TechCrunch Newsletters - Max Q - The waiting game

TechCrunch Newsletter
TechCrunch logo
Max Q logo

By Aria Alamalhodaei

Monday, September 12, 2022

Hello and welcome back to Max Q. In this issue:

  • An Artemis launch update
  • Rocket Lab and Sierra Space’s new agreements for space transportation
  • News from Axiom, OneWeb and more

By the wayTechCrunch Disrupt finally returns — live and in person — to San Francisco on October 18-20. Use this link to receive 15% off passes (excluding online and expo).

 

Max Q is brought to you by me, Aria Alamalhodaei. If you enjoy reading Max Q, consider forwarding it to a friend. 

 image

NASA provides an update on the Artemis I launch

NASA said it is looking to attempt the launch of the Artemis I mission on September 23 and 27, dates far enough away that the agency will hopefully have enough time to resolve the issues with the hydrogen line that led to the rocket being grounded during the first two launch attempts.

The agency must replace and re-seal leaking liquid hydrogen lines, then perform tests to ensure that the sealing worked, Jim Free, NASA’s associate administrator for exploration systems development, explained in a media briefing. NASA will not conduct a full wet dress rehearsal in addition to these tests. All of this work will take place on the launch pad, which saves the agency from having to roll the massive rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

The other major hitch is that these launch dates must be approved by the U.S. Space Force’s Eastern Range, which governs the launch schedule from the east coast of the United States. The Space Force will also need to provide a waiver for the rocket’s flight termination system, which runs on batteries and is only approved for use for 25 days. All in all, my fingers are crossed that engineers can complete all the work required before the next launch attempt.

NASA provides an update on the Artemis I launch image

Image Credits: Eva Marie Uzcategui / Getty Images

Rocket Lab, Sierra Space sign agreements under US military’s rocket cargo project

Rocket Lab and Sierra Space have signed separate agreements with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to explore how their respective flight systems — Rocket Lab’s Electron and Neutron rockets, Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane — could be used for superfast cargo delivery on Earth.

The agreements are what’s known as Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs), a vehicle to facilitate R&D work between the government and nongovernmental entities like startups and private companies. These specific CRADAs are with the U.S. Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM), an agency under the aegis of the DOD.

Under its agreement, Sierra Space and the military will jointly explore using its Dream Chaser plane for hypersonic space transportation for terrestrial cargo and personnel delivery. Under Rocket Lab’s agreement, it will work with the military to investigate using the Electron and Neutron launch vehicles, also for cargo delivery. While Electron has successfully reached orbit numerous times, both Neutron and Dream Chaser are still under development.

“Point-to-point space transportation offers a new ability to move equipment quickly around the world in hours, enabling a faster response to global emergencies and natural disasters,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said in a statement. “We’re excited to be collaborating with USTRANSCOM on this forward-thinking, innovative research program that could ultimately shift the way the Department of Defense considers logistics response options.”

Rocket Lab, Sierra Space sign agreements under US military’s rocket cargo project image

Image Credits: Sierra Space

More news from TC and beyond

  • Albedo, a startup building a satellite constellation capable of capturing visible and thermal imagery, closed a $48 million Series A round, co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Shield Capital.
  • Apple will soon allow iPhone users to send an emergency SOS via satellite connectivity.
  • Axiom Space won a $228.5 million NASA contract to design the space suits and life support systems that will be worn by the Artemis III astronauts.
  • China conducted two launches within two hours of each other, bringing its total number of orbital launches so far this year to 37. Meanwhile, the country is preparing a rocket to send the third module of the Tiangong space station to space in October.
  • Countdown Capital raised $15 million for its second fund to back companies looking to, in the words of founder Jai Malik, “rebuild the American industrial base.”
  • Europe launched an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana Wednesday. The rocket was carrying a communications satellite from French company Eutelsat.
  • Huawei will be offering texting via satellites on its flagship Mate 50 series, announcing the news just one day before Apple made its own sat-comm equivalent.
  • Masten Space Systems held an auction for its assets as part of its ongoing bankruptcy process, with Astrobotic submitting the highest bid at $4.5 million.
  • Near Space Labs will share Earth observation imagery with researchers, nonprofits and universities for 12 months, through its Community Resilience and Innovation Earth Imagery Grant program.
  • OneWeb incurred a $229 million impairment charge for fiscal year 2022 due to the postponement of multiple launches that were scheduled to go to space aboard Russian Soyuz rockets.
  • South Korea’s lunar orbiter successfully executed a trajectory correction maneuver, a key part of its much longer journey to the moon.
  • SpaceX conducted an eight-second static fire test of all six engines on the Ship 24 prototype from its Starbase facility in southeast Texas. The test caused a handful of grass fires in the area around the pad.
  • Taranis, a company developing a crop intelligence platform, raised a $40 million Series D led by European climate tech fund Inven Capital.
  • The U.S. Federal Communications Commission may enact new rules setting a five-year limit for the disposal of satellites in low Earth orbit once they have completed their mission objectives. The current recommendation for satellite de-orbiting is 25 years following mission completion.
More news from TC and beyond image

