Space

Don’t miss these breakout sessions at TC Sessions: Space 2020

Comment

Image Credits: NASA

Ready to blast off and join thousands of attendees around the world at TC Sessions: Space 2020 on December 16-17? The event, focused on space technology and dedicated to helping early-stage startups succeed in this exciting yet daunting industry, features panel discussions and interviews with the top leaders, visionaries and makers on the planet.

Want to save $50? Buy your pass before Tuesday, December 15 at 11:59 p.m. (PT) to lock in the Late Registration price before rates increase.

While you’ll find many of these brilliant experts speaking from the Main Stage, don’t miss the focused programming we have lined up for the Breakout Sessions. That’s where you’ll find our partners sharing their in-depth expertise on a range of topics. Check out these breakouts waiting to drop a galaxy’s worth of knowledge on you.

Wednesday, December 16

(all times in PST)

9:00 – 10:00 a.m.

Fast Money — SMC Space Ventures, AFWERX and Space Force Accelerators

Learn how SMC Space Ventures, AFWERX and Space Force Accelerators work together to connect startups to government organizations and resources in the space industry.

10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Sponsored by SP8CEVC

Introducing the launch of the World’s First Space Technology and Human Longevity focused Rolling Fund in partnership with AngelList

Fireside chat with the general partners and team from SP8CEVC covering the verticals of Space Technology and Human Longevity.

11:00 – 11:30 a.m.

Fast Money — Working with the Army to Operationalize Science for Transformational Overmatch

Learn about DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory and the xTech Program of prize competitions that accelerate innovative solutions that can help solve Army challenges.

11:30 – 12:30 p.m.

Pitch Feedback Session

Join us for a pitch feedback session open to all startups exhibiting at TC Sessions: Space 2020 moderated by TechCrunch staff.

1:00 – 1:50 p.m.
Sponsored by The Aerospace Corporation

University Showcase — Boldly Innovating in Space, for Space (Part One)

Technologies to Go Boldly in Space — For the past half century, space exploration and technology has been earth-centric. We’ve studied the earth, orbited the earth and sent images of distant places back to earth. In the coming decade, we’ll embark on a new commitment: We’re going to space to stay. We’re committing to space commerce, space habitation and space exploration in order to not just stay in space, but to extend our human footprint into this solar system. To be successful, we need bold people and new technology to build and deploy the next generation of space capabilities. We need to capture these space opportunities, avoid potential threats and deliver on the promise of a multi-planet human race. This session showcases our partners USC and MIT, as they provide insight into their space programs. They are joined by university partners UCLA, ASU and Caltech, showcasing a range of emerging space technologies. Working with the Aerospace Corporation, these emerging capabilities can be evaluated and integrated into government space-faring missions for communicating, navigating and exploring in space with NASA, NOAA and the Air Force.

Thursday, December 17

9:00 – 9:30 a.m.

Cislunar Space: Building a Self-Sustaining Lunar Economy

We are standing on the threshold of a post-scarcity human future. Cislunar space, the area between the Earth and the moon, holds the keys to a tremendous wealth of opportunities.

9:30 – 10:00 a.m.

Fast Money — Advancing Space Technology with NASA SBIR

Learn about the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs powered by NASA.

10:00 – 10:30 a.m.

Fast Money — NAVWAR SBIR/STTR Primer: The SBIR/STTR is a robust program designed to help small businesses address government needs while promoting commercialization. This session is dedicated to providing a primer on the program with tips on getting involved and getting engaged with the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR).

10:30 – 11:00 a.m.

Fast Money — Introduction to In-Q-Tel’s investing activities in the commercial space sector: In-Q-Tel is a strategic investment firm that works with the national security community of the United States. For 20 years, In-Q-Tel has served one mission: to deliver the most sophisticated strategic technical knowledge and capabilities to the U.S. government and its allies through its unique investment model. Over the past decade, In-Q-Tel has been one of the most active investors in the commercial space sector, with a broad investment thesis that touches many aspects of the sector. This session will provide an overview of In-Q-Tel as a whole, as well as a discussion of the firm’s activities in the commercial space sector.

11:00 – 11:30 a.m.

Fast Money — Enabling a dual-use business model with Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)

Learn how you can take a part of DIU’s development of on-demand access to space, persistent satellite capabilities and broadband space data transfer

11:30 – 12:30 p.m.

