In a story that nearly writes itself, a Texas investor is swooping in to save a troubled rocket company just as it was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Dallas-based VC Matthew Brown is set to invest $200M into Virgin Orbit ($VORB), a source told Payload. The news was first reported by Reuters on Wednesday. […]
Terran Orbital ($LLAP) saw sales triple in Q4 compared to the prior year, the company revealed Tuesday in fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 financial results. Terran Orbital’s Q4, by the numbers: Terran generated 2022 sales of $94.2M, driven by a record 19 satellite deliveries (10 were SDA/Lockheed birds). Rivada contract: Last month, Terran won the monster […]
Gravity may be a tough opponent, but it’s got nothing on the unrelenting forces of public markets. On Thursday, launch startup Astra ($ASTR) announced that it has requested additional time from Nasdaq to boost its share price and avoid a delisting. Astra’s road: Over the last couple of years, the Alameda, CA company has struggled […]
For the first time in decades, NASA astronauts will soon get a wardrobe revamp. On Wednesday, Axiom unveiled the new spacesuit designs that will be worn on the Artemis III mission to the Moon. For those concerned about the colorway, the dark blue is just a fabric cover, and the final spacesuits will be all […]
Amazon unveiled three Project Kuiper terminal designs yesterday at Satellite 2023 in DC. Customers will use the antenna devices to connect users to Kuiper, Amazon’s planned LEO satellite internet network, starting in late 2024. Terminal lineup The Kuiper terminals incorporate proprietary antenna and baseband chip technology, and the e-commerce giant says it has already driven […]
Japanese startup Pale Blue announced that it successfully tested its water propulsion thrusters in space for the first time. The propulsion system, which is installed on Sony’s “EYE” satellite, operated for 2 minutes without hiccups. “Water propulsion has been well known to exist, but I think performance has been the big reason why people wrote […]
The White House is requesting $27.2B for NASA next year, a 7% (or $1.8B) increase from the 2023 enacted level. Highlights from the budget include a significant boost to the Artemis program and funding for the eventual deorbit of the ISS. It’s worth noting the budget represents Biden’s wish list. With a divided Congress, the […]
Japanese lunar lander startup ispace has filed the paperwork and announced plans to go public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on April 12. IPO → lunar landing Eyes on the prize: ispace could be a central player in a cislunar economy that’s expected to generate $100B over the next decade, according to estimates from research […]
Momentus ($MNTS) is in a race against its cash burn. That’s the read from the space tug developer’s Q4 results, which portend a runway crunch in the coming year. At the same time, though, Momentus touted key new customer wins and a clean bill of health for its Vigoride-5 space tug. And it also has […]
The European Space Agency announced on Friday that an eroded engine nozzle component caused the Vega C rocket failure in December. Yuzhnoye, the Ukrainian nozzle component supplier, will now need to be replaced. The supplier swap will push back the next Vega-C launch attempt to late 2023. A mishap with high stakes: “I would claim […]
Rocket Lab ($RKLB) fired off a number of key business updates on Tuesday’s earnings call. To start, the company reported robust Q4 revenue of $51.8M, an 88% YoY increase. The business outlook Rocket Lab’s backlog increased from $241M in Q4 ‘21 to $504M at the end of 2022. Strong order volume is driven largely by […]
For the second time in less than a year, SpaceX has adjusted pricing on rideshare launches and Starlink. Rideshare: The price tag of a Falcon 9 Transporter launch increased by 18%, from $5,500 per kg to $6,500 per kg. The hike comes after a 10% increase the previous year. Starlink: In an email to customers, […]