Image Credits: AFP / Getty Images

Photo of the week

NASA tweeted this 1969 photo of Queen Elizabeth II with Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin at Buckingham Palace. The trio met with the queen as part of the Apollo II Goodwill Tour. Whatever your feelings about the British monarchy, the world lost a paragon of the twentieth century this week.

Photo of the week image

Image Credits: NASA

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard

See more jobs on CrunchBoard

Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Flipboard

View this email online in your browser

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe

© 2022 Yahoo. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

Older messages

What's happening this week at TechCrunch | September 12

Monday, September 12, 2022

Plus more TC events coming up! There's a ton happening at TechCrunch this week but first a quick reminder that Disrupt prices are increasing again this Friday. Come hang out with us in San

The Station - Uber turns to Nuro for AV delivery and Razor charges into the seated scooter market

Sunday, September 11, 2022

TechCrunch Newsletter TechCrunch logo The Transportation logo By Kirsten Korosec Sunday, September 11, 2022 Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of

Week in Review - The week an Apple event and YC Demo Day collided

Saturday, September 10, 2022

TechCrunch Newsletter TechCrunch logo Week in Review logo By Greg Kumparak Saturday, September 10, 2022 Happy Saturday, friends. Welcome back to Week in Review, the newsletter where we very quickly sum

Startups Weekly - What 227 Y Combinator pitches will teach you about startups

Saturday, September 10, 2022

TechCrunch Newsletter TechCrunch logo Startups Weekly logo By Natasha Mascarenhas Saturday, September 10, 2022 Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh human-first take on this week's startup news and

Former employee says Patreon has laid off its entire security team

Friday, September 9, 2022

TechCrunch Newsletter TechCrunch logo The Daily Crunch logo By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Friday, September 09, 2022 Fridaaaaaay. It was a short week, but it still dragged on a little. We've

You Might Also Like

Software Testing Weekly - Issue 261

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

New AI solutions for testing 👀 View on the Web Archives ISSUE 261 March 12th 2025 COMMENT Welcome to the 261st issue! I have nothing more to add to the genuinely great news that came out recently. I

JSK Daily for Mar 11, 2025

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

JSK Daily for Mar 11, 2025 View this email in your browser A community curated daily e-mail of JavaScript news How to Enforce Type Safety in FormData with TypeScript When working with the FormData

Binary Data, Tail Calls, Pickles, and More

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Bytes Objects: Handling Binary Data in Python #672 – MARCH 11, 2025 VIEW IN BROWSER The PyCoder's Weekly Logo Bytes Objects: Handling Binary Data in Python In this tutorial, you'll learn about

Shaking The Wasp’s Nest 🐝

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

How Gamergate swarmed into our online lives. Here's a version for your browser. Hunting for the end of the long tail • March 11, 2025 Today In Tedium: You probably have noticed, just like me, that

Daily Coding Problem: Problem #1714 [Easy]

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Daily Coding Problem Good morning! Here's your coding interview problem for today. This problem was asked by Google. You are given an N by N matrix of random letters and a dictionary of words. Find

Mapped | The State of Democracy Around the World 🌐

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

After a historic election year, we show the state of democracy worldwide as it declines to its lowest level in two decades. View Online | Subscribe | Download Our App NEW REPORT: The Age of Data >

Stories, Free Tool & CRM Template

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Notion stories, smart tools, and a free template to organize your contacts 🔥 ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

LW 173 - How to become a Shopify Developer in 2025

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

How to become a Shopify Developer in 2025 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Shopify Development news and articles Issue 173 - 03/11

This free AI tool beats Perplexity

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Ubuntu vs. Debian; The new HR; YouTube randomizer -- ZDNET ZDNET Tech Today - US March 11, 2025 webfeetgettyimages-10141124 DuckDuckGo's AI beats Perplexity in one big way - and it's free to

⚙️ AI bubble bursts (?)

Tuesday, March 11, 2025

Plus: We talk to the CEO of Read AI ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