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It was a jaw - dropping class for the space industry , and while we all know by now that advancement is n’t running , we feel pretty confident that 2024 will be even more astonishing .
This twelvemonth was tough for many distance companies , and we are n’t seek to wallpaper that over with our optimism . The world of zero - interestingness - rate policy , or ZIRP , officially ended ; cash got more expensive and fundraising became more intriguing . Nevertheless , 2023 also produce a number of tailwinds that we think will make next year one of the most eventful so far .
Here ’s a abbreviated list of what we ’re most excited for next twelvemonth . This is TechCrunch , so the list skews toward speculation - backed startup ; keep that in mind before you kvetch about the absence seizure of Artemis II .
Even more Starship tests
SpaceX had a landmark year this twelvemonth , and not only because it carry through nearly 100 launches of the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy skyrocket . The company also launched Starship — the most muscular launch fomite ever build — not once , but twice .
The first test accept placein April ; the secondin November . Both ended in mid - air explosions and both accrue far abruptly of completing the full charge profile : sending the upper stage ( also call Starship ) on a flight halfway around the world with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean , and landing the Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico .
Yet , both foreign mission were unfathomed successes .
Part of that has to do with SpaceX ’s culture of quickly and iteratively improving hardware . During the six - month reach between the two launches , SpaceX implemented a ton of improvements to the solid ground infrastructure and the launch vehicle . Those included an improved launching - mount design , a pee deluge systemand upgrades to the Raptor engines . These changes help Starship vaporize even further the 2nd time around ; most impressively , the party pulled off an experimental red-hot scaffolding , a way to separate the rocket salad ’s two stages by light the upper stage ’s engines while the supporter is still connect and firing its engines .
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We look to see further improvements and an even in high spirits testing cadence next year . We would n’t even be surprised if they manage to pull out off the full orbital flight of steps design .
Historic lunar lander missions
More private companies will attempt to put down a spacecraft on the moon next twelvemonth than ever before , by an order of order of magnitude . We ’re excited to see companies let in Astrobotic , Intuitive Machines , Firefly Aerospace and ispace all take their guess . So far , only four country states have bring down ballistic capsule on the moon — so if even one company is successful , it will make history .
2024 will kvetch off with launches fromIntuitive MachinesandAstrobotic . Right now , it ’s looking highly potential that both could attempt a landing in the same workweek — the third week of February . Firefly is targetingsometime in the third quarterfor the launch of their Blue Ghost lander , while ispace is aiming to conduct their mission late in the class .
Advanced satellite operations demonstrations
In the all-encompassing possible terms , a huge portion of space startups are concerned in increasing the number of things a satellite can do in space . A good example is something call rendezvous and proximity surgical procedure ( RPO ) , which is when two space vehicle purposely channelise to tail or otherwise interact with each other . Another hot area of satellite operations need in - place fabrication and satellite reentry .
Next year , we expect to see more monstrance from startups bet to carry out country - of - the - art satellite operations . Off the top of our brain , a few that we ’re looking forward to ( though this is by no substance an exhaustive list ):
More rocket testing from newer entrants and established players
We already advert SpaceX , but they are far from the only game in town . 2024 should be chock full of exciting tests and Modern development from other companies await to take their slice of the launching market . We ’re specially emotional for first launches — of Blue Origin ’s New Glenn , Rocket Lab ’s Neutron and Sierra Space ’s Dream Chaser spaceplane — and getting updates from Stoke Space and Relativity , both company which have rockets that wo n’t set up until by and by in the decade . We ’ll also be wait out for the second flight trial of ABL Space System ’s RS1 rocket .
