Technology
Stories about the tech that’s driving the new space age.
ESA Gets Nearly 17% Funding Boost
‘Twas a busy time in Paris last week. The European Space Agency announced a new cohort of astronauts and announced a budget of €16.9B for the next three years. The sum falls short of the €18.5B requested by the agency, but still represents a 17% increase over the prior period. Lots of 17s last week: …
ICON Wins NASA Contract for Lunar 3D Printing
Within a decade, a startup known for building cheap 3D-printed houses on Earth is hoping to bring the materials cost for building structures on the lunar surface down to zero. Austin-based ICON said this morning that it won a $57.2M Phase III SBIR award from NASA that will bring its 3D printing technology all the…
Rosotics Raises $750,000 for 3D Printers
3D metal printing is getting a makeover. Rosotics, a Mesa, AZ-based startup designing a more efficient, large-scale 3D printer optimized for the needs of the aerospace industry, announced this morning the closing of a $750,000 pre-seed round. The round was led by Draper Associates with participation from Correlation Ventures, Vibe Capital, and Sequoia Capital. That’s…
Lockheed Martin and Nvidia Partner on Weather Digital Twin for NOAA
Lockheed Martin and Nvidia are joining forces to develop a global weather digital twin for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the two companies announced Thursday. The AI-driven earth observation system will help NOAA monitor and increase global weather conditions, including extreme events increasing in frequency. Digital twin, you say? Digital twins are virtual…
Hermeus Completes Hypersonic Engine Test
Hermeus, a startup building a hypersonic aircraft capable of traveling five times the speed of sound, has completed a major milestone in engine testing. The company successfully demonstrated that its engine can transition from turbojet—like what’s used in passenger aircraft—to ramjet, a much more powerful engine technology. Hermeus 101: The Atlanta-based startup is moving fast…
Lockheed Martin Holds “Destination: Space 2050” Event in DC
Advanced tech can only do as much as the policies that regulate it allow, Lockheed Martin’s space chief said Thursday at an event to sell Washington officials on the moon habitats, in-space manufacturing, and smart cities that the company predicts will be commonplace by 2050. “The goal really is to start a dialogue and think…
A Q+A with Vast Founder Jed McCaleb
Earlier this year, Vast emerged from stealth with a bold goal: to build the world’s (or solar system’s?) first artificial-gravity space station. The benefit of such a design, the El Segundo startup argues, is that it would offer “a healthier environment for long-term stays in space.” It’s still early days, but the thinking is that…
Exclusive: Varda Completes Vehicle System Test
It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s a falling re-entry capsule! Varda Space Industries has successfully demonstrated the descent and landing capability of the re-entry capsule for its first microgravity factory test mission. The Varda team dropped the capsule out of an airplane over the Arizona desert to prep for its first mission, set to launch…
UK Space Agency Awards Active Debris Removal Contracts
The UK has decided it’s ready to kickstart space junk removal missions. On Monday, the UK Space Agency announced that it had awarded two active debris removal (ADR) Phase B demo contracts to ClearSpace and Astroscale. The contracts awarded are worth £2.25M ($2.4M) and £1.7M ($1.8M), respectively. Beware that the dollar conversion may rapidly sink…
Planet, Microsoft, and Nature Conservancy Launch Renewable Energy “Atlas”
What do you get when Planet, Microsoft, and the Nature Conservancy walk into a bar? Probably some pretty wonky and in-the-weeds convos, but also, the potential for a productive collab. To that end, the three organizations have just lifted the wraps on the Global Renewables Watch (GRW). They describe the tool as “a first-of-its-kind living…
Microsoft Launches First Product with SpaceX
Microsoft is scaling up its presence in space, in a figurative rather than literal sense. Azure, the company’s cloud computing arm, is focused on building out software tools and partnerships within the industry, rather than launching its own hardware into space. Azure Space launched in Oct. 2020. It’s apparently been quite busy since then. The…
A Q+A with Albedo’s Topher Haddad
Albedo Space recently announced that it has closed a $48M Series A round, co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Shield Capital. The startup also has other heavyweights on its cap table, such as Y Combinator, Initialized Capital, and Joe Montana. (Happy NFL Kickoff day to all who celebrate.) Albedo’s spiel The Austin- and Denver-based startup…
The Rockefeller Foundation Funds EO Climate Project in Sub-Saharan Africa
The Rockefeller Foundation announced a $5.5M initiative that will use our eyes in space— EO satellites—to track the effects of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa. The project: The Electricity Growth and Use in Developing Economies (e-GUIDE) Initiative and Atlas AI, a company that aims to help maximize the impact of infrastructure changes, are collaborating on…