Starburst x TechCrunch — Pitch Me to the Moon: Starburst Aerospace and TechCrunch are teaming up to launch a pitch competition like no other – Pitch Me to the Moon. Think “Startup Battlefield,” but for space. Ten promising early-stage space startups (selected by Starburst) will have an opportunity to present their innovations live to a panel of high-profile judges from across the industry.

1:00 – 1:50 p.m.
Sponsored by The Aerospace Corporation

University Showcase — Boldly Innovating in Space, for Space (Part Two)

Bold Missions — For the past half century, space exploration and technology has been earth-centric. We’ve studied the earth, orbited the earth and sent images of distant places back to earth. In the coming decade, we’ll embark on a new commitment: We’re going to space to stay. We’re committing to space commerce, space habitation and space exploration in order to not just stay in space, but to extend our human footprint into this solar system. To be successful, we need bold people and new technology to build and deploy the next generation of space capabilities. We need to capture these space opportunities, avoid potential threats and deliver on the promise of a multi-planet human race. This session showcases our partners USC and MIT, as they provide insight into their space programs. They are joined by university partners UCLA, ASU and Caltech, showcasing a range of emerging space technologies. Working with the Aerospace Corporation, these emerging capabilities can be evaluated and integrated into government space-faring missions for communicating, navigating, and exploring in space with NASA, NOAA and the Air Force.

Whew, talk about a great lineup. You might say it’s out-of-this-world — which raises the question: Can you hear a rimshot in space? Don’t forget to peruse the rest of our programming in the event agenda and start planning your schedule now.

Pro Tip: Say goodbye to FOMO. Our virtual platform makes it easy to toggle between the Main Stage and Breakout Sessions. Plus, you’ll have access to video on demand, so you won’t miss a beat (excluding the Expo Ticket).

Remember, late registration savings end on Tuesday, December 15 at 11:59 p.m. (PT). We also offer discount passes for groups, students and government, military and nonprofit employees. Buy the pass that’s right for you today!

Is your company interested in sponsoring TC Sessions: Space 2020? Click here to talk with us about available opportunities.

 

More TechCrunch

Microsoft announced on Tuesday during its annual Build conference that it’s bringing “Windows Volumetric Apps” to Meta Quest headsets. The partnership will allow Microsoft to bring Windows 365 and local…

Microsoft’s new ‘Volumetric Apps’ for Quest headsets extend Windows apps into the 3D space

The spam reached Bluesky by first crossing over two other decentralized networks: Mastodon and Nostr.

The ‘vote Trump’ spam that hit Bluesky in May came from decentralized rival Nostr

Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at the continued fallout from Synapse’s bankruptcy, how Layer wants to disrupt SMB accounting, and much more! To get a roundup of…

There’s a real appetite for a fintech alternative to QuickBooks

The company is hoping to produce electricity at $13 per megawatt hour, which would be more than 50% cheaper than traditional onshore wind.

Bill Gates-backed wind startup AirLoom is raising $12M, filings reveal

Generative AI makes stuff up. It can be biased. Sometimes it spits out toxic text. So can it be “safe”? Rick Caccia, the CEO of WitnessAI, believes it can. “Securing…

WitnessAI is building guardrails for generative AI models

It’s not often that you hear about a seed round above $10 million. H, a startup based in Paris and previously known as Holistic AI, has announced a $220 million…

French AI startup H raises $220M seed round

Hey there, Series A to B startups with $35 million or less in funding — we’ve got an exciting opportunity that’s tailor-made for your growth journey! If you’re looking to…

Boost your startup’s growth with a ScaleUp package at TC Disrupt 2024

TikTok is pulling out all the stops to prevent its impending ban in the United States. Aside from initiating legal action against the U.S. government, that means shaping up its…

As a US ban looms, TikTok announces a $1M program for socially driven creators

Microsoft wants to put its Copilot everywhere. It’s only a matter of time before Microsoft renames its annual Build developer conference to Microsoft Copilot. Hopefully, some of those upcoming events…

Microsoft’s Power Automate no-code platform adds AI flows

Build is Microsoft’s largest developer conference and of course, it’s all about AI this year. So it’s no surprise that GitHub’s Copilot, GitHub’s “AI pair programming tool,” is taking center…

