Hello and welcome back to Max Q! In this issue: An “operational pause” at Virgin Orbit Behold: New moon suits! News from Project Kuiper and more At Virgin Orbit, it never should’ve come to a staff furlough CNBC broke the bombshell news that Virgin Orbit was pausing operations for at least a week while it […]readmore
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March 17, 2023
The FCC has officially proposed, and voted unanimously to move forward with, a framework under which satellites can communicate directly with smartphones in a structured and useful way. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, circulated earlier this month and formally voted on today, is essentially a complete first public draft of what the FCC hopes to […]readmore
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March 17, 2023
Last night, CNBC broke the bombshell news that Virgin Orbit was pausing operations for at least a week while it looked for funding to support the business. As part of that pause, company executives reportedly told staff in an all-hands meeting that they were being furloughed — and that it would be unpaid. The news […]readmore
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March 16, 2023
NASA and Axiom Space just showed off the latest iteration of the spacesuit astronauts will wear on the surface of the moon when the Artemis III mission takes the first Americans to visit it since 1972. Improved in every way over the classic EVA suits of the Apollo era, the new Axiom Exploration Extravehicular Mobility […]readmore
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March 8, 2023
Relativity Space will be attempting to make history with the first launch of the 110-foot-tall Terran 1 rocket tomorrow afternoon. The company, which was founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone, is best-known for its innovative 3D printing technology: Terran 1 is 85% 3D-printed by mass, and that even includes the rocket engines. […]readmore
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March 7, 2023
Hello and welcome back to Max Q! In this issue: The Chinese subsidiaries of U.S. VC firms investing in space tech ispace eyes April lunar landing News from Rocket Lab, United Launch Alliance and more As tensions build, Silicon Valley’s Chinese affiliates invest in sensitive space tech Over at TC+, I have a new story […]readmore
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March 5, 2023
Earlier this week, SpaceX released more information about the new argon Hall thrusters that will power the Starlink V2 mini satellites, an innovation that likely has much to do with the company’s acquisition of Swarm Technologies in 2021. The deal, which closed in July 2021, was an extremely rare move for SpaceX. Swarm — which […]readmore
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February 28, 2023
Hello and welcome back to Max Q! Today we’re thinking of the four astronauts heading to the International Space Station. See you guys soon! In this issue: Artificial gravity space station startup Vast makes its first acquisition Relativity Space sets a launch date News from Momentus, United Launch Alliance and more Vast acquires Launcher in […]readmore
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February 28, 2023
Astroscale, a company that’s developing technology to service satellites and clean up orbital debris, has closed another round of funding and widened its investor pool to include a space enthusiast billionaire and a major Japanese manufacturing multinational. The Series G round comes in at more than $76 million, bringing the company’s total funding to date […]readmore