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Max Q: Selling space

Max Q is a weekly newsletter from TechCrunch all about space. Sign up here to receive it weekly on Mondays in your inbox. This week actually includes two, since I was out last week for a Canadian nati

NASA selects four companies for moon material collection as it seeks to set precedent on private sector outer space mining

NASA has selected the winning candidates that they’ve decided to tap to collect lunar resources for eventual Earth return. The four companies all have rides booked on future commercial lunar lan

Astrobotic teams with Bosch and WiBotic to give its moon rovers wireless charging and smarts to find power stations

Lunar exploration startup Astrobotic is working on developing ultra-fast wireless charging technology for its CubeRover shoebox-sized lunar robotic explorers. The project, which is funded by NASA&#821

Moon exploration startup ispace opens new US office and hires SpaceX alum to lead development of next lander

Japanese startup ispace, which is developing lander technology to support exploration of the moon, is opening an office in Denver, the company announced today. The Colorado location was chosen because

Chinese commercial launch startup iSpace raises $172 million

The private launch industry isn’t showing any signs of slowing down, and a new $172 million Series B round of funding for China commercial launch startup iSpace indicates it could be heating up

Moon lander startup ispace raises $28 million and launches a new lunar data platform

Ispace, one of the startups working on putting a private lunar lander on the moon sometime in the next few years, has raised a $28 million Series B funding round, which will be used to help it continu

Ispace reveals the final design of its lunar lander ahead of its first mission to the moon in 2022

Japanese new space startup ispace has revealed the final design of its HAKUTO-R lunar lander, a spacecraft set to make its first touchdown on the moon in 2022 if all goes to the updated plan (it had b

CMU’s tiny robot rover passes NASA design review ahead of 2021 trip to the Moon

Carnegie Mellon University is one step closer to operating its robotic rover on the surface of the Moon: The school’s diminutive bot has passed a crucial NASA design review, performed by the age

NASA reveals the payloads for the first commercial moon cargo deliveries

NASA has finalized the payloads for its first cargo deliveries scheduled to be carried by commercial lunar landers, vehicles created by companies the agency selected to take part in its Commercial Lun

NASA adds SpaceX, Blue Origin and more to list of companies set to make deliveries to the surface of the Moon

NASA has added five companies to the list of vendors that are cleared to bid on contracts for the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. This list, which already includes nin

Legged lunar rover startup Spacebit taps Latin American partners for Moon mission

U.K.-based lunar rover startup Spacebit, a company developing robotic exploration hardware for use on the Moon, announced two new partners that will help it develop and finalize its technology ahead o

Japan will participate in NASA’s Lunar Gateway project for the Artemis program

Japan has officially announced that it will participate with NASA’s Lunar Gateway project (via NHK), which will seek to establish an orbital research and staging station around the Moon. The Lun

Japan’s ispace now aims for a lunar landing in 2021, and a Moon rover deployment in 2023

One of the private companies aiming to deliver a commercial lunar lander to the Moon has adjusted the timing for its planned mission, which isn’t all that surprising, given the enormity of the t

NASA calls for more companies to join its commercial lunar lander program

NASA has opened up a call for companies to join the ranks of its nine existing Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) providers, a group it chose in November after a similar solicitation for proposa

ispace Europe tapped by the European Space Agency for mission to extract water from the Moon

Space startup ispace, which is headquartered in Japan but has a European subsidiary based in Luxembourg, will take part in PROSPECT, a program run by the European Space Agency (ESA) that intends to ex

iSpace becomes the first private Chinese company to launch satellites to orbit

With a successful launch from the Gobi Desert blasting off at around 1:10 PM Beijing time (1:10 AM ET), Chinese space launch startup iSpace (which, awesomely, is also called StarCraft Glory Space Tech

Meet the first private companies that NASA has selected to deliver stuff and things to the Moon

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has selected Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Orbit Beyond as the first three private companies to deliver science and technology payloads under th

After its first attempt botched the landing, SpaceIL commits to second Beresheet lunar mission

The minds behind Israel’s SpaceIL attempted lunar landing convened today to begin planning for a second lunar mission. In an announcement yesterday, the chairman of SpaceIL, Morris Kahn, said th

Historic first private mission to the Moon launches Thursday night

For the first time later this week, a privately developed moon lander will launch aboard a privately built rocket, organized by a private launch coordinator. It’s an historic moment in space and

Google Lunar XPrize down to 5 finalists aiming to fly to the moon in 2017

Google’s Lunar XPrize competition is nearing its zenith – the slate of competitors is down to five finalists, all of whom are competing to be the first private company to launch a spacecraft d
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