TechCrunch Newsletters - Max Q - Gnome Man's Sky

Monday, November 02, 2020 • By Darrell Etherington

Startups are are raising, SpaceX has a different kind of launch and Rocket Lab makes up for past mistakes – all this past week in space.

Also, we’ve got the full agenda for TC Sessions: Space available, and we’ve announced new speakers including Relativity’s Tim Ellis and the USAF’s Will Roper. It’s our inaugural event focused on space startups and related technologies, it’s virtual, and it’s happening December 16 and 17. Tickets are available now, so sign up ASAP to get the best price possible.

NASA and SpaceX aim for November 14 crew launch

The first operational mission of what will hopefully be a long and fruitful service life for SpaceX’s human-rated Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket is now set for November 14. NASA had originally hoped to launch this mission in October, but it got pushed a bit due to SpaceX investigating some engine anomalies on its rockets. This month looks pretty good for this milestone mission, which follows SpaceX’s first-ever human spaceflight with its Demo-2 final test launch earlier this year.

NASA and SpaceX aim for November 14 crew launch image

Image Credits: SpaceX

Slingshot Aerospace raises $8 million to make space data make sense

Slingshot Aerospace is a startup where two of three founders have direct experience in the U.S. Air Force, working with data that have improved vastly in terms of quantity and quality, but not necessarily in terms of processing and analytics. They aim to fix that, providing more timely an actionable insights from the massive troves of data collected by satellites, spy planes and more, when it’s actually needed.

Rocket Lab launches Planet and Canon satellites

Rocket Lab launched its 15th commercial mission last week, including a Canon tech demonstration with an ultra-high resolution nighttime Earth observation satellite, as well as 10 of Planet’s SuperDove observation satellites. This put in orbit replacement spacecraft for the ones that were lost during Rocket Lab’s failed commercial mission from July.

Rocket Lab launches Planet and Canon satellites image

Image Credits: Rocket Lab

Armenian group petitions SpaceX to cancel Turkish launch

A group of Armenians from around the world are waging and email campaign to try and get SpaceX to cancel a launch contract it has with the Turkish government. The group wants SpaceX not to launch a geostationary communications satellite on behalf of Erdogan’s government, as a means of protesting that government’s authoritarian rule and human rights abuses.

SpaceX launches Starlink beta app

SpaceX has begun its rollout of its Starlink public beta service, pushing an app to iOS and Android and onboarding some of the first ever customers outside of SpaceX internal testers. Reports indicate speeds are promising, though SpaceX cautions that at this stage of the network build-out, there should still be still plenty of improvement to come.

Image Credits: SpaceX

LeoLabs is tracking Starlink satellites at deployment for SpaceX

LeoLabs is a startup looking to help manage the growing traffic jam in orbit as more and more satellites and other objects find there way to the space immediately beyond our atmosphere. It’s got a partnership now with SpaceX, which is easily the leaning single largest commercial satellite operator by volume with the number of spacecraft it’s putting in orbit with Starlink.

Rocket Lab's next launch will have Gabe Newell's Gnome Chompski on board

The next Rocket Lab launch will carry an interesting payload: a 3D-printed gnome modelled after Gnome Chompski, and created by New Zealand’s celebrated Weta Workshop for Valve founder Gabe Newell. It’s party just for fun, but also will test a new kind of 3D printing technique for potential future use in creating spacecraft components.