Tech Briefs Magazine - May 2023 - 18

1. FIREFLY AEROSPACE
3. ASTRANIS
Year Founded: 2017
Location: Cedar Park, TX
CEO: Bill Weber
A
n end-to-end space
transportation company
focused on developing
a family of launch vehicles,
in-space vehicles, and services.
Firefly's launch vehicles,
combined with its inspace
vehicles, such as the
Space Utility Vehicle and
Blue Ghost Lunar Lander,
provide the space industry
with a single source for
missions from LEO to the
surface of the Moon and
beyond. The company was
recently awarded a $112
million NASA contract to
deliver multiple lunar payloads in 2026. As Firefly's second task
order won under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services
(CLPS) initiative, the company will use its Blue Ghost spacecraft
in a two-stage configuration to first place a satellite into
lunar orbit and then deliver two research payloads on the far
side of the Moon. Firefly's first mission, Blue Ghost Mission 1,
is on track for launch in 2024 and will deliver payloads to Mare
Crisium, a low-lying basin on the Moon's near side.
For more information visit www.fireflyspace.com.
2. RELATIVITY SPACE
Year Founded: 2015
Location: Los Angeles, CA
CEO: Tim Ellis
T
he first company to 3D
print
rockets,
Relativity
invented a new approach to
design, print, and fly its own
rockets, starting with the
world's first 3D-printed rocket,
Terran 1, and then Terran R, a
larger, fully reusable, 3D-printed
launch vehicle. Most rockets
today rely on additive manufacturing,
but 85 percent of
Relativity's Terran 1 rocket is
fabricated with this process.
By fusing 3D printing, artificial
intelligence, and autonomous
robotics, the company is pioneering
the factory of the future.
In March 2023, Terran 1, a 110-foot-tall vehicle designed to
haul lightweight satellites into orbital space, had a semi-successful
launch when it lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
in Florida but failed to reach orbit. Relativity Space has been
selected by NASA as one of 12 companies to provide launch services
for the agency's Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and
Rideshare (VADR) missions.
For more information visit www.relativityspace.com.
18
Year Founded: 2015
Location: San Francisco, CA
CEO: John Gedmark
A
stranis is build ing small,
low-cost telecommunications
satellites to connect the
four billion people who currently
do not have access to the
Internet. Each spacecraft operates
from geostationary orbit
(GEO) with a next-generation
design of only 400 kg, utilizing
a proprietary software-defined
radio payload. This digital
payload technology allows frequency
and coverage flexibility,
as well as maximum use of
valuable spectrum. By owning
and operating its satellites and
offering them to customers as a turnkey solution, Astranis can
provide bandwidth-as-a-service and unlock previously unreachable
markets. This allows Astranis to launch small, dedicated
satellites for small and medium-sized countries, Fortune 1000
companies, telcos, and other customers. Astranis has successfully
launched a test satellite into orbit and is now underway
with its
first commercial program - a satellite to provide
broadband Internet for Alaska that will more than triple the
available bandwidth across the state.
For more information visit www.astranis.com.
4. GRAVITICS
Year Founded: 2021
Location: Seattle, WA
CEO: Colin Doughan
A
next-generation hardware
company that designs
and manufactures large space
structures for human life in
space, bringing high-quality
shipyard-style fabrication to the
aerospace industry. Gravitics
emerged from stealth with $20
million in seed funding in November
2022 and plans to build
space station modules. Its main
offering will be a super-sized
module known as StarMax.
The general-purpose module
would provide up to 400 cubic
meters (14,000 cubic feet)
of usable habitable volume - which represents nearly half of
the pressurized volume of the International Space Station. To
support development and early production, Gravitics opened
a new 42,000-square-foot facility north of Seattle in 2022. The
company has already begun assembly of its first StarMax prototype
and is preparing to conduct module pressure tests in
early 2023 with plans for an upcoming orbital test mission to
be announced soon.
For more information visit www.gravitics.com.
www.techbriefs.com
Tech Briefs, May 2023
http://www.fireflyspace.com http://www.astranis.com http://www.relativityspace.com http://www.gravitics.com http://www.techbriefs.com
Tech Briefs Magazine - May 2023

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