Rockets
Stories about rockets, and the companies that build them.
Stoke Space Raises $1B Initial Series E Round
Stoke Space Technologies announced today that it has closed an initial $1B tranche of a Series E round, bringing the company’s total capital raised to $2.3B.
China’s Commercial Space Sector Is Going Public
A Shanghai listing rule has made orbital flight the price of entry for China’s rocket startups.
SpaceX Announces New Starbase, Louisiana Spaceport
Gwynne Shotwell joined Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry on Tuesday to announce a high-cadence launch site for future Starship operations.
Hop Aero Wants to Deliver Cargo via Rocket
Hop Aero launched on Y Combinator this week with their autonomous suborbital rocket: Rook.
Starship Sticks the Water Landing on Flight 13
SpaceX flew the 13th test flight of its Starship rocket Friday evening, ending with the first intact Starship put in the water.
Astra Targets Golden Dome With Small Rockets, Says CEO Chris Kemp
“We’re going to do target practice. We’re going to make the clay-pigeon rocket,” Kemp said. “That’s great, because that will drive scale for us…and allow us to bring our cost down for commercial customers, and other government customers.”
UK Funds Design Review of New Autophage Spacecraft
Reality is starting to look a lot like science fiction.
Agile Space Industries Wins Nyx Thruster Contract
The contract is the result of a rapid development process, in which Agile designed, 3D-printed, assembled, and hotfire-tested the DS250 in just 10 weeks.
SpaceWERX Awards $3M for RPS Space Tug
“We will be selling our engines for $150,000—that’s unprecedented.”
Northrop Grumman Invests $50M in Firefly’s Eclipse
Eclipse is the product of scaled-up tech from Firefly’s smaller launch vehicle—Alpha—and shared systems from Northrop’s flight proven Antares program.
Pulsar Fusion Unveils Nuclear-Powered Rocket
The Sunbird Migratory Transfer Vehicle is a nuclear-fusion powered rocket capable of reaching 329,000 mph.
New Small Launchers are in Decline
Outside of the established companies, investment in small US launchers has slowed to a crawl, forcing dozens of companies to go dormant, or pivot to defense.
SpaceX’s Starship Flight Ends Early in Somersaults
SpaceX lost its Starship second stage nine minutes into its eighth test flight Thursday, scattering debris over the Carribean—a scene nearly identical to its last failed test flight in January.
