Stories about the new players changing the space game.
Hyperspectral imaging startup Pixxel has raised a $25M Series A led by Radical Ventures. Also joining the round were Seraphim, Lightspeed Partners, Blume Ventures, Sparta LLC, and Relativity cofounder Jordan Noone. Payload caught up with Pixxel CEO and cofounder Awais Ahmed over email to hear more about the company’s product roadmap, development principles, and target […]
Space unicorn Astranis recently announced that it had completed final tests for its first MicroGEO satellite. Payload recently caught up with Astranis CEO John Gedmark (via email) to discuss next steps, launch, satellite insurance, cellular backhaul, and everything in between. We last checked in with Gedmark in early December, when the $1.4B startup struck a […]
Astranis says its first commercial satellite is “ready for launch.” On Wednesday, the SF-based space unicorn said it had cleared all major tests for its first MicroGEO satellite…including the vibe test campaign (vibration/vibroacoustic tests), along with final solar array and antenna deployment tests, propulsion system tests, software tests, and electrical checkouts. In late December, the […]
QuadSAT said this morning that it partnered with ESA’s ESOC mission control center to run a drone-based measurement campaign of 13- and 15-meter European antennas at Kiruna Earth Station. The Danish startup says that this represents the first time anyone has used a drone to measure a 15m antenna and run tracking tests on it. […]
AI startup Synthetaic has closed a $13M Series A, the Delafield, WI-based company announced this morning. Lupa Systems led the round, with TitleTown Tech, Betaworks, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Esri also participating. Synthetaic has raised $17.5M to date. AI’s “data problem” Labeled data is a must for most state-of-the-art models. In a world where scale […]
Venturi Astrolab has emerged from stealth with a lunar rover modular concept—and a prototype to boot. The rover, named FLEX (short for Flexible Logistics and Exploration), is designed to transport crew and cargo across the surface of the Moon. If it works there, the company also hopes the rover will be used on human missions to Mars. […]
Slingshot Aerospace, an Austin-based space situational awareness company, has raised a $25M Series A-1, co-led by Draper Associates and ATX Venture Partners. Edison Partners, Embedded Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and Lockheed Martin Ventures also participated in the round. The company had raised a $9.6M Series A in October 2020, which brings the total Series A […]
A month after Astra’s LV0008 mission failed, the launcher has issued a preliminary postmortem of what went wrong. ICYMI: Astra (NASDAQ:ASTR) attempted its first launch from the Space Coast on Feb. 10. After a few delays, the rocket launched and eventually failed mid-flight. The problem: In a statement issued Monday morning by Andrew Griggs, Astra’s […]
Pine Technology Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:PTOC) and Tomorrow.io (née ClimaCell) have called off their SPAC merger, the two said yesterday. $PTOC closed the day down ~1.4%. Announced Dec. 7, the transaction was expected to give the weather forecasting company (and nascent constellation developer) a $1.2B post-deal valuation, while providing Tomorrow.io with up to $420M in gross […]
The Australian government has awarded Fleet Space Technologies, a South Australia-based satellite developer, a $20M grant to build a “space manufacturing hub.” This new grant supplements an AUS $20M (~$15M) grant the company had already received from the government of South Australia, along with a consortium of space companies and investors. The startup has big […]
Launcher has relocated most of its Ukrainian-based staff to Sofia, Bulgaria, the Hawthorne, CA-based company just announced. “I’m distraught by the unprovoked Russian aggression in Ukraine,” Launcher CEO Max Haot wrote in a note. “We are providing all of the necessary support we can think of to our team, partners, and their families and communities […]
SkyFi, a startup developing a satellite imagery app, has raised a $7.15M round with participation from J2 Ventures, Moving Capital, Capital Factory, and Bill Perkins, along with investments from family and friends. The startup aims to lower the barrier to entry for procuring custom satellite imagery and will allow users to task a satellite. The […]
