SpaceX is all set to deliver an update on the status of its Starship program, courtesy of CEO Elon Musk. Musk will provide new info about &the design and development of Starship& at 7 PM CDT (8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT) tonight, live from the companyBoca Chica rocket assembly facility in South Texas.
The likely backdrop for the update will be the Starship Mk1 orbital prototype, the second flight-testing vehicle SpaceX has produced in its development of Starship. The first, Starhopper, accomplished its mission of testing two low-altitude, limited duration flights & a key step that sets the stage for longer, high-altitude sub-orbital testing by this Mk1 prototype. The Mk1 will use three Raptor engines initially (and up to six eventually) while the snub-nosed Starhopper used only one.
So far, we know based on past SpaceX presentations that the company is aiming to use Starship and its forthcoming Super Heavy launcher to deliver fully reusable space transportation, capable of bringing cargo and crew to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Starting at 7 PM CDT, we&ll find out whatnext for the company on the path toward that long-term goal.
Read more: Watch live as Elon Musk delivers an update on SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft
Write comment (95 Comments)SpaceX is set to show off its Starship Mk1, an orbital-scale prototype of the spacecraft it eventually plans to use to attain its goal of fully reusable commercial spaceflight. Starship is the key ingredient not only to fully reusable launch and cargo vehicles for serving commercial clients; italso the next most important step in SpaceX and Elon Muskaudacious plan to get humans to Mars and sow the seeds that will help us become an interplanetary species.
Starship Mk1 is the evolution of the first flight vehicle that SpaceX used to test technologies for Starship & the Starhopper, a stub-top cylinder that basically just provided a way to test one of the Raptor engines in two, low-altitude ‘hop& flights. The Starhoppermission may be over, but itstill in Boca Chica, Texas, sitting out just behind the Starship Mk1 and just a mile or less from the end of the road and the Gulf.
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Starship Mk1 is a towering structure in person, and its gleaming, high-polish shell can be blinding in the South Texas sun when thereno cloud cover. The final effect is like a 1950s science-fiction pulp novel cover made real, with a scale thathard to understand even standing directly in front of the thing and seeing workers busy putting the final touches on the rocketexterior ahead of SpaceXupdate event tonight.
When I arrived on the ground in Brownsville, I made the short drive out to SpaceXassembly site for the Mk1 in the small community of Boca Chica. It was well after sunset, but the roughly 180-foot tall structure was lit up by a number of floodlights, as crews continued to work on interior welds and other parts of the final assembly. Notably, about half the structure had its shiny, glossy outer finish, while the rest remained rougher looking & something which would change by morning.
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Tall construction cranes lifted workers to the parts of the spacecraft they were working on, including a few ports dotting the surface which are large enough for a person to crawl through, even though they appear small relative to the rocketoverall size. The top nose cone of the Starship Mk1 was still attached to a crane at this point, too, before that supporting structure was removed sometime before morning.
Returning the next day, the Starship was more easily visible from afar & I spotted it about 10 miles out. The shining stainless steel structure was much shinier than the night before, looking more like a complete and finished spacecraft. The bottom wings near the base were connected to the body with cladding that increases aerodynamics & while the top fins were attached at only a couple of points. Both sets of fins will move rapidly during entry and landing in order to control stability of the spacecraft, which is a key ingredient in its ability to reflow multiple times.
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Workers were still busy in the morning putting the final touches on the rocket, including working on placing the top cap on to the very tip of the nose cone. The domed tip was actually rounded, not pointy, which is probably better for helping bleed off drag when the rocket is making its way back to Earth.
The final structure is indeed incredibly impressive. The scale, as mentioned, is hard to grasp, which is why I tried to capture as many shots as possible with people in frame to give a sense of Starshipoverall size. Remember, too, that this is just the top portion of what will eventually be SpaceXStarship launch system, which will include the Super Heavy booster to deliver extra thrust for carrying large cargo to orbit. The base of the Starship Mk1 alone is roughly 30 feet in diameter, which is about half the size of the largest semi-trailer transport trucks on the road.
