Tim Fernholz

We have shipped our 20kW satellite - Gravitas - to the launch site. Given the supply chain to operate at this power regime doesn’t exist, we had to build 85% of the satellite in-house. This includes building our own large solar arrays, high power propulsion system, large batteries, large reaction wheels and much more. This launch will represent the first time all of these systems are test on orbit together. Internally at @K2SpaceCo, we’ve thought about a few levels of success for this mission - we expect mission success to fall somewhere along this spectrum: - Tier 1 (Baseline mission success): Deploy solar arrays, establish comms, operate the satellite —> we’ve now got an operational 20kW satellite on orbit - Tier 2: Power on the payloads, activate the 20kW propulsion system —> we’re completing payload missions and have fired the highest power hall thruster ever flown on orbit - Tier 3: Orbit raise the satellite, test performance in high radiation environments (like 2,000km) —> we’ve collected massive amounts of data on the performance of the platform in very very difficult environments More than anything, Gravitas represents the start of an iterative journey, where we will take the data we receive from this first satellite and incorporate it into the next wave of satellites launching next year. We’re excited to start this journey, we’ll report back as we get more data. Thanks to Tim for covering our story on TechCrunch techcrunch.com/2026/03/19/k2-…

Google Research launches Groundsource, a geo-tagged time series dataset created by using Gemini to extract 2.6M flood events from 5M historical news articles (@timfernholz / TechCrunch) techcrunch.com/2026/03/12/goo… #a260312p18" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">techmeme.com/260312/p18#a26… 📥 Send tips! techmeme.com/contact

FreeForm, which is building an AI native 3D printing system that uses 18 lasers to fuse metal powders into precision components, raised a $67M Series B (@timfernholz / TechCrunch) techcrunch.com/2026/02/19/fre… #a260219p26" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">techmeme.com/260219/p26#a26… 📥 Send tips! techmeme.com/contact

This article by @TimFernholz is by far the best explainer on this issue that I've read and I've had to read a lot of these articles lately Why the economics of orbital AI are so brutal techcrunch.com/2026/02/11/why… via @techcrunch

@genericish @VSamson_DC @SpaceDavenport @TechCrunch

@VSamson_DC @SpaceDavenport @TimFernholz @TechCrunch Yet somehow failed to mention the electrical power constraints for earth based data centers

A great rundown from @TimFernholz on the problems Elon will be taking on as he tries to make orbital data centers work techcrunch.com/2026/02/11/why…

@johnnulls @HBendaas I believe that paragraph is a section from Noonan's column that I liked and was originally indented in some way. The two Christmas trees line is killer and I'd remember if I came up with it

@HBendaas in the words of @TimFernholz (i hope) Homeland is not an America concept prospect.org/2008/12/05/noo…

Do you know what country’s online communications style this reminds me of

What Happens When the US Stops Funding the Science Behind SpaceX @TimFernholz bloomberg.com/news/articles/… #NASA #SpaceX

.@TimFernholz asking all the right questions here Extra shielding weight added to Firefly's Alpha rocket could result in a decent reduction to its 1,000 kg to LEO payload capacity. Working with thin, thin margins in the small lift launch game

During the Space Transformation Summit—hosted by Aerospace, @aiaa, @SpaceForceDoD and @TechCrunch—eight leaders engaged in a tabletop "riskgaming" exercise designed by @Lux_Capital. Over the course of four rounds, players acted as CEOs of AI companies or government entities in a competition to outpace China in AI tech milestones In a post-game discussion with @TimFernholz, Aerospace CTO Debra Emmons, @sramji (Sailplane CEO and @trueventures' AI Scout), @DannyCrichton (Lux Capital), and USSF Lt. Col. Tim Trimailo shared their insights on the experience. Learn more about what the exercise entailed and challenges participants faced on @payloadspace: payloadspace.com/the-pentagon-a…

A quick look into the companies vying to develop the next generation of Mars communications orbiters. In @PayloadSpace by @TimFernholz payloadspace.com/the-commercial…

@NASA Wants To Hit the Accelerator On #Lunar Atomics, by @TimFernholz payloadspace.com/nasa-wants-to-… #Lunapolitics #USA

awesome feature diving deep into Roblox by @TimFernholz sherwood.news/tech/he-didnt-…

@TimFernholz nytimes.com/2025/07/13/bus…

"Mr. Dean and Mr. Creus-Costa, the company’s head of A.I., bought a bunch of powerful gaming computers — picking them up at a McDonald’s from a Craigslist vendor — and got to work feeding their balloon data into this new approach to forecasting." @TimFernholz is really the only reporter who picked up on the alpha that exists in McDonalds parking lot Craigslist deals

Payload article from @TimFernholz covering our raise: payloadspace.com/aethero-raises…

The headquarters of @NASA and US Space Command are caught in a nationwide clash that has many in the US civil and military space workforce wondering: should I stay or should I go? payloadspace.com/states-vying-t…

I will not be posting on this platform but you can find me at Bluesky at timfernholz.bsky.social or on substack at timfernholz.substack.com

I am back from parental leave and covering all your space policy and business stories for PAYLOAD SPACE. Let me know what DOGE is doing, who's raising money (can anyone raise money?), and what exactly is going on at NASA. Signal: tim_fernholz.21 Email: tim@payloadspace.com

@awprokop curious what your goal posts are? the original cutting $2 trillion goal does not seem any more straightforward even with these influence points are

Again, this is something that suggests to me that DOGE's ambitions have not in fact been downsized to IT modernization. (Additionally, Trump's nominee to head OPM is an Andreessen Horowitz partner.)