Space

TechCrunch Minute: NASA needs your help to bring rocks back from Mars

NASA’s decision to scrap its $11 billion, 15-year mission to Mars to bring back samples could create a startup feeding frenzy, TechCrunch reports. Describing its plans as too slow, and too expen

Orbex’s new funding may accelerate its Prime microlauncher into orbit

U.K.-based small launch developer Orbex got another boost from the Scottish National Investment Bank and other investors as it gears up for its first orbital launch, though that mission still does not

Dark is building a rocket-powered boxing glove to push debris out of orbit

Paris-based Dark is taking on the dual problems of debris and conflict in orbit with their mobile platform designed to launch, attach to, and ultimately de-orbit uncooperative objects in space. Dark C

Andreessen Horowitz’s $7.2B new funds for a ‘new era’

What is worth $11 billion and wants to go to Mars to collect rocks? NASA’s mission to Mars to collect rocks that was expected to cost $11 billion and take ages. So, the U.S. space agency is thr

Inversion Space will test its space-based delivery tech in October

Inversion Space is aptly named. The three-year-old startup’s primary concern is not getting things to space, but bringing them back — transforming the ultimate high ground into “a transportation

Former top SpaceX exec Tom Ochinero sets up new VC firm, filings reveal

Former senior SpaceX executive Tom Ochinero is teaming up with SpaceX alum-turned-VC Achal Upadhyaya and one of Sequoia’s top finance leaders, Spencer Hemphill, on a new venture called Interlagos Ca

Space startups are licking their lips after NASA converts $11B Mars mission into a free-for-all

Considering how heavily both primes and space startups have been investing in interplanetary capability, this announcement arguably amounts to a historic windfall.

TechCrunch Space: True Anomaly and Rocket Lab will make big moves on orbit (literally)

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. I hope everyone had a great time at Space Symposium! Hopefully I’ll see you there next year.

Space Force tees up new ‘responsive space’ mission from Rocket Lab and True Anomaly

Each company will design and build a satellite capable of rendezvousing with other spacecraft in orbit at close proximity, as well as command and control centers for the mission.

Internal pre-Starlink SpaceX financials show big spending on moonshot bets

While the comprehensive balance sheets are five years old, they provide an intimate look inside the operations of arguably one of the most important, and secretive, private companies in the U.S.

Astranis unveils Omega ‘MicroGEO’ satellites for beaming dedicated broadband down from high orbit

Astranis has taken the wraps off a new generation of communications satellites that will serve broadband to customers on Earth from geostationary orbit, but faster and smaller than any comsat up there

Space diversity initiative builds steam with new leadership and K-12 focused National Space Day

A growing effort to attract more women and people of color into the space industry has shared some of its first results and a new occasion to rally around: National Space Day, May 3, when thousands of

True Anomaly CEO finds the silver lining in the startup’s anomalous first mission

True Anomaly’s first mission didn’t go as planned by any stretch of the imagination, but the space and defense startup’s CEO, Even Rogers, said he doesn’t consider it a failure

TechCrunch Space: Happy eclipse day!

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. Happy Eclipse Day for everyone celebrating! I’m fortunate to be living in a part of the country that’s in the path of totality, so I’ll be

Varda Space’s orbital drug factory success fuels $90M in new funding

Varda Space Industries has closed a massive tranche of funding just weeks after its first drug manufacturing capsule returned from orbit. The company’s $90 million Series B round marks an inflection

NASA picks 3 teams to design the next generation of moon buggy

NASA has given three space companies the chance to design the next-generation moon buggy — but only one design will go to space. Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Venturi Astrolab are developin

Agile Space Industries fires up Animas test stand to meet soaring demand

Despite the space industry’s incredible growth over the past 10 years, there are still few places in the United States dedicated to testing rocket and spacecraft engines. This isn’t a problem for

TechCrunch Space: Reusable rockets, reusable satellites

Welcome back to TechCrunch Space. This week, I sat down with Orbit Fab CEO Daniel Faber, and China adds new moon base project partners.

Footage from 2020 shows Astra rocket exploding during prelaunch testing

Footage obtained by TechCrunch shows the catastrophic ending that Astra’s Rocket 3.0 suffered during prelaunch testing in March 2020. The explosion, which occurred at Alaska’s Pacific Spaceport Co

Orbit Fab unveils $30K port to refuel satellites

Orbit Fab wants to build “gas stations” for satellites — which means it needs the gas cap, a mechanism for transferring propellant from an orbital tanker to the customer spacecraft.
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