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SpaceXevent today isn&t just about revealing this rocket & Starship Mk1 is actually really easy to access via public road, and you can get surprisingly close. But it&ll probably get another round of spit and polish prior to tonightupdate from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk . And we&ll hear lots more about next steps for the Starship program, including timelines for its first suborbital tests (which will involve flying to above airline cruising speed) and which could start quite soon. Plus, we might hear more about Muskmore ambitious goals for Starship, including super-fast upper atmosphere passenger flights, and its first forays to planets beyond our own.
We&ll have updates live as they happen here on TechCrunch, and the event should start at around 7 PM CDT (8 PM EDT/5 PM PDT).
Read more: Gallery: SpaceX’s Starship Mk1 spacecraft prototype in pictures
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&Between Two Ferns: The Movie& is based on the comically confrontational web interview series starring Zach Galifianakis. In fact, some of us assumed that the film might be nothing more than one interview after another.
The movie does indeed have plenty of celebrity interviews, but they&re connected by a loose narrative thread in which Galifianakis and his crew have been dispatched by their corporate overlord Will Ferrell to crisscross the country, trying to film 10 interviews in two weeks.
If that sounds like a pretty thin story for a feature-length film, you&re not wrong — as we discuss in the latest episode of the Original Content podcast. Galifianakis and the actors playing his crew make some inspired jokes, but they can&t entirely dodge the sense that they&re filling time between interviews.
As for the interviews themselves, itstill a delight to see Galifianakis toss off one belittling question after another. However, it can get a little one-note when the interviewees are rarely asked to do anything more than sputter angrily — which may be why some of the interviews have been cut down to just one or two questions.
To be clear, we all enjoyed watching &Between Two Ferns: The Movie,& but the real highlight turned out to be the interview outtakes that play over the end credits, and the extended interviews that have been posted on YouTube.
In addition to reviewing the film, we also discuss the Emmy Awards, covering the winners we liked (&When They See Us&) and the ones we didn&t (&Bandersnatch&).
You can listen in the player below, subscribe using Apple Podcastsor find us in your podcast player of choice. If you like the show, please let us know by leaving a review on Apple. You can also send us feedback directly. (Or suggest shows and movies for us to review!)
If you&d like to skip ahead, herehow the episode breaks down: 0:00 Intro 0:31 &Terrace House& listener response 2:42 Emmy Awards discussion 16:55 &Between Two Ferns: The Movie& review (extremely mild spoilers)
Read more: Original Content podcast: ‘Between Two Ferns: The Movie’ is fun but forgettable
Write comment (96 Comments)The app industry shows no signs of slowing down, with 194 billion downloads in 2018 and over $100 billion in consumer spending. People spend 90% of their mobile time in apps and more time using their mobile devices than watching TV. In other words, apps aren&t just a way to spend idle hours — they&re a big business. And one that often seems to change overnight. In this new Extra Crunch series, we&ll help you keep up with the latest news from the world of apps — including everything from the OSto the apps that run upon them, as well as the money that flows through it all.
This week, alternatives to the traditional app store is a big theme. Not only has a new, jailbreak-free iOS marketplace called AltStore just popped up, we&ve also got both Apple and Google ramping up their own subscription-based collections of premium apps and games.
Meanwhile, the way brands and publishers want to track their apps& success is changing, too. And App Annie — the company that was the first to start selling pickaxes for the App Store gold rush — is responding with an acquisition that will help app publishers better understand the return on investment for their app businesses.
An interesting alternative app marketplace has appeared on the scene, allowing a way for developers to distribute iOS apps outside the official App Store, reports Engadget — without jailbreaking, which can be difficult and has various security implications. Instead, the new store works by tricking your device into thinking you&re a developer sideloading apps. And it uses a companion app on your Mac or PC to re-sign the apps every 7 days via iTunes WiFi syncing protocol. Already, itoffering a Nintendo emulator and other games, says The Verge. And Apple is probably already working on a way to shut this down. For now, itlive at Altstore.io.
