Launch
Stories about the companies building a ride to space.
Report: SpaceX Targeting $750M Raise
SpaceX is seeking another round of funding. According to emails seen by CNBC, the launch juggernaut is raising $750M in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z), valuing the company at $137B. 2022 was a busy year of fundraising for SpaceX. Last month, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX was offering insiders the opportunity to sell…
Arianespace gets lump of coal for Christmas with Vega C failure
The first operational flight of the Vega C rocket has ended in failure, resulting in the loss of a pair of Airbus Pléiades Neo imaging satellites. What happened? The rocket lifted off at 8:47pm ET from Kourou. The flight started off well, with the first stage completing its leg of the mission and separating successfully.…
Q4 2022 News Roundup
Can you believe 2022 is nearly over? It’s been a jam-packed year for the space industry, full of groundbreaking moments in science, turbulence in the markets and world order; substantive policy developments; and historic mission firsts. We’re kicking off our year-end coverage by looking at objects closest in the rear-view mirror. Payload combed through the…
Maxar, Aerojet Rocketdyne Agree to $6.4B and $4.7B Takeovers
On Friday morning, the markets woke up to quite a surprise: A PE firm was taking Maxar ($MAXR) private in a mega-deal worth $6.4B. Then, we saw a monster merger confirmed Sunday evening, with L3Harris ($LHX) agreeing to buy Aerojet Rocketdyne ($AJRD). $MAXR take-private Maxar’s board voted unanimously to enter into a definitive merger agreement…
Ariane 5 Launches Trio of Geostationary Satellites
Arianespace successfully launched its third Ariane 5 flight of 2022 yesterday from French Guiana. The nearly 11-ton customer payload was the second heaviest lift for an Ariane 5, topped only by an Oct. 2021 launch that carried the Syracuse A4 and SES-17 into orbit. There were three primary payloads on board. All three satellites were…
ispace Prepares to Launch Lunar Lander
There’s about to be a new Moon mission in play. SpaceX is set to launch the HAKUTO-R mission from Cape Canaveral, beginning a small Japanese company’s long journey to softly place a lander on the lunar surface. The Falcon 9 launch for ispace scrubbed early this morning to take extra precautions before liftoff, and has…
Philippine Commander Says China Seized Space Debris
Space debris x South China Sea…the crossover nobody asked for. On Monday, a Philippine military commander accused China of forcibly seizing a big piece of metal—most likely space debris—that the former nation’s navy was towing through the South China Sea. The course of events, per Philippine Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos’s telling: Beijing’s take: China’s foreign…
SpaceRyde Adds Launches For ISILaunch
Canadian launch startup SpaceRyde has inked a deal with ISILaunch, a launch services company based in the Netherlands, to launch four customer payloads on its balloon-lofted rocket. The SpaceRyde approach: The launch startup is building a rocket that utilizes a stratospheric balloon instead of a first stage. The balloon is meant to lift the main…
NASA Launches Artemis I
We’re on our way back to the Moon. In the wee hours of the morning, NASA finally got the 322-foot-tall Artemis I off the ground. This was the third attempt to launch the $4.1B Mega Moon Rocket. Previous attempts dating back to August were foiled by leaky hydrogen lines, faulty sensors, and two hurricanes. The…
RFA Secures New Test Site for Helix Engines
Rocket Factory Augsburg has struck an agreement with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) to test its Helix engines at the historic Institute of Space Propulsion in Lampoldshausen. Who’s who in the zoo: RFA currently does all its engine testing at the Esrange Space Center in Sweden. Lampoldshausen is significantly closer to the company’s manufacturing facility…
Isar Adds Another Space Tug to Manifest
Exotrail has signed a launch services agreement with Isar Aerospace. The German launcher will conduct the flights on its forthcoming, two-stage Spectrum rocket from Norway’s Andøya Space and the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. More about Exotrail The French space mobility startup offers last-mile transportation for satellites aboard its spacevan vehicle as part of…
Firefly Prepares for Production Ramp; Names Permanent COO
Firefly made history when it became one of only a handful of privately funded players to reach orbit a month ago. Now, the self-described “end-to-end space transportation company” is staffing up to scale production and ensure that October’s successful Alpha launch isn’t a one off. “What we have to do now…is take Alpha to full-rate…
A Q+A with Relativity Boss Tim Ellis on First Launch, Terran R, and More
Relativity is in the final innings of prep work for “Good Luck, Have Fun,” its first orbital flight attempt. The Relativity team is integrating Terran 1 in its Space Coast hangar right now, and plans to roll the rocket out to the launchpad in the coming weeks. While all eyes may soon be on Terran…
