Ryan Duffy
Cloud to Street Partners to Launch Parametric Flood Insurance Product in Colombia
Last week, NYC-based Cloud to Street announced a partnership with Raincoat, a parametric insurance provider, and Munich Re Group, a major international reinsurer. The three are launching a flood insurance product in Colombia. The national program will make flood insurance policies available to 100,000+ Colombian farmers for the first time. In effect, that means that…
A Q+A with Redwire’s Andrew Rush
Image: Redwire Last month, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson visited Redwire Space’s headquarters in Jacksonville, FL, and said the city has become “the center for space technology.” To be fair, Nelson was a three-term Florida senator…so he’s not entirely impartial. Nonetheless, Redwire has helped make Jacksonville a space hub, with its corporate HQ and 37,000 square…
Pathfinder #0002: Rob Meyerson on building Blue Origin and the lunar economy
In Pathfinder #0002, we sit down with Rob Meyerson, the founder and CEO of Delalune Space and former president of Blue Origin. While at Blue, Rob reported directly to Jeff Bezos, oversaw the company’s growth from 10 to 1,500 employees, and managed development of New Shepard, among many other programs. Pathfinder is presented by SpiderOak Mission…
Elon Musk Shares All-Hands Deck
On Sunday, Elon Musk shared the deck from an all-hands SpaceX update he gave to employees last week. SpaceX is averaging one launch a week. In late April, the company notched its fastest booster turnaround time to date (just 21 days). To date, SpaceX has successfully launched 160 times, with 122 landings and 98 reflights. …
Ursa Major Unveils Arroway
Render of Ursa Major’s Arroway heavy-launch engine. Image: Ursa Major. Ursa Major has unveiled its engine for heavy launch vehicles. The Colorado startup is calling its latest propulsion product Arroway, a nod to Dr. Ellie Arroway, Jodie Foster’s character in Contact. Arroway specs: 200,000-pound thrust, liquid oxygen and methane staged combustion, mostly 3D printed, and…
Pathfinder #0001! Featuring Michael Suffredini and a Chat on Private Space Stations
Welcome to Pathfinder, a new weekly show where Payload Managing Editor Ryan Duffy sits down with the top shot-callers in space. Each week, Duffy sits down with the top shot-callers in space to keep you informed, entertained, and up-to-date on the top news and trends beyond Earth. In Pathfinder #0001, we speak with Michael Suffredini,…
Stratolaunch Unveils Talon-A
Image: Domenic Moen/Stratolaunch Stratolaunch has debuted its structurally complete Talon-A test vehicle. Stratolaunch will use the vehicle, dubbed TA-0, to test the release system of Roc and “characterize” Talon’s separation dynamics. Roc is a really massive twin-fuselage carrier craft, boasting six Boeing 747 engines and a payload capacity of 500,000+ lbs. At 385 feet (~117m)…
NRO Awards Biggest-Ever EOCL Imagery Contracts
NRO’s NROL-85 launches. Image: SpaceX/NRO. As if Wednesday wasn’t already filled to the brim with space news, the National Reconaissance Office also had to flex on us and announce its “largest-ever commercial imagery contract.” EOCL, imagery, billions of dollars…let’s break it down: The agency awarded Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL) contracts to BlackSky ($BSKY), Maxar ($MAXR),…
SpaceX Launches Transporter-5
SpaceX launched Transporter-5 yesterday. That’s non-news for most of you by now, but it’s still worth running through the numbers and firsts of this mission. Transporter-5 had 59 spacecraft on its manifest, ranging from cubesats to hosted payloads to orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs). (F)light work: Transporter-5’s booster (tail name B1061-8) previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8,…
Exolaunch Ready for Biggest SpaceX Rideshare to Date
What’s it like micromanaging a SpaceX rideshare? Well, let’s find out… Exolaunch is providing launch and deployment services for 21 satellites aboard today’s SpaceX Transporter-5 mission, which is set to lift off at roughly half past 2 Eastern. Exolaunch provides launch services, makes separation systems, and has certainly earned frequent flier status with SpaceX. The…
Benchmark Expands to Europe, Inks Propulsion Deal with UK’s Space Forge
Burlington, VT-based Benchmark Space Systems has formally expanded across the pond. The propulsion provider has pond-hopped across the Atlantic, not Lake Champlain, just to be clear. Driving the news…Benchmark has opened a new UK facility to serve the British and European markets. The Vermont startup has also signed a deal with Space Forge, a British…
Citi, McKinsey Chart Growth of Space Industry
Citi released a report earlier this month titled “Space: The Dawn of a New Age.” The bank’s GPS group sizes up the commercial space market and forecasts that the sector will generate $1 trillion in annual sales by 2040. Big, if true…the shiny trillion-dollar number would represent a 5% compound annual growth rate from $370B…
Exclusive: Phase Four Inks Deal to Scale Production
Image: Phase Four El Segundo-based Phase Four today finalized a lease to build a second factory and scale production of its Maxwell engine product line. The new Hawthorne facility will be over 3X larger than Phase Four’s current plant, and capable of cranking out 100 engines a year. Phase Four’s founding vision was to create…
