Starbridge Weekly Update for the week ending 1/31/2021

Axiom Space announced the crew of Ax-1 last Monday. Joining flight Commander and Axiom VP for Business Development Michael Lopez-Alegria are Larry Connor, mission Pilot, entrepreneur, and non-profit activist; Mark Pathy, Canadian investor and philanthropist; Eytan Stibbe, impact investor and philanthropist. The flight is scheduled on a SpaceX Crew Dragon in January of 2022. All four members of the crew are developing packed schedules of philanthropic, educational, and scientific work to compliment the expected window gazing time.

Umbra announced their most recent round late Sunday evening. Umbra’s first priced round raised a total of $32M from Passport Capital founder John Burbank with participation from existing Umbra investors including CrossCut Ventures, Starbridge Ventures, Hemisphere Ventures, and PonValley. Umbra expects to launch its first satellite in the coming months with the deployment of the rest of the constellation after operational tests are complete. 

The dust-up between SpaceX and the FAA became public this week as SpaceX canceled a highly anticipated test flight of SN9 at its facility in Boca Chica, Texas due to the FAA’s refusal to grant a launch license. Reports suggest that the FAA considers some aspect of the previous SN8 launch to have violated its launch license and is refusing any new Starship licenses until they review that flight and recent modifications. Many launch companies have embraced an iterative development methodology where a final vehicle design is ‘discovered’ through multiple test flights that usually experience multiple failures. While this method is often faster and less expensive, it does present a regulatory challenge for the FAA due to regulations designed for an entirely different process. 

As we reported in the January 18th update, the financial world is coming to realize that SPACs are here to stay and represent a third method of bringing private companies into public markets. Starbridge has some concern that the perceived demand for public space companies may bring companies into the public markets prematurely. Momentus’ current issues with its CEO and ownership structure being one example. 

This week's picks of space sector news compiled from Jeff Foust's FIRST UP newsletter are:

• SpaceX's Starship prototype remains grounded as the FAA continues a review of a modified launch license. 

• NASA has scheduled the launch of the next SpaceX commercial crew mission to the ISS for April. 

• U.S. Space Command is looking to expand its network of data-sharing partners for space traffic management.

• Virgin Galactic will resume SpaceShipTwo test flights later this month. 

• India plans to launch at least uncrewed test flight of its Gaganyaan crewed spacecraft this year. 

• The head of U.S. Space Command is warning of a "far more competitive and dangerous" environment in space. 

• NASA is taking a step toward launching its Europa Clipper mission on a commercial vehicle rather than the Space Launch System.

• The Justice Department has filed suit against SpaceX, alleging job discrimination. 

• A satellite launched for SiriusXM last month is malfunctioning. 

• Another war of words has broken out between Amazon and SpaceX about their satellite constellations.

• The head of U.S. Space Command says he supports giving the Commerce Department responsibility for civil space traffic management (STM). 

• The CEO of in-space transportation company Momentus resigned Monday to address U.S. government concerns about foreign control.