Aria Alamalhodaei, Author at TechCrunch

The Exploration Company raises $160M to build Europe’s answer to SpaceX Dragon

Aria Alamalhodaei — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 18:00:00 +0000

Only two companies currently provide cargo delivery to and from the International Space Station, and both are based in the United States. The Exploration Company, which operates out of Germany, France, and Italy, is looking to change that: It just closed a large funding round to further its mission of building Europe’s first reusable space […]

SpaceX Starship: Everything you’ve ever wondered but were afraid to ask

Aria Alamalhodaei — Sat, 16 Nov 2024 16:00:00 +0000

SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket has the potential to transform the commercial space economy, ensure America’s position as the global leaders in the space race, and put humans on Mars for the first time. But first it has to get to orbit. This is becoming much more likely as the Starship test program accelerates and the company […]

After raising nearly half a billion dollars, ABL Space pivots from launch vehicles to missiles

Aria Alamalhodaei — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 17:44:12 +0000

Significant changes are coming to ABL Space Systems. The leader of the 7-year-old startup took to social media last night to make a big announcement: The company will no longer be focusing on the commercial launch market but will be turning instead to missile defense. ABL had been developing a small launch vehicle called RS1 […]

Mach9 is equipping infrastructure operators with better information

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 15:00:00 +0000

Clean water, safe roads, accessible broadband and electricity: These things are not a given. They depend on vast infrastructure networks that need to be constantly maintained and improved in order to function. America is failing badly on this front. In its latest report card, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the country’s aging infrastructure […]

Starfish Space raises $29M to launch satellite-servicing spacecraft missions

Aria Alamalhodaei — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

Starfish Space has closed a new tranche of funding led by a major defense tech investor as it looks to launch three full-size satellite servicing and inspection spacecraft in 2026. The Washington-based startup’s Otter spacecraft is designed for two primary missions: extending the operational life of expensive satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) and disposing of […]

TechCrunch Space: Nothing to see here!

Aria Alamalhodaei — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 23:00:00 +0000

Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. There was absolutely no news last week because nothing happened. Just kidding. Defying all early polling, Donald Trump swept the election and will soon be sworn in for his second term in office. From a space policy perspective, things are already starting to look interesting. That’s mostly due […]

Firefly Aerospace readies for a big year in orbit with $175M D round

Aria Alamalhodaei — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 18:01:29 +0000

Firefly Aerospace has raised a massive late-stage funding round as it prepares for the launch of its lunar lander later this year and the first mission of its Elytra spacecraft next year. The $175 million Series D, which set Firefly’s valuation at over $2 billion, apparently closed in less than two months in a show […]

Supersonic aircraft startup Exosonic is shutting down

Aria Alamalhodaei — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 18:50:50 +0000

Exosonic, a startup developing supersonic commercial air travel and UAV tech, is winding down after five years of operation. In an update posted to its website, Exosonic said it was unable to find the traction necessary to continue operations. “Although the founders and team still believe in the need/desire for quiet supersonic flight and supersonic […]

SpaceX to launch Starship for the sixth time this month

Aria Alamalhodaei — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 22:37:53 +0000

SpaceX will conduct the sixth flight test of Starship, the largest rocket ever built, as soon as November 18, following the smooth success of the previous mission less than a month ago. The high flight cadence is thanks, in part, to that success, which included the first-ever return of the Super Heavy booster to the […]

What Trump’s win might mean for Elon Musk

Rebecca Bellan, Aria Alamalhodaei — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 18:51:03 +0000

Elon Musk — the billionaire CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, and the owner of The Boring Company, Neuralink, and X — took a sharp swing to the right this election to support President-elect Donald Trump, using his vast wealth, influence, and megaphone on X to influence the outcome of the election. Musk’s support came […]

SpaceX wants to test refueling Starships in space early next year

Aria Alamalhodaei — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 22:16:30 +0000

SpaceX will attempt to transfer propellant from one orbiting Starship to another as early as next March, a technical milestone that will pave the way for an uncrewed landing demonstration of a Starship on the moon, a NASA official said this week. Much has been made of Starship’s potential to transform the commercial space industry, […]

TechCrunch Space: Disrupt 2024 wrap-up

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 23:06:34 +0000

Hello, and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is a wrap, and I’m more than thrilled by the amazing space industry programming we had on offer this year. We covered everything from building a dual-use business to orbital re-entry, we caught up with Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck, and heard about the ground station […]

US drone maker Skydio faces battery squeeze after Chinese sanctions

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 21:32:08 +0000

America’s supply chain vulnerabilities were on full display Thursday after drone manufacturer Skydio told customers it was facing a battery squeeze after being hit with sanctions from China. “This is an attempt to eliminate the leading American drone company and deepen the world’s dependence on Chinese drone suppliers,” Skydio CEO Adam Bry said in a […]

Three investors talk the highs and lows of space investing

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 17:17:00 +0000

The space industry operates in waves: There are massive highs and big lows, but it’s always exhilarating. Three venture capitalists who invest in space joined us onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Monday to talk about what’s coming next for this dynamic area. Much of the current investing is shadowed by the SPAC boom in 2021 […]

Space CEOs talk about the challenges and opportunities of selling defense tech

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 13:37:00 +0000

Space executives took the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Monday to talk about the challenges and opportunities of building out dual-use technology, or tech that has both a defense and a commercial use case. The dual-use strategy can be tricky for young startups to manage, however, because they run the risk of diluting their focus […]

ForestGuard is building the ‘Internet of Trees’ to detect fires even earlier

Aria Alamalhodaei — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 18:11:56 +0000

Many startups have taken aim at the problem of early wildfire detection and prevention, but Turkey-based ForestGuard’s space-based system could give it an edge over competitors. ForestGuard, which presented onstage today as part of the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt, was founded by trained architects Muhammed Ali Örnek and Suat Batuhan Esirger, who witnessed the need for early […]

‘Yikes’: While gaming, Musk inadvertently broadcasts ‘scary’ near-abort of Starship booster landing

Aria Alamalhodaei — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 22:24:37 +0000

Elon Musk occasionally posts clips of his video game plays to his social media platform X — but a recent clip includes background audio of a SpaceX engineer telling Musk how the most recent Starship flight test was “one second away” from an abort. The clip, posted on Friday, was caught by Reuters’ Joey Roulette on […]

Blue Origin certifies second capsule for suborbital space tourism flights

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 22:44:33 +0000

Blue Origin has carried out a successful uncrewed certification mission of its second New Shepard ship on Wednesday, as the company looks to effectively double the number of tourists it can fly to suborbital space and back. The RSS Kármán Line capsule is named for the imaginary boundary at 100 kilometers of altitude separating the […]

Embattled Astra scores DOD contract to develop point-to-point cargo delivery from space

Aria Alamalhodaei — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 22:01:46 +0000

Don’t count out Astra Space just yet. The company, which was taken private again earlier this year for a sliver of its former value, has landed a new contract with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to support the development of a next-gen launch system for time-sensitive space missions. The contract, which the DIU awarded under […]

The Space Development Agency taps 19 companies for future defense demo missions

Aria Alamalhodaei — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 22:46:33 +0000

The Space Development Agency (SDA) has selected 19 companies to compete for future contracts under a new program designed to rapidly onboard new contractors for defense demonstration missions. Each company will receive an initial $20,000 to cover administrative expenses. These companies have essentially been preapproved to bid on future prototype missions to support the SDA’s Proliferated […]