Iridium ($IRDM) was doing 2020s-era space stuff before it was cool. The McLean, VA company deployed a constellation in low-Earth orbit and used those satellites to provide connectivity to devices in hard-to-reach areas around the world. It went bankrupt once upon a time, and in 2009 it went public via SPAC. Now, Iridium appears to […]
On today’s episode of Pathfinder, we’re joined by Tim Ellis, the CEO and cofounder of Relativity Space. Tim was in his late twenties when he started Relativity with cofounder Jordan Noone six and a half years ago. Fast forward to today: Relativity’s 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket is at the pad in Cape Canaveral and an orbital […]
Last week, Relativity Space and Impulse Space announced a partnership to launch the first private mission to Mars. To much fanfare, the two startups say they’ll try to launch a Red Planet lander as early as 2024. Under the agreement, Relativity will launch Impulse’s Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander on the 3D-printed Terran R […]
While government-operated orbital outposts may not have the amenities of future private stations, in-space internet, it would appear, will be table stakes. Driving the news: NASA’s Lunar Gateway module, set to begin launching in a few years, will serve as a comms hub, a research lab, short-term living quarters for astronauts, and a holding bay […]
On this week’s episode of Pathfinder, we sit down with Kevin Weil, president of product and business at Planet, a ~$1.3B Earth-imagine company based in San Francisco. Kevin joined Planet last April to accelerate software development, build new analytics products, and further help the company move “up the stack.” Before he worked in commercial space, […]
It’s been a rough start to the year for startup financing. In fact, Q2 saw the largest quarterly drop in venture funding in a decade. Higher-than-expected inflation growth, rising interest rates, and an energy crisis in Europe continue to threaten institutional capital deployment. VC-backed public listings reached a 13-year quarterly low, with eight completed this […]
On this week’s episode of the Pathfinder podcast, Ryan sits down with Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice. His one-year anniversary as chief executive is one week from today. In the last year, Sierra has: Raised a $1.4B (yes, billion) Series A. Announced that it will build the Orbital Reef space station with Blue Origin, Boeing, […]
Super Secret Spaceplane Celebrates New Record Somewhere In Space…With that alternate title, we would have given the “Sally sells seashells by the seashore” tongue twister a run for its money. Unpacking the news: The Boeing-made, US Air & Space Force-operated X-37B spaceplane set a new orbital endurance record on Thursday, passing a previous one set […]
Earlier this month, astronauts disposed of ~172 pounds of trash using a completely new method: sending it out of the commercial Bishop Airlock. Working with Houston, Nanoracks cycled its Bishop Airlock, ejected a specially designed trash bag, and voila, the ISS crew had less waste to worry about. “The first full end-to-end cycle was a […]
SpaceX has debuted Starlink Maritime for merchant vessels, oil rigs, and yachts. The service promises to connect large boats with high-speed, low-latency satellite internet, all “from the most remote waters across the world.” Starlink Maritime touts download speeds of up to 350Mbps at sea. Mileage may vary, though, as Starlink legal documents say users can […]
Ed. Note: This is a vastly abridged version of Payload’s “Secret Monthly Newsletter” that you can unlock by referring just one new subscriber! This month’s newsletter included access to a larger macro presentation that includes this—and much more. In less than a week, the June CPI (Consumer Price Index, an index that tracks the price […]
There’s a new space technology specialist fund in town. Today, Stellar Ventures announced the close of $23M in committed capital for SV Andromeda Fund LP, its first fund. Stellar Ventures may ring a bell for seasoned space hands. It sounds like Stellar Solutions, an aerospace engineering company, and that’s no coincidence. Celeste Ford started both […]
