TechCrunch - Space
Startup and investment-focused coverage of commercial space technology
There Aren’t Enough Rockets for Space Data Centers. Cowboy Space Raised $275 Million to Build Them.
Cowboy Space Corporation raised a $275 million Series B round, valuing the startup at $2 billion, to fund the development of its own launch vehicle for orbital data centers. The company, founded by former Robinhood executive Baiju Bhatt, pivoted from a solar‑power‑beaming concept to embedding data‑center hardware directly into the second stage of a purpose‑built rocket. Each planned satellite, weighing 20‑25 tonnes, will generate about 1 MW of power to run roughly 800 GPUs, targeting the growing AI compute crunch. The first launch is slated for before the end of 2028, positioning Cowboy Space against incumbents like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
AI Galaxy Hunters Are Adding to the Global GPU Crunch
NASA will launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in September 2026, eight months early, promising to return roughly 20,000 TB of data over its lifespan. Combined with the James Webb telescope’s 57 GB daily downlink and the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s 20 TB nightly stream,...
Blue Origin Successfully Re-Uses a New Glenn Rocket for the First Time Ever
Blue Origin successfully reflown a New Glenn booster on its third launch, achieving the system’s first reuse. The mission, carrying AST SpaceMobile’s communications satellite, suffered an upper‑stage anomaly that placed the payload in an off‑nominal orbit. The company confirmed payload separation...
This Founder Helped Build SpaceX’s Most Powerful Rocket Engine. Now He’s Building a ‘Fighter Jet for Orbit.’
Portal Space Systems, founded by former SpaceX Raptor engineer Jeff Thornburg, announced a $50 million Series A round that values the startup at $250 million. The company is developing solar‑thermal propulsion, which concentrates sunlight to heat propellant and deliver high‑speed thrust for satellites...
K2 to Launch Its First High-Powered Satellite for Space Compute
Space startup K2 Space is set to launch Gravitas, a two‑ton, 40‑meter satellite capable of generating 20 kW of electrical power, on a Falcon 9 before month‑end. Backed by $450 million in funding and a $3 billion valuation, the mission will carry 12 customer...
NASA Astronauts Can Now Bring Their Phones with Them on Their Mission to the Moon
NASA announced that astronauts on upcoming Crew‑12 and Artemis II missions will be permitted to bring personal smartphones into space for the first time. The policy shift follows an accelerated qualification process that cleared modern iPhone and Android devices for flight...
Elon Musk’s SpaceX Company Town Is Getting a Police Department
Starbase, the SpaceX‑built company town in South Texas, approved an ordinance to create its own municipal police department. The city commission plans to hire eight officers, pending approval from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. The department will be led...
Blue Origin Pauses Space Tourism Flights to Focus on the Moon
Blue Origin announced it will suspend its New Shepard space tourism flights for a minimum of two years to redirect resources toward lunar missions. The pause comes just weeks before the scheduled third launch of its New Glenn heavy‑lift rocket,...
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI in Talks to Merge, Report Says
SpaceX and Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI are reportedly in merger talks ahead of a planned SpaceX IPO later this year, according to Reuters. Two Nevada entities, K2 Merger Sub Inc. and K2 Merger Sub 2 LLC, were filed in January, signaling...
The SpaceX IPO Could Finally Happen (and It’s a Big Deal)
SpaceX is reportedly preparing a 2026 initial public offering, having engaged four major Wall Street banks to manage the process. The company recently completed a tender offer that placed its valuation at $800 billion, with market speculation that the IPO could...
Elon Musk Reportedly Wants a June SpaceX IPO to Align with His Birthday, the Planets
Elon Musk is reportedly planning SpaceX’s initial public offering for June, aiming to sync the date with his June 28 birthday and a rare Mercury‑Venus‑Jupiter alignment. The Financial Times says the IPO could raise at least $50 billion, valuing the company at...
Northwood Space Secures a $100M Series B and a $50M Space Force Contract
Northwood Space announced a $100 million Series B funding round led by Washington Harbour Partners and Andreessen Horowitz, following a $30 million Series A less than a year earlier. The startup also secured a $49.8 million contract with the U.S. Space Force to modernize the...
This Startup Will Send 1,000 People’s Ashes to Space — Affordably — in 2027
Space Beyond, founded by former Blue Origin engineer Ryan Mitchell, announced its "Ashes to Space" program that will launch up to 1,000 people’s cremated remains on a CubeSat via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare in October 2027. The service costs just $249...
Blue Origin’s Satellite Internet Network TeraWave Will Move Data at 6Tbps
Blue Origin unveiled TeraWave, a satellite internet network that promises up to 6 Tbps data rates using a hybrid constellation of 5,280 low‑Earth‑orbit (LEO) and 128 medium‑Earth‑orbit (MEO) satellites. The LEO nodes will deliver up to 144 Gbps via RF, while the...
SpaceX Didn’t Properly Inspect Crane Before Collapse at Starbase, OSHA Says
OSHA says SpaceX failed to properly inspect a recently repaired hydraulic crane before it collapsed at the Starbase facility in June 2025. The agency issued seven serious violations and levied the maximum fines on six of them, totaling $115,850. The...