Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 6/30/2022

Last week, Michael Mealling, Starbridge GP, attended Aerospace Corporation's roundtable of futurists, investors, and policymakers to provide NASA with an idea of what the agency’s future might be. What struck Michael, and the other space investors attendance, was how the progress of our portfolio companies was outstripping the futurists' predictions. One example of this is the persistent trope that mining in space would be done by low-wage workers that have been forcefully sent to space to serve industrial needs. It's widely agreed upon that human labor will  have been removed from the mining process long before then. The Starship Singularity was on full display as well. Many didn’t understand how transformative the capability was, or chose to believe it wasn’t possible to build. 

Portfolio Company News

Axiom leases Webster, TX Fry’s location known for its full-scale ISS mockup

Axiom Space’s office outside Johnson Space Center is less than four miles from the old Fry’s location, so the lease makes tremendous sense for the growing company. Fry’s Electronics was a chain of technology and appliance stores that catered to hardcore DIY technologist's. The opening of a Fry’s in your city was close to a religious experience for many of us and each location was themed. The Webster, TX location has a full scale mockup of the International Space Station hanging from the ceiling and the store was closed in 2021 when Fry’s itself shut down.

General Space News

The Space Force's new acquisition executive says there is no quick fix for problems that have plagued defense procurements for years.

During the debate surrounding creating Space Force one of the justifications was to enable the new branch to fix its own procurement problems. But many pointed out that these problems existed across the entire Department of Defense and creating a new branch wouldn’t solve those problems. While there have been a few recent procurement policy successes within Space Force, the branch is still heavily dependent on the Air Force and the rest of the DoD. Perhaps the US Government can fix defense procurement processes this time around. 

A Rocket Lab Electron launches a NASA lunar cubesat mission.

Rocket Lab launched the CAPSTONE payload earlier this week on its four-month trip to the Moon to map the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit that NASA will use for the Lunar Gateway. As of this writing, the payload has successfully executed its fourth orbit raising burn. The total budget for the mission was just under $30M and is an example of how the Moon and the rest of the inner Solar System are now at prices thought fundamentally impossible a few years ago. 

House Appropriations Space Subcommittee member Steven M. Palazzo (R-MS-4) lost his seat Tuesday in a primary runoff

Palazzo is a member of the House Appropriations space subcommittee and his loss is more evidence that the House and Senate committees, already subject to the standard committee wrangling that happens with a new Congress, are going to see tremendous changes. The most fundamental appears to be a nearly complete generational transfer in leadership in all space related committees. Space policy may see some significant shifts when no member remembers Apollo and only barely remembers Shuttle. 

Fun video selfie from smallsat manufacturer NanoAvionics 

Other Space News

• Smallsat manufacturer NanoAvionics has gone to new heights to take a selfie.

• India launched three satellites for Singapore this morning on a PSLV. 

• SpaceX successfully launched a C-band communications satellite for SES Wednesday.

• Aerojet Rocketdyne's CEO appears to be winning a proxy fight against the company's chairman.

• Sierra Space announced an agreement with the Turkish Space Agency and an affiliated company Wednesday.

• OneWeb expects to resume launches of its satellites late this year through SpaceX and NewSpace India Ltd. 

• The X Prize Foundation is considering an active debris removal competition. 

• NASA's Psyche asteroid mission will miss its launch window this year.

• NASA says it's on track to launch the first SLS as soon as late August.

• A Cygnus cargo spacecraft departed the International Space Station this morning after a test to reboost the station's orbit. 

• Virgin Orbit has won approval from the government of Brazil to launch from the Alcântara Space Center. 

• Rocket Lab says the successful launch of the CAPSTONE lunar cubesat on its Electron rocket opens the door for other interplanetary missions.

Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 6/24/2022

Portfolio Company News

Umbra

These Satellites See Through the Clouds to Track Flooding

Umbra is making it easier for customers to access SAR images of Earth to better monitor flooding and other natural disasters.

Xplore

Microsoft, Xplore, and NOAA demonstrate cloud-based satellite operations

NOAA performed a proof-of-concept demonstration using Xplore’s Major Tom mission control software running in Microsoft’s Azure Orbital ground station in Quincy, Washington. The demonstration allowed NOAA to obtain data downlinked from NOAA-18 to the Azure cloud. This is the first public announcement of Xplore’s acquisition of Kubos, an interesting case of one of Starbridge fund I’s portfolio companies acquiring another. 

