Whether it’s being part of the Artemis Generation or harboring a greater appetite for adventure, Gen Z seems more enticed by the idea of traveling to the moon (even if today that remains a far-fetched proposition). 52% of Americans aged 18–34 say they’d be interested in visiting the moon if money were no object, per new polling from Axios […]
What does the year ahead hold for space investors? Before trying to answer that question, let’s take stock of how last year drew to a close. The space economy, broadly speaking, is growing. “Space infrastructure” companies raised $10.3B YTD through the end of Q3, setting new records, per Space Capital. SpaceX cleared a $100B valuation after secondary share […]
The new year has brought a new lease on life for the ISS. News dump much? NASA said Dec. 31—via blog post—that the White House formally supports the extension of ISS operations through the end of the decade. Until now, US policy was to keep the ISS kicking through at least 2024. Unofficially, the assumption was […]
Virgin Orbit said Tuesday SPAC shareholders have voted to approve its SPAC merger with Nextgen Acquisition Corp. II. Virgin expects the de-SPAC to take place this year (so, this week). After the transaction closes, the combined entity will become a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ with the $VORB ticker. SPAC deets: Virgin Orbit expects to pull […]
Best Christmas Gift Ever? If you’re an astronomer, the answer to that question is a resounding Yes. ICYMI: The James Webb Telescope (JWST) blasted off on Christmas aboard an Ariane 5. As successor to Hubble and the most powerful space telescope ever built, JWST should significantly advance our understanding of the observable universe. The $10B telescope is […]
As 2021 draws to a close, Payload recently sat down with Dr. Chris Boshuizen to get his thoughts on the last year in space—and what to expect in the coming decade. Bio in <40 words: Boshuizen is an operating partner at DCVC, where he invests in space and “deep tech” startups. The Australian engineer is cofounder […]
From Tuesday to Wednesday, TechCrunch held TC Sessions: Space 2021, with excellent programming and speakers from startupland, the investment community, NASA, academia, and more. We took diligent notes and wanted to share some of the notable highlights below. Debris: A spacecraft is 10X more likely to be hit by a dead satellite or cataloged debris than an […]
STOKE Space Technologies announced this morning that it has raised a $65M Series A. The Seattle space startup is developing a fully reusable rocket. Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the round, which was joined by new investors Spark Capital, Point72 Ventures, Toyota Ventures, Alameda Research, and Global Founders Capital. Existing investors who also joined: NFX, MaC […]
Albedo has been approved to sell 10-cm commercial satellite imagery, the startup announced yesterday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has granted a first-of-its-kind license to Albedo, allowing it to sell satellite imagery at a resolution of 10 cm/pixel. That’s more granular than anything commercially offered today. Changing times…A few decades ago, the US greenlighted […]
This week, SF-based Astranis announced a $90M deal with Andesat, a Latin American telco, to provide broadband capacity to cell towers in Peru. Astranis’s satellite will extend connectivity to underserved, remote pockets of Peru—and help cell networks leapfrog from 2G to 4G across the country. It’s a “landmark deal,” Astranis cofounder and CEO John Gedmark […]
Payload spoke with Anil Menon, Deniz Burnham, and Jack Hathaway, three of the ten candidates in NASA’s new astronaut class. The astronauts-to-be talked with us about their unique and winding paths to this point, their passion for space, and their hopes for the Artemis generation of lunar exploration. Anil Menon, a US Air Force lieutenant […]
Loft Orbital, an SF-based space infrastructure-as-a-service startup, has announced a $140M fundraising round led by BlackRock, with participation from CEAS Investments, Foundation Capital, Uncork Capital, Ubiquity VC, and others. Loft 101: The startup abstracts away the complexity of going to space by handling payload integration, satellite launches, regulatory compliance, ground stations, data transmission, and on-orbit […]
