Hello and welcome back to Max Q, your very favorite space news digest. A ton happened this week — launches, financing deals, contract awards, etc., etc. — so let’s dive in. Send thoughts, tips, feedback to aria.techcrunch@gmail.com. Don’t forget to sign up to get the free newsletter version of Max Q delivered to your inbox. […]
Voyager Space Holdings to acquire majority stake in Space Micro
Voyager Space Holdings is continuing its trend of snapping up space companies by moving to acquire a majority stake in Space Micro, a manufacturer of orbital communications and digital subsystems for satellites. This is Voyager’s sixth acquisition since its founding in October 2019, as the company seeks to become a full-service space firm offering everything […]
GM acquires 25% stake in electric boat company Pure Watercraft
General Motors has taken a 25% stake in Seattle-based electric boating company Pure Watercraft. GM’s move reflects a broadening interest in all things EV, including boats and other vehicles, and comes as part of the automaker’s commitment to invest $35 billion in electric and autonomous technology through 2025. Pure Watercraft makes all-electric outboard motor systems, […]
Astra moves full steam ahead after successful orbital launch, looks to test Rocket 4.0 next year
Rocket startup-turned-public company Astra Space is flying high Monday morning, with stock prices increasing as much as 42% since markets opened thanks to the company’s first successful orbital flight late Saturday evening. But now the real work begins, as the company seeks to commence commercial operations and roll out new rocket versions for flight testing […]
Rocket Lab’s Electron booster splashes down in the Pacific Ocean
Rocket Lab’s reusability program advanced one more step on Wednesday night when the company recovered the booster from its Electron launcher for the third time. The successful mission comes after a period of delays due to weather, but all went according to plan, with the “Love at First Insight” mission taking off at 8:39 PM […]
SpaceX aims to conduct first orbital flight of Starship in January, Musk says
SpaceX has been advancing the development of Starship, the largest ultra-super-heavy reusable launch system ever designed in history, at a jaw-dropping pace — and CEO Elon Musk is “comfortable” it will reach orbit sometime next year. Musk made the comments — which often veered into the philosophical — at the National Academies’ first virtual joint […]
Northrop Grumman leads team to design an astronaut transportation vehicle for the lunar surface
Aerospace prime Northrop Grumman is leading a team that includes AVL, Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost and Michelin to design a vehicle to transport Artemis astronauts around the moon. The Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) will be key to exploration of the lunar south pole region, an area that no human has ever visited. Northrop will lead […]
Rocket Lab acquires Planetary Systems Corporation in cash and stock deal
Rocket Lab is continuing its acquisition strategy, this time with a cash and stock deal with Planetary Systems Corporation (PSC). The news was announced ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings. Rocket Lab said it would purchase the company for $42 million in cash, plus 1,720,841 in shares of common stock, with the potential for additional […]
HawkEye 360 raises $145M to scale space-based radio frequency data and analytics
The biggest players in the Earth observation industry use imaging satellites to deliver intelligence and analytics, but startup HawkEye 360 is taking a different tack. The company monitors radio frequency (RF) signals, like those emitted by marine radios or emergency beacons, on the premise that invisible electromagnetic spectrum is as ripe for information as the […]
Tesla’s deal with Hertz opens a new frontier for the EV maker
Auto rental giant Hertz gave its strongest signal to the markets that it had resurrected from bankruptcy with this week’s news that it would purchase 100,000 Tesla vehicles for a reported $4.2 billion. Hertz made headlines again two days later, when it said that Uber committed to renting up to half of that order for […]