TechCrunch Space: True Anomaly and Rocket Lab are about to make big progress in orbit (literally)

Hello everyone, welcome back to TechCrunch Space. Hope you all had a great time at the Space Symposium! Hope to see you there next year.

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The Space Force has outsourced its next “responsive space” mission, and this time it’s a very difficult one. The two winners, Rocket Lab and startup True Anomaly, will each build and launch spacecraft to conduct rendezvous and approach operations in orbit.

In the words of the Space Force: “Vendors will practice realistic threat response scenarios during an on-orbit space domain awareness demonstration called Victus Haze.”

Both companies also have to operate within a deliberately tight timeframe – Firefly Aerospace and Millennium Space’s First Response space mission set a new record in launch readiness – so we’ll definitely be keeping an eye out when it launches next year this task.

Image Source: Sam Thomas and Simon Moffat

SpaceX’s confidential financial statements for 2018 and 2019 provide a first look at how much the company may rely on its Starlink business unit and bringing its Starship rocket online to achieve positive cash flow.

While the comprehensive balance sheets are five years old, they provide insight into the operations of arguably one of America’s most important and secretive private companies.

Image Source: Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images

I’ll be very interested to see what Bloomberg reports on Starlink’s profitability – or not. Here’s a nice complement to my scoop above: two stories taken together that illustrate Starlink’s importance as a revenue driver in the company’s long-term and ambitious plans to colonize Mars.

How much is too much? Starlink dishes lined up on the exquisite cruise ship. Image Source: Celebrity Cruises

Houston, we have a question…

This week’s space history section focuses on the Apollo 13 mission, which launched on April 11 and returned to Earth on April 17. Three astronauts were originally scheduled to travel to the moon, but those plans were quickly aborted when an oxygen tank malfunctioned. The service module ruptured two days after launch.

The main recovery ship for the Apollo 13 mission hoisted the command module on board. Image Source: NASA/Getty Images