Space, a market estimated to be worth $1.3 trillion by 2030, is getting pretty crowded with companies trying to snag a piece of the galactic money pie.    

Driving the news: On Monday, Peregrine mission one — named after the world’s fastest animal — will launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida and head toward the lunar surface. If successful, it would become the first U.S. lander on the moon since NASA’s Apollo program. 

Your grandparents aren’t the only snowbirds going to Florida this year. Canadian drugs could soon be on their way to the Sunshine State too. 

What happened: Florida has become the first U.S. state to receive FDA approval to import pharmaceuticals from Canadian wholesalers.

The new space race is turning into a David versus Goliath battle in Ontario.

What happened: The Government of Ontario issued a request for proposals for a company to provide high-speed internet to rural areas using satellites. Two companies were pre-qualified to submit: SpaceX and New Brunswick-based rural internet provider Xplore.

We know you’ve heard this before, but this could be the year VR actually hits the mainstream.

Like someone with misplaced confidence in their dance moves, Peloton is making a push to become TikTok famous.

What happened: Peloton has partnered with TikTok to bring custom short-form workout content to the video platform.

Canada might have more trees than stars in the Milky Way, but that doesn’t mean we should take them for granted.

Driving the news: Canada has “downplayed the impact of the forest industry,” one researcher told the NYT after reviewing a new study on logging in Ontario and Québec.

Like a group of children left alone with a box of Oreos, Google is making a bunch of cookies disappear.

What happened: Google has begun blocking third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users (~30 million people) as part of a test for its plans to eliminate them entirely by the year’s end.

Like a pair of bickering roommates, Canada and the U.S. are arguing over shelf space… continental shelf space, that is.

Driving the news: The U.S. filed claims to a portion of the Arctic seafloor that Canada has also laid claim to. The two countries have agreed to work together to settle the dispute by following the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea — a process that will take several years. 

To ensure you can shoot off a text from anywhere in the world, telecoms are looking to the skies (literally) for answers. 

Driving the news: SpaceX has successfully launched its first set of Starlink satellites that will provide cell service from space, reports Reuters, a milestone for a joint project among several global telecom giants, including Canada’s Rogers. 

As the cruise industry booms, cruise lines are increasingly offering longer-term voyages to appeal to cruisers who want to leave behind the lowly life of a landlubber.

Driving the news: Major cruise lines like Norwegian and Holland America have made longer voyages part of their plans for this year, Princess’ longest voyage ever will set sail in 2025, and Royal Caribbean's ongoing nine-month cruise has become a TikTok sensation. 

Scientists at Osaka University and UC San Diego have developed an experiment they believe could turn photons into matter using lasers.

Tech leaders still looking for resolutions could do worse than focusing on three Cs this year: cost-saving, cleantech, and cybersecurity.

From VCRs to search engines, copyright fights have long been a rite of passage for tech — and it’s one AI will face this year.

What do Canada’s public sector and Inter Miami’s fan base have in common? 

Both got much bigger in 2023. 

In the Wallace and Gromit short A Grand Day Out, the duo went to the moon just for a bit of Wensleydale. This year, a slab of the historic British cheese might be even harder to source if you're a Canadian.

Driving the news: Prices for British cheese are set to skyrocket after a temporary trade arrangement that allowed for robust tax-free cheese imports from the U.K. expired.

A growing number of CEOs are trying to hold onto their management caps for a few years longer. And it’s probably not just because they’re smashing salary records as of late.  

Driving the news: Whitney Wolfe Herd officially stepped down as the chief executive of Bumble, a women-centred dating app worth over $2 billion, after nearly a decade in the role.

If you spent the last week actively avoiding the news in favour of more celebratory activities, fear not because we’ve got you covered. Here are the big stories you may have missed while merry-making.

On this week’s episode of Free Lunch by The Peak, we sat down with Adin Wener, founder of Henderson Brewing Company, to talk about the ins and outs of the craft beer business.

Our picks for what to eat, read, watch, and listen to this weekend.