Rachael Zisk
Venturi Astrolab Emerges from Stealth with a Lunar Rover Prototype
Venturi Astrolab has emerged from stealth with a lunar rover modular concept—and a prototype to boot. The rover, named FLEX (short for Flexible Logistics and Exploration), is designed to transport crew and cargo across the surface of the Moon. If it works there, the company also hopes the rover will be used on human missions to Mars.…
Voters Block Georgia Spaceport Plans
Longtime plans to build a spaceport in Camden County, Georgia have been thrown into jeopardy after county voters overwhelmingly voted to reject the idea. The spaceport: Camden County lawmakers began working on plans for Spaceport Camden in 2012. The site for the vertical-launch facility borders northern Florida, a strategic location to access resources from Florida’s…
Slingshot Aerospace Raises $25M Series A-1
Slingshot Aerospace, an Austin-based space situational awareness company, has raised a $25M Series A-1, co-led by Draper Associates and ATX Venture Partners. Edison Partners, Embedded Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and Lockheed Martin Ventures also participated in the round. The company had raised a $9.6M Series A in October 2020, which brings the total Series A…
Satellogic and Astraea Create Platform for Ukraine Imagery
Satellogic has partnered with Astraea, a geospatial and AI analytics company, to quickly supply the Ukrainian government and allied groups with satellite imagery and change detection in the midst of the ongoing war in the country. The two companies said yesterday they’ve created a portal called Ukraine Observer where governments and humanitarian organizations can apply to…
Astra Explains Failed Launch
A month after Astra’s LV0008 mission failed, the launcher has issued a preliminary postmortem of what went wrong. ICYMI: Astra (NASDAQ:ASTR) attempted its first launch from the Space Coast on Feb. 10. After a few delays, the rocket launched and eventually failed mid-flight. The problem: In a statement issued Monday morning by Andrew Griggs, Astra’s…
Geek Out: Tatooine?
We found Tatooine. Luke Skywalker, here we come. Researchers at the University of Birmingham have been tracking the trajectory of Kepler-16b, a planet orbiting two stars that also orbit one another. And yes, if you stood on the surface of the exoplanet you could watch a double sunset. (We can neither confirm nor deny a Jawa population.) …
Fleet Space Receives $20M Grant for Manufacturing Hub
The Australian government has awarded Fleet Space Technologies, a South Australia-based satellite developer, a $20M grant to build a “space manufacturing hub.” This new grant supplements an AUS $20M (~$15M) grant the company had already received from the government of South Australia, along with a consortium of space companies and investors. The startup has big…
CesiumAstro Raises $60M Series B
CesiumAstro has raised a $60M Series B, the company announced this morning. Airbus Ventures and Forever Ventures co-led the round, with L3 Harris also making a strategic investment. Previous investors, including Kleiner Perkins, Lavrock Ventures, Franklin Templeton Blackhorse Fund, and HEICO, also participated in the round. CesiumAstro 101: The startup’s core product is its steerable,…
Swiss University Launches Open “New Space” Course
For those not intimately familiar with the space industry, getting up to speed on decades of a deep tech sector’s development is a high barrier to entry. Open, free, structured access to that knowledge could help to close the space knowledge gap and, hopefully, stimulate entrepreneurship. That’s the idea behind a new massive open online…
Viasat Experiencing European Outages
Users in Ukraine have reported that Viasat KA-SAT internet service is down in the country, and the outage has spread to other countries in Europe. The likely culprit: a Russian cyberattack on the morning of Feb. 24. Viasat announced Monday morning that it’s consulted cyber experts to investigate the outages. In a statement, the company…
Spaceflight and Sanctions on Russia
The ISS and other US-Russian collaborations in space are hanging in the balance, to say the least, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Yesterday, President Biden announced sweeping sanctions on Russia, in part intended to “degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program.” State of affairs: The US and Russia have a long history of…
$SPCE Reports 2021 Q4 and FY Results
Virgin Galactic (NYSE:SPCE) announced its Q4 and FY 2021 results after market close yesterday. A few key numbers from Q4 results: $141,000 in revenue Losses of 31 cents per share Adj. EBITDA losses of $65M Net loss of $81M The company had $931M in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of the end of 2021. …
Exclusive: SkyFi Raises $7.15M
SkyFi, a startup developing a satellite imagery app, has raised a $7.15M round with participation from J2 Ventures, Moving Capital, Capital Factory, and Bill Perkins, along with investments from family and friends. The startup aims to lower the barrier to entry for procuring custom satellite imagery and will allow users to task a satellite. The…
