Hello and welcome back to Max Q!<\/p>\n
In this issue:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Why space parachutes are so hard<\/li>\n
- A new lawsuit alleging safety issues at Blue Origin<\/li>\n
- News from Loft Orbital, Relativity Space and more<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
SpaceX is known for its vertical integration, but one component it\u2019s been outsourcing is parachutes \u2014 until earlier this month, when the company quietly acquired parachute vendor Pioneer Aerospace after its parent company went bankrupt. The Information\u00a0first reported<\/a>\u00a0the news.<\/p>\n
Saving a vendor from dissolution \u2014 which would\u2019ve likely been Pioneer\u2019s fate, given the bankruptcy of its parent company \u2014 seems like a strong gesture on the part of SpaceX. But that just points to the real difficulty of making parachutes designed to survive such high speeds.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpace is hard, but space parachutes are much harder,\u201d Abhi Tripathi, director of mission operations at UC Berkeley\u2019s Space Sciences Laboratory, said in a recent interview. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty much among the hardest things, other than a very complex propulsion system, to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nImage Credits:<\/strong> SpaceX<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The former program manager of Blue Origin\u2019s BE-4 rocket engines has filed a lawsuit against the company alleging whistleblower retaliation after he spoke up about safety issues.<\/p>\n
The complaint was filed in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. It includes a detailed narrative about program manager Craig Stoker\u2019s efforts over seven months to escalate his concerns about safety and a hostile work environment at Blue Origin.<\/p>\n
\u201cMyself, my leadership team and others throughout the company should not have to constantly apologize and make excuses to ourselves and our teams for the CEO\u2019s bad behavior,\u201d Stoker says in an email to two Blue VPs. \u201cWe spend significant time smoothing things over, building back morale, repairing damage, stopping people from overreacting\u2026 The hostile work environment \u2026 is creating a safety and quality hazard for our people, products and customers.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Blue](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/GettyImages-455597862.jpg\")
<\/p>\nJeff Bezos, September 17, 2014 in Washington, DC. Image Credits:<\/strong> Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
More news from TC and beyond<\/h2>\n
Amazon<\/strong> has purchased three Falcon 9 launches<\/a> from SpaceX to support deployment of its Project Kuiper mega-constellation, its competitor on the satellite internet market.<\/p>\n
LockBit<\/strong>, a notorious ransomware gang, has claimed responsibility<\/a> for a cyberattack targeting India\u2019s state-owned aerospace research lab.<\/p>\n
Loft Orbital<\/strong> is launching a new offering called \u201cvirtual missions,\u201d<\/a> where customers will be able to deploy their software apps onto a Loft satellite to leverage on-board sensors and compute nodes, analyze data as it is being collected and run a whole range of use cases.<\/p>\n
Relativity Space<\/strong>\u00a0CEO Tim Ellis is hitting back against recent comments from fellow aerospace exec Peter Beck, who called\u00a0launch contracts for un-flown rockets \u201cbasically worthless\u201d\u00a0earlier this month. In sharp contrast, Ellis argued in an exclusive interview<\/a> with TechCrunch that building a backlog is the only way to validate product-market fit.<\/p>\n
Terran Orbital<\/strong> is suing its former CTO, Austin Williams<\/a>, a little over a month after he and other shareholders publicly called for a change in company leadership.<\/p>\n
Max Q is brought to you by me, Aria Alamalhodaei<\/a>. If you enjoy reading Max Q, consider forwarding it to a friend.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n