Aria Alamalhodaei, Author at TechCrunch

Boeing bleeds another $125M on Starliner program, bringing total losses to $1.6B

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 15:15:29 +0000

While the company was awarded a massive, $4.2 billion contract to accelerate Starliner development in 2014, it was structured as a “fixed-price” model.

Vast plans microgravity lab on its Haven-1 private space station

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 13:57:31 +0000

Commercial space station company Vast is building a private microgravity research lab as part of its wider Haven-1 station plans. The module is set to launch no earlier than the second half of 2025, the company said Thursday. The lab includes 10 payload slots that are equivalent to 10 “middeck lockers” on the International Space […]

TechCrunch Space: Catching stars

Aria Alamalhodaei — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 22:05:00 +0000

Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. In case you missed it, Boeing and NASA decided to keep Starliner docked to the International Space Station for the rest of the month. The agency is aiming to complete a key review in the first week of August, at which point they’ll make a decision on when […]

SpaceX cleared to resume Falcon 9 launches while FAA investigation remains open

Aria Alamalhodaei — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 13:48:41 +0000

Regulators gave SpaceX the all-clear to return to launch two weeks after the Falcon 9 rocket experienced an anomaly on orbit.

Lodestar’s robotic arm will be an orbital ‘first responder’ for satellites in need

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Satellites are among our most critical infrastructure, providing everything from GPS to disaster coordination, yet their inherent inaccessibility leaves them vulnerable to relatively simple technical issues or attacks. London-based Lodestar is looking to change that with a “first responder” service in space using advanced robotic sentries. Unlike some of its competitors who are also developing […]

Star Catcher wants to build a space power grid to supercharge orbital industry

Aria Alamalhodaei — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 22:58:51 +0000

Our growth as a civilization is tightly coupled to our ability to sufficiently generate ever-increasing amounts of electricity. Could the same be true in space? Star Catcher Industries, a startup just emerging from stealth today, is betting that might be the case. The company is developing a space-based energy grid that could enable more power-intensive […]

Astranis is set to build Omega constellation after $200M Series D

Aria Alamalhodaei — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Astranis has fully funded its next-generation satellite program, called Omega, after closing its $200 million Series D round, the company said Wednesday. “This next satellite is really the milestone into the next frontier for Astranis,” Megan Sapack, Astranis’ avionics lead, said in a video. Astranis develops and operates small broadband communications satellites in geostationary orbit. […]

Rosotics wants to manufacture massive orbital shipyards using 3D printing

Aria Alamalhodaei — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Mesa, Arizona-based Rosotics has kept a low profile. From the startup’s website, one would think they are solely focused on selling large metal 3D printers to aerospace and defense customers. For the past three years, the company’s been quietly architecting plans that involve launching multiple massive spacecraft, each containing dozens of smaller spacecraft, that […]

TechCrunch Space: SpaceX’s big plans to bring the ISS back to Earth

Aria Alamalhodaei — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 22:00:00 +0000

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. Before we begin, a quick note: I write this newsletter on Friday and it gets delivered to you on Monday. So if I neglect to mention a world-historical event that happens over the weekend — like, say, the attempted assassination of a former President — that’s why. Now […]

NASA cancels $450M Viper moon mission, dashing ice prospecting dreams

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 14:21:25 +0000

The now-scrapped moon mission would have been the U.S. space agency's first resource-mapping mission off planet Earth.

Bill Weber out as CEO of Firefly Aerospace

Aria Alamalhodaei — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 23:22:03 +0000

Bill Weber is out as chief executive at Firefly Aerospace, following a nearly two-year stint in the role, the maker of launch vehicles, lunar landers and orbital vehicles announced late Wednesday. While the board initiates a search for a new CEO, board member Peter Schumacher will serve as interim CEO, the company said in a statement […]

SpaceX’s vehicle to deorbit the International Space Station is a Dragon on steroids

Aria Alamalhodaei — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 22:53:24 +0000

NASA was looking for proposals that maximized the use of flight heritage because reliability will be key.

Elon Musk vows to move X, SpaceX headquarters from California to Texas

Aria Alamalhodaei — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 20:27:22 +0000

Elon Musk is doubling down on his commitment to Texas by vowing to move SpaceX’s massive headquarters from its long-time Hawthorne, California home to the Lone Star State. Musk later said that he would move the headquarters of his social media platform X from San Francisco, California, to Austin, Texas — where his other company, […]

TechCrunch Space: Space cowboys

Aria Alamalhodaei — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 22:00:00 +0000

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. Is it just me, or is the news cycle only accelerating this summer?!

SpaceX Falcon 9 suffers rare failure on orbit during Starlink deployment

Aria Alamalhodaei — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 14:40:53 +0000

The error brings to a close SpaceX’s incredible streak of 335 flawless launches across the company’s Falcon family of rockets, which also includes the more powerful Falcon Heavy.

‘Wild Wild Space’ doc captures the risks and rivalries of the new space race

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 18:30:58 +0000

Astra CEO Chris Kemp is already pulling out of a parking spot when he warns the person in the passenger seat that he doesn’t have a valid driver’s license. “And the car’s not registered, and they canceled my insurance,” he says. “This is a little risky.” So opens “Wild Wild Space,” a new HBO documentary […]

Alpine Space Ventures closes first fund to grow the space economy on both sides of the pond

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 12:00:00 +0000

When early SpaceX engineer Bulent Altan and long-time investor Joram Voelklein surveyed the European space sector at the end of the 2010s, they were surprised: It looked a whole lot like the beginnings of American NewSpace in the early 2000s, when SpaceX and other companies were just setting up shop. The pair decided to go […]

TechCrunch Space: SpaceX’s big plans for Starship in Florida

Aria Alamalhodaei — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 22:00:00 +0000

Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. I hope everyone had a great Independence Day. On to the news!

Ariane 6 is the future of European heavy-lift launch — for better or worse

Aria Alamalhodaei — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 18:42:08 +0000

Europe’s next-generation launch vehicle, the Ariane 6, is poised to lift off for the first time tomorrow, as the continent looks to build out sovereign access to space and ensure European missions are launched by European rockets. The heavy-lift rocket will launch from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, with a four-hour launch window […]

SpaceX wants to launch up to 120 times a year from Florida — and competitors aren’t happy about it

Aria Alamalhodaei — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 21:57:58 +0000

SpaceX’s ambitious plans to launch its Starship mega-rocket up to 44 times per year from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are causing a stir among some of its competitors. Late last month, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance submitted comments calling on regulators to ensure minimal disruptions to other launch providers in the area, with Blue […]