Space

Morpheus Space’s satellite thrusters are propelled forward with a $28M Series A

The booming satellite industry has been a boon for Morpheus Space, which produces a modular, electric propulsion system for small satellites. Morpheus has raised a $28 million Series A, with which it

Blue Origin launch aborted after mid-flight anomaly

Blue Origin launched its 23rd New Shepard rocket mission this morning, featuring science payloads designed for experimentation. The mission needed early, however, after it was aborted during the first

Meet the ex-Amazon satellite engineers wanting to disrupt hardware workflow

Imagine building some of the most sophisticated hardware-driven technologies in the world — spacecraft, drones or autonomous vehicles. Then imagine being unable to easily share your data to diff

Skyrora completes second stage static fire test of its flagship rocket

U.K.-based launch company Skyrora hit a new milestone in the development of its Skyrora XL rocket with the completion of a static fire test of the second stage. The single engine, designed and manufac

Northrop Grumman taps Firefly Aerospace to upgrade its Antares rocket to American-built engines

Chalk one up for the American broomsticks. Northrop Grumman has announced that it will partner with startup Firefly Aerospace to build an all-American version of its workhorse Antares rocket, which cu

Astra changes strategy and ditches current rocket in the wake of launch debacles

Astra CEO Chris Kemp told investors Thursday that the company will be no longer launch payloads with its current lightweight vehicle, Rocket 3, and will instead re-manifest all launches on a considera

SpaceX launches South Korea’s first moon mission, an orbiter named Danuri

South Korea is headed for the moon. Last night, the country launched its first-ever lunar mission — in fact, its first-ever mission beyond low Earth orbit. Formerly called the Korea Pathfinder Lunar

Zenno Astronautics wants to move spacecraft around using electromagnets, not fuel

It’s easy to think about satellites as a bunch of mini-moons, orbiting the Earth seamlessly and without any (noticeable) movement. But that’s not quite right: satellites and other spacecraft often

The Exploration Company is developing a brand new reusable orbital spacecraft

The European space scene is about five to 10 years behind America’s, Hélène Huby explained in a recent interview. She’s certainly qualified to make such an assessment: Huby spent much of her car

No one said this was going to be easy

We’re exactly a week out from TC Sessions: Robotics 2022. I’ve been sitting in on prep calls for the past month, and I feel confident in saying this is going to be the best and widest-ranging sing

SpaceX’s Starship booster engines explode in test gone wrong

SpaceX’s Starship program encountered a setback after a test ended in a fiery explosion at its Boca Chica development facility in Texas on Monday night. The test was being conducted using a prot

Rocket Lab rockets to the moon and other TC news

This week on The TechCrunch Podcast our host, Managing Editor Darrell Etherington talks with TC’s Amanda Silberling about VidCon and the creator economy coming of age. He also speaks to Aria Alamalh

China’s new Mars images show off the country’s robust (but secretive) space program

With a $24 billion budget and dozens of active, high-profile missions, it’s not surprising that NASA is the most visible of the dozens of government space agencies in the world. But China’

Watch Virgin Orbit’s ‘Straight Up’ launch of Space Force satellites live tonight

Update: The launch was delayed due to a slight problem with propellant temperature, but Virgin Orbit has confirmed it will make its next attempt tonight (July 1st) no earlier than 10:20 PM PDT. Update

TechCrunch+ roundup: CEO pregnancy checklist, decision-tree planning, reassessing valuations

It sounds counterintuitive, but in this environment, a lower valuation might help you retain and hire talented employees.

Rocket Lab launches NASA’s CAPSTONE satellite on its scouting mission for a lunar space station

NASA’s CAPSTONE mission, which will chart a new orbit around the moon which will hopefully be used for a future crewed lunar space station, is underway after a successful launch on Tuesday morni

At NASA’s Lunabotics competition, students design mining robots for the moon

If this year’s Lunabotics competition is any indication, there’s a bright future ahead for the surface of the moon — and below it. The NASA-hosted challenge recently saw 39 teams of univ

NASA taps three companies to design nuclear power plants for the moon

Nuclear fission may have to overcome a public perception hurdle here on Earth in order to get the funding and development it needs to advance sufficiently to help our with our de-carbonization efforts

SpaceX internal open letter seeks condemnation of Elon Musk’s tweets

SpaceX employees have posted an open letter to the company’s internal communication system asking leadership at the company to implement a number of measures, with the stated aim of ensuring tha

NASA assembles a UFO research team to study ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’

NASA has announced the formation of a study team dedicated to UFOs — or unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), as they’ve been rebranded to shed some of their tin-foil-hat stigma. But don&#8217
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