Very excited to officially announce AltStore: an alternative app store for iOS — no jailbreak required. Launching this Saturday, September 28, but you can download the preview TODAY https://t.co/M7nULBV28p
— Riles
(@rileytestut) September 25, 2019
Does Google Play have a malicious app problem? That appears to be the case as Google has booted some 46 apps from major Chinese mobile developer iHandy out of its app store, BuzzFeed reported. And it isn&t saying why. The move follows Googleban of two other major Chinese app developers, DO Global and CooTek, who had 1 billion total downloads.
Read more: This Week in Apps: AltStore, acquisitions and Google Play Pass
Write comment (99 Comments)Cars might still reign supreme, but things they are a changin&. And companies are lining up to provide new ways — and some recycled ones — for people to get from Point A to Point B.
The past several years have seen an explosion in startups, automakers and tech companies launching and testing products from scooters and electric bike shares to ride-hailing, electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles and even flying taxis. Or heck, even space travel.
Even as more mobility startups pop up, the shine of these new things is starting to fade, and companies are facing big technical challenges, regulatory hurdles, hiring and economic headwinds.
TechCrunch is at the center of this mobility storm and we&re bringing some of the industryleaders on stage at Disrupt SF, including Bird founder and CEO Travis VanderZanden, Kitty Hawk CEO Sebastian Thrun and Zoox CEO Aicha Evans, to hear firsthand how these companies are trying to change how people and packages move in the world and the challenges that lie ahead.
There are talks related to mobility on every stage, including the main stage and EC stage.
Disrupt kicks off October 2 with a 10:05 a.m. talk with Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith, who intends to return the U.S. to crewed spaceflight. Expect TechCrunch to ask Smith for details on what a ticket for a trip might cost, once it begins taking on paying customers.
Once this wraps up, head over to the ExtraCrunch stage for a 10:45 a.m. sponsored talk by mapping company TomTom to hear about its new partnerships with technology companies.
Back at the main stage, check out a space, autonomy, investment and defense-related talk with Lockheed MartinMarilyn Hewson at the main stage.
And for those interested in subscription-based businesses, which if you haven&t noticed are becoming more prevalent in the mobility world, be sure to check out the 3:45 p.m. talk on the Extra Crunch stage with Alex Friedman from Lola, Eurie Kim with Forerunner Ventures, and Sandra Oh Lin of KiwiCo.
October 2 is filled with mobility-related talks, including a morning chat with David Krane, CEO and managing partner at Gain Insights, a firm known for its bold bets on companies like Lime, Impossible Foods, Uber and Slack.
Don&t miss the mid-morning interview withSebastian Thrun, an educator, inventor and serial entrepreneur, about the future of flight and Kitty Hawk Corporation, the urban air mobility company he leads. If you&ve ever seen Thrun before, you know not to miss this.
As Thrun walks off stage, VanderZanden of Bird walks on to talk about how the company is faring in scooter wars and itis doing to improve its unit economics.
Day 2 ends with an interview on the main stage with Zoox CEO Aicha Evans, who will talk about the self-driving car company and how it plans to work with cities to change how people live and work in these urban areas.
Don&t miss Day 3, because well Simone Giertz is going to be on the main stage. For the unfamiliar, Giertz has amassed a major YouTube following courtesy of her &sh*** robots& and other highly entertaining projects. One of her most recent projects was turning a Tesla sedan into a pickup.
And finally, in the mobility world packages matter too. Finish the day off with an interview on the main stage withPostmates co-founder and CEO Bastian Lehmann, who will talk about the on-demand delivery companyuncertain future and how robotics will change the landscape of the on-demand world.
