Aria Alamalhodaei

The Latest from Aria Alamalhodaei

7 companies to provide NASA with commercial satellite imagery under $476M contract

Umbra, Capella Space and GHGSat are among the seven companies that will provide NASA with commercial satellite imagery, part of an acquisition program that has a maximum potential value of $476 millio

Max Q: Mining moon water

In this issue: Mining water on the moon with Starpath Robotics, news from Blue Origin, SpaceX and more.

SpaceX’s defense-focused Starshield satellite internet business lands first contract

SpaceX won its first contract for Starshield, the defense-focused version of its Starlink satellite internet service, from the U.S. Space Force. The one-year contract has a maximum value of $70 millio

ispace unveils new lunar lander that will fly to the moon in 2026

Japanese space company ispace has invested over $40 million in its new U.S. subsidiary to date, as it looks to take advantage of growing investment from NASA and the Pentagon in technologies for the m

Regulators close investigation into Blue Origin’s New Shepard anomaly

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has closed the investigation into a mishap that occurred last September during a launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle, with the regulator saying that

Sierra Space raises $290M at a $5.3B valuation

Sierra Space has raised $290 million in a Series B round to scale its Dream Chaser spaceplane and commercial space station projects, bringing its valuation to $5.3 billion. The company has now raised

Starpath Robotics wants to mine moon water for rocket fuel for off-world colonies

Starpath Robotics has emerged from stealth with an ambitious plan to design, launch and operate machines to mine and refine water for rocket propellant using resources on the moon and Mars. In-situ re

Amazon’s outgoing Echo head is Blue Origin’s new CEO

Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith is retiring at the end of the year and his replacement is coming from Jeff Bezos’ other company. Dave Limp, an Amazon veteran who had planned to step down from his role

Max Q: Things got disrupted

Hello and welcome back to Max Q! I'm home after attending TechCrunch Disrupt, our flagship event in SF. We had some incredible programming and startups onstage for our Battlefield competition.

Frontier Space Technologies is developing an on-orbit autonomous lab to make space science easy

Astronauts have been conducting experiments on the International Space Station for as long as the station has been in orbit, but astronaut labor is expensive: crew time costs $130,000 per hour, and co

True Anomaly lands $17.4M contract from US Space Force for space domain awareness tech

True Anomaly has landed a $17.4 million contract from the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command to help the warfighter make critical decisions in the space domain. The startup, which was founded less

JB Straubel talks Tesla, Redwood Materials and keeping a startup mentality at any scale

JB Straubel has worn many hats in his career: co-founder of Tesla, Tesla board member, and more recently, founder and CEO of battery materials and recycling startup Redwood Materials. But in his heart

Navigating public-private partnerships with Uber, Cruise, and the mayor of Atlanta

Tech companies say they will help cities reach their ambitious decarbonization goals, but increasing public trust and working closely with government partners is key.

Rick Fox on not running from challenges – on court or on climate

Rick Fox took an unconventional path to becoming a startup founder – not least of which includes being a three-time NBA Champion, taking the crown alongside fellow Los Angeles Lakers players Shaquil

Magnestar wants to solve the satellite signal interference problem for the entire space industry

Rocket Lab’s Electron suffers first failure in over two years

Rocket Lab’s forty-first Electron mission on behalf of customer Capella Space ended in failure early Tuesday, with issues abruptly appearing after stage separation around two-and-a-half minutes afte

Max Q: Firefly conquered the night

In this issue: Firefly Aerospace conquered the night, news from Varda Space and more

Stoke Space completes milestone test in quest to build a fully reusable rocket

Stoke Space completed a key test of its second stage prototype, bringing the company one step closer to flying a fully reusable rocket.

Joby Aviation selects Dayton, Ohio, for first scaled electric air taxi factory

Joby Aviation has selected Dayton, Ohio as the new site for its first scaled electric aircraft factory, with the company preparing to invest up to $500 million in the new site as it looks to start sel

Varda Space puts off orbital factory reentry pending Air Force and FAA green light

The U.S. Air Force denied a recent request from Varda Space Industries to land its capsule at a Utah training area, pushing back the startup’s plans to show off the fruits of its in-space manufa
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