authorized outside investors. TechCrunch has gotten a peek at an internal SpaceX document about such a tender offer from May 2022. Musk posted on X last month that SpaceX holds such sales for employees about […]
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Nearly a quarter century after its founding, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is gearing up to launch an orbital rocket for the first time — and finally enter the competitive launch industry that is currently dominated by SpaceX. Company executives have maintained that they are planning to launch the towering rocket, called New Glenn, before the […]
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We are at the dawn of a new space age. If you doubt, simply look back at the last year: From SpaceX’s historic catch of the Super Heavy booster to the record-breaking number of lunar landing attempts, this year was full of historic and ambitious missions and demonstrations. We’re taking a look back at the […]
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K2 Space is betting that the future of space hardware will be big — really big. The startup is building massive spacecraft under the assumption that launch costs will continue to drop as SpaceX’s Starship and other heavy-lift vehicles come online. It looks like the Space Force is taking up their side of that bet, […]
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Regulators have given SpaceX the go-ahead to launch Starship for the seventh time, although the company has not yet announced when that mission might take place. While the exact launch date is unclear, SpaceX engineers have been as busy as ever at the company’s massive launch site near Boca Chica, Texas. In recent days, the […]
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Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. This will be the final TechCrunch Space newsletter you receive in 2024, so to all our readers, have a wonderful holiday and see you next year. There’s a lot to look forward to next year. I expect to see much more progress from SpaceX on Starship, big changes […]
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These startups have fascinating new technologies, business models, founder stories or are pushing an industry forward in exciting ways.
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When Koko Xs considered pursuing a career as a VC after he graduated from college last year, he observed a handful of trends that suggested he should do something else. He noticed that it’s hard to land deals and it takes a long time to see returns, given that most VC funds typically take a […]
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Late-stage deals in space have been on the decline this year, but one notable exception is Fleet Space Technologies’ $100 million Series D. The Adelaide, Australia-based startup raised the new funding to accelerate the development of ExoSphere, a platform to enable real-time mineral prospecting from space. The company currently has two satellites in low Earth […]
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Military operators need to rapidly make decisions in high-stakes environments, but they’re often stuck with technology that’s unable to deliver accurate information about their surroundings. Military leaders have made clear that they’re prioritizing “decision dominance” for troops, but actually shipping new technologies and getting them in the hands of end users can be more challenging. […]
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Blue Origin says it’s on track to launch its towering New Glenn vehicle before the year’s end, though the company is still awaiting regulatory approval to conduct a final key test of the massive rocket. That test, called a “hot fire,” involves powering up all seven of the first stage’s BE-4 engines and firing them […]
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Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space! To the shock of no one, ever, NASA announced that the next Artemis mission is delayed to no earlier than April 2026, and the subsequent Artemis III mission is delayed to mid-2027. It will be interesting to see how Artemis changes under Jared Isaacman’s leadership — more on […]
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Incoming president Donald Trump has nominated Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut, to lead NASA through what could be one of the most consequential periods in the agency’s history. During the four years of Trump’s second term, NASA will need to navigate a number of significant changes and challenges, including the ongoing Artemis […]
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SpaceX’s valuation continues to rise at an eye-popping pace, with the company reportedly in talks to sell insider shares at a price that would value it at around $350 billion, Bloomberg reported. It would mark an enormous increase from the $255 billion price that was circulating last month, and a doubling since shares were sold […]
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Space startup SpinLaunch is fundraising again, though a source tells TechCrunch that it was exploring raising a significantly more ambitious sum earlier this year. The company has closed an $11.5 million round out of a planned $25 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. SpinLaunch confirmed funding to TechCrunch, but […]
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Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space! First off, I want to highlight a few stories we weren’t able to get to: First, Inversion Space raised a $44 million Series A to continue development of its ultra-precise orbit-to-Earth cargo delivery service. The company has already garnered a lot of attention from the DOD for its […]
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Rocket Lab set a new speed record for launch turnaround time, successfully executing two Electron missions in 24 hours. The company added in a statement that this is also the first time any launch operator has completed a mission from each hemisphere within that time frame. Rocket Lab, which was founded in New Zealand, maintains […]
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As SpaceX’s Starship test program continues to gain momentum, the company signed its second commercial deal to deliver a payload to the moon using a lunar lander variant of the massive vehicle. Starship will deposit Lunar Outpost’s rugged rover, called Eagle, to the lunar surface by 2029, the Colorado-based startup said. Lunar Outpost CEO Justin […]
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Manufacturing has been one of the hottest categories in venture this year, but there are still many innovative materials and processes yet to scale. One example is thermoset composites, materials widely used in aerospace and defense due to their high heat resistance and light weight, but which typically have long lead times and high prices […]
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