The Artemis I mission to the moon took some big strides when NASA recently unveiled its powerful, partially assembled SLS rocket (below). Now the space agency is asking for help naming their first (non-human) passenger, or “Moonikin”, who will fly aboard the Orion capsule. The dummy will fly on the first mission to collect data … Read more
An artist’s conception shows a space probe firing its nuclear thermal propulsion system. (DARPA illustration) The idea of launching atomic bombs may sound like a national security nightmare, but the right kind of atomic bombs is likely a must for long-term space exploration. At least one panel of experts at the interface between the space … Read more
Scale co-founder and CEO Alex Wang joined us this week at TechCrunch Sessions: Mobility 2021 to discuss his company’s role in the autonomous driving industry and how it has changed in the five years since its inception. Scale is helping AV players large and small alike establish reliable ground truth through data annotation and management, … Read more
Rocket Lab is known (mostly) for its orbital flights, but its interplanetary efforts will soon bear fruit. The startup has received an order to build two spaceships for ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers), a mission selected by NASA to investigate how solar wind is removing the Martian atmosphere and changing the planet’s … Read more
Amazon’s new Amazon Fresh Store in the Seattle area features the company’s Just Walk Out technology that eliminates the need for cashiers. (Amazon photo) Amazon’s newest physical grocery store, opening this week in the Seattle area, is unique in that it will feature the company’s Just Walk Out cash-free technology. It is the first time … Read more
The French startup Upflow has raised a Series A round worth $ 15 million. The company wants to help you keep track of late payments. It optimizes how you collect payments from your customers to improve your cash flow. Investors in today’s financing round include 9yards Capital, existing investor eFounders, as well as N26 co-founder … Read more
During Microsoft’s E3 2021 show on Sunday, we got a good look at the Flight Simulator running on an Xbox Series X, but the trailer lacked the context of how the game was performing on consoles. We now have an answer. In a Twitter response discovered by Eurogamer, Microsoft confirmed that the X and S … Read more
Andy Jassy will take over as CEO of Amazon on July 5th (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Amazon is at a pivotal moment in its history and faces increasing regulatory and legal scrutiny, as does new CEO Andy Jassy, takes over the reins from founder Jeff Bezos. Could a new principle of leadership help … Read more
Motorway is a UK startup enabling professional car dealers to bid for private cars at auction. The startup had quick success by eliminating a lot of friction. It has now raised £ 48m / $ 67.7m in a Series B round led by Index Ventures along with new investors BMW i Ventures and Unbound. Existing … Read more
Minute of Islands’ creepy-cozy style drew a lot of attention when it premiered at Gamescom 2019. The “narrative puzzle platformer” is developed by German developer Studio Fizbin (the team behind the acclaimed The Inner World and its sequel) and is handcrafted in an illustrative style. In the game you play the young engineer Mo on … Read more