Get passes to Disrupt to put the pedal to the metal on everything happening in mobility.
Read more: Learn everything you can about mobility at Disrupt SF
Write comment (94 Comments)Hello and welcome back to Startups Weekly, a weekend newsletter that dives into the weeknoteworthy news pertaining to startups and venture capital. Before I jump into todaytopic, letcatch up a bit. I&ve been on a bit of startup profile kick as of late. Last week, I wrote a little bit about Landline, a bus network backed by Upfront Ventures. Before that, I profiled an e-commerce startup called Part - Parcel.
Remember, you can send me tips, suggestions and feedback to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or on Twitter @KateClarkTweets. If you don&t subscribe to Startups Weekly yet, you can do that here.
I&ve made a habit of highlighting one startup per week in this newsletter, so why stop now? This week, I want to talk about Alpha Medical, an early-stage healthtech startup on a &mission to rebuild womenhealthcare,& founder and CEO Gloria Lau tells TechCrunch.
The early-stage telemedicine business, which focuses on providing reproductive and dermatological care online, launched its membership program this week and expanded into three new states: Georgia, Washington and Virginia.
Alpha Medical co-founders Dr. J (left) and Gloria Lau.
The company, now active in nine states, has raised $11 million to date from DCVC and AV8, among others, including a recent $10 million Series A. Itcertainly not as well-financed as some of the top telemedicine businesses, like Hims, Ro and Nurx. But Alpha has had something special from the get-go: medical expertise. The company is led by a techie in Lau but its secret weapon is Dr. J. Co-founder and chief medical officer Mary Jacobson, or Dr. J, is an obstetrician, gynecologist and minimally invasive surgeon with extensive experience in clinical care, medical education, hospital operations and research.
There have been and will continue to be many &health tech& companies backed with millions by venture capitalists. But many of these are really just consumer brands with health buzzwords stamped on top. The real winners, I think, will be startups with true medical expertise coupled with tech know-how.
&We are female founders — women building this for women,& says Lau. &We understand the pain point so well.&
WeWorkeccentric CEO/founder Adam Neumann stepped down this week amid pressure from board members (SoftBank) to exit the C-suite. Wall Street doesn&t think Neumann is fit to be CEO of a public company and if you don&t know why, read this WSJ piece. For more details, listen to this episode of Equity we recorded earlier this week.
Peloton, the fitness tech company that sells really expensive stationary bikes and treadmills, debuted on the NASDAQ on Thursday. They raised more than a billion dollars in the process, so thatgood, but their stock is already struggling. For one, it opened at below its initial price of $29 and closed at about $25, or 11% down. That makes us a bit nervous for the company moving forward. Still, they are well-financed and have plenty of money to put to work.
This was the biggest news week in history. Fortunately, I only need to tell you about startup news… Still, there was a lot of that too. Here are just a few other things I&ll highlight that might have slipped through the cracks.
Time to Disrupt!
TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco, our flagship event, is right around the corner. Next week, October 2 through 4th, the entire TechCrunch staff will gather from all corners of the world to interview leaders in technology and venture capital. From Snap CEO Evan Spiegel to Joseph Gordon-Levitt, actor and founder of HitRecord, to a16zcrypto expert Chris Dixon, we&ll have something for everyone.
Newsletter readers can get 20% off tickets by using this link. Hope to see you all there.
We recorded not one but two Equity episodes this week because, well, the news just wouldn&t stop. The first was a guide on the WeMess. You can listen to that one here. In the second episode, we tried to hit on everything else that happened this week, from Pelotonlisting, to Vox - NYMagmerger, to Bodegaquiet funding and Kapwing$11 million Series A. Listen to that one here.
Equity drops every Friday at 6:00 am PT, so subscribe to us onApple Podcasts,Overcast,Spotifyand all the casts.
Read more: Startups Weekly: Alpha Medical wants to rebuild women’s healthcare
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