GitHub Copilot gets extensions

Microsoft wants to make its brand of generative AI more useful for teams — specifically teams across corporations and large enterprise organizations. This morning at its annual Build dev conference,…

Microsoft intros a Copilot for teams

Microsoft’s big focus at this year’s Build conference is generative AI. And to that end, the tech giant announced a series of updates to its platforms for building generative AI-powered…

Microsoft upgrades its AI app-building platforms

The U.K.’s data protection watchdog has closed an almost year-long investigation of Snap’s AI chatbot, My AI — saying it’s satisfied the social media firm has addressed concerns about risks…

UK data protection watchdog ends privacy probe of Snap’s GenAI chatbot, but warns industry

U.S. cell carrier Patriot Mobile experienced a data breach that included subscribers’ personal information, including full names, email addresses, home ZIP codes and account PINs, TechCrunch has learned. Patriot Mobile,…

Conservative cell carrier Patriot Mobile hit by data breach

It’s been three years since Spotify acquired live audio startup Betty Labs, and yet the music streaming service isn’t leveraging the technology to its fullest potential — at least not…

Spotify’s ‘Listening Party’ feature falls short of expectations

Alchemist Accelerator has a new pile of AI-forward companies demoing their wares today, if you care to watch, and the program itself is making some international moves into Tokyo and…

Alchemist’s latest batch puts AI to work as accelerator expands to Tokyo, Doha

“Late Pledge” allows campaign creators to continue collecting money even after the campaign has closed.

Kickstarter now lets you pledge after a campaign closes

Stack AI’s co-founders, Antoni Rosinol and Bernardo Aceituno, were PhD students at MIT wrapping up their degrees in 2022 just as large language models were becoming more mainstream. ChatGPT would…

Stack AI wants to make it easier to build AI-fueled workflows

Pinecone, the vector database startup founded by Edo Liberty, the former head of Amazon’s AI Labs, has long been at the forefront of helping businesses augment large language models (LLMs)…

Pinecone launches its serverless vector database out of preview

Young geothermal energy wells can be like budding prodigies, each brimming with potential to outshine their peers. But like people, most decline with age. In California, for example, the amount…

Special mud helps XGS Energy get more power out of geothermal wells

Featured Article

Sonos finally made some headphones

The market play is clear from the outset: The $449 headphones are firmly targeted at an audience that would otherwise be purchasing the Bose QC Ultra or Apple AirPods Max.

7 hours ago
Sonos finally made some headphones

Adobe says the feature is up to the task, regardless of how complex of a background the object is set against.

Adobe brings Firefly AI-powered Generative Remove to Lightroom

All cars suffer when the mercury drops, but electric vehicles suffer more than most as heaters draw more power and batteries charge more slowly as the liquid electrolyte inside thickens.…

Porsche Ventures invests in battery startup South 8 to boost cold-weather EV performance

Scale AI has raised a $1 billion Series F round from a slew of big-name institutional and corporate investors including Amazon and Meta.

Data-labeling startup Scale AI raises $1B as valuation doubles to $13.8B

The new coalition, Tech Against Scams, will work together to find ways to fight back against the tools used by scammers and to better educate the public against financial scams.

Meta, Match, Coinbase and others team up to fight online fraud and crypto scams

It’s a wrap: European Union lawmakers have given the final approval to set up the bloc’s flagship, risk-based regulations for artificial intelligence.

EU Council gives final nod to set up risk-based regulations for AI

London-based fintech Vitesse has closed a $93 million Series C round of funding led by investment giant KKR.

Vitesse, a payments and treasury management platform for insurers, raises $93M to fuel US expansion

Zen Educate, an online marketplace that connects schools with teachers, has raised $37 million in a Series B round of funding. The raise comes amid a growing teacher shortage crisis…

Zen Educate raises $37M and acquires Aquinas Education as it tries to address the teacher shortage

“When I heard the released demo, I was shocked, angered and in disbelief that Mr. Altman would pursue a voice that sounded so eerily similar to mine.”

Scarlett Johansson says that OpenAI approached her to use her voice

A new self-driving truck — manufactured by Volvo and loaded with autonomous vehicle tech developed by Aurora Innovation — could be on public highways as early as this summer.  The…

Aurora and Volvo unveil self-driving truck designed for a driverless future