[ad_1]
Hello and welcome back to TechCrunch Space. TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 is over, and I’m so excited about the amazing space industry programming we delivered this year.
We covered everything from building a commercial dual-use project to returning to orbit, spoke with Rocket Lab’s Peter Beck, and heard about the ground station problem from Bridget Mendler. Below, I’ve highlighted some of the highlights, but that’s just a small portion of the topics we covered on stage, so be sure to head over to TechCrunch.com for full coverage. (Not to mention the challenge of demonstrating the future of space operations posed by the space company!)
Do you want to contact Advice? Email Arya at aria.techcrunch@gmail.com Or send a message on Signal to 512-937-3988. You can also send a note to the TechCrunch staff at tips@techcrunch.com. For more secure connectionsClick here to contact us, which includes SecureDrop instructions and links to encrypted messaging apps.
Former Disney Channel star Bridget Mendler made a splash when she announced that she was co-founding a space startup focused on one of the less exciting aspects of the industry: ground stations. We talked about her past career in the entertainment industry and her future path as a space CEO.
“To actually benefit people in the world, you have to invest in unsexy problems, like building a terrestrial network,” Mendler said. “I personally think this is very exciting and interesting. It’s not at all what most people think about when they think about the space industry. I think they think about rockets, they think about satellites, but they don’t think about terrestrial infrastructure.”
All eyes will be on Rocket Lab early next year, as the company looks to launch its neutron rocket, the answer to the “medium launch monopoly” that exists today, as CEO Peter Beck said on stage. It’s part of the company’s plan to build a comprehensive space company.
In fact, launch isn’t the only core part of the business: Rocket Lab also builds spacecraft for interplanetary missions, supplies spacecraft components, and more. Part of Neutron’s purpose is to enable frequent launches of Rocket Lab’s satellites.
“It’s much easier to build spacecraft than rockets,” Beck said. “They really are.”
He also talked about expanding the space supply chain, with the added anecdote that Sinclair Interplanetary, the spacecraft components company that Rocket Lab acquired in 2020, used to produce 150 reaction wheels but has now expanded production to more than 2,000 wheels per year. .
More from TechCrunch Disrupt 2024
[ad_2]