SpaceX

SpaceX ramps up FCC battle over broadband usage the company says poses an existential threat to Starlink

SpaceX doubled down on their dispute with Dish Network’s 12-gigahertz broadband use that could interfere with Starlink. They claim that Starlink users would see an interference causing outages “74% of the time” and ‘called on the FCC to investigate whether DISH and RS Access filed intentionally misleading reports.’

NASA and SpaceX will begin testing strategies for preventing autonomous satellites from crashing into each other.

SpaceX is establishing a new facility near Austin, Texas.

SpaceX moves a massive rocket with 33 engines to its launch pad for tests

General Space News

House bill trims NASA budget proposal

The House Appropriations Committee released its draft bill for NASA’s fiscal year 2023 which includes $25.446B; this is $527M less than what was requested. While Congress remains hopeful that it can pass several seemingly uncontroversial spending bills before the midterm election campaigns begin in earnest, the closer the calendar gets to August the less likely that will happen. 

Intuitive Machines and X-energy-led Team Awarded $5 Million to Provide a Solution to Deliver Fission Surface Power to the Moon by 2028

The Department of Energy and NASA awarded Intuitive Machines and X-energy a contract to study Fission Surface Power (FSP) to deliver at least 40kWe power flight system. Intuitive Machines and X-energy are part of Cam Gaffarian’s IBX family of companies which includes Axiom Space. 

S. Korea successfully launches homegrown space rocket in second attempt

South Korea successfully launched its rocket, Nuri, on June 21st. This was their 2nd attempt to launch and they also successfully deployed satellites at their target altitude of 700km and were able to confirm communication with the satellite shortly after. The first iteration of South Korea’s LSLV launch vehicles was primarily designed and built by Russia but later in the last decade switched to an entirely indigenous design, including engine development. The South Korean government has made becoming a major space hardware and service provider a national priority. 

‘Get your boy Elon in line’: NASA tell-all recounts turmoil over private space race

Former NASA Deputy Administrator 2009-2013, Lori Garver, doesn’t hold back in her new book ‘Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age’ (grab a cup of tea). The memoir includes several never before revealed examples of how acidic that period was and how difficult it is for women in leadership roles at NASA. Keith Cowing, a contractor who saw some of what Lori did first hand and who now runs NASA Watch, also provides an exciting review and perspective on that period. 

Other Space News

• Impulse Space secures million$$ that accelerates the firm’s path toward ‘access any-orbit’ missions

• SpaceX completed three launches in a little more than 36 hours this weekend. 

• China is proposing a Mars sample return mission that could return samples before NASA and ESA.

• NASA nearly completed a countdown test of the Space Launch System Monday after dealing with several technical problems.

• NASA aborted an attempt Monday to reboost the International Space Station using a Cygnus cargo spacecraft.

• NASA is developing alternative schedules for Artemis missions that would stretch out the program.

• Viasat shareholders have approved its proposed acquisition of Inmarsat.

• The new head of the Office of Space Commerce says he has been on a "listening tour" with industry on space traffic management.

• A lunar cubesat mission is now scheduled for launch early next week.

• The White House has nominated a former head of DARPA to be director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 6/17/2022

Portfolio Company News

SpaceX

SpaceX said Monday it raised nearly $1.7 billion in its latest funding round.

The Starlink launch is the first of three SpaceX is planning this weekend.

SpaceX has fired "a number of employees" who circulated a letter within the company criticizing Elon Musk.

Now that SpaceX is an official part of Starbridge’s wider portfolio (it is not a part of any Fund portfolio but a standalone co-investment) we will include some additional SpaceX-specific news items. In this case, it has been a strange week to be closing these deals, especially in light of the letter circulated by some unknown number of SpaceX employees objecting to Elon Musk’s public behavior over the past year. That news broke Thursday afternoon. On Friday morning SpaceX sent an email to the company staff letting them know the employees behind the letter had been dismissed. All of this occurred the day before the company attempts three launches in one weekend.

General Space News

House Armed Services chairman calls on Space Force to change how it buys launch services

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) pushed for changes in military launch services procurement. The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) urges the Space Force to consider other procurement approaches in Phase 3 of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program in 2024 so more than two companies can win launch contracts.

NASA assigns two astronauts to Starliner test flight

On June 16th, NASA announced that veteran astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, will fly the first crewed Boeing CST-100 Starliner mission. Mike Fincke will fly as a backup.

SpaceX and OneWeb coordinate spectrum

SpaceX and OneWeb have decided to semi-bury the hatchet and cooperate with each other on the use of neighboring spectrum. Noticeably absent is ViaSat who has preferred to take a belligerent regulatory approach by attempting to create court decisions that apply terrestrial environmental review law from the Environmental Protection Act to space. 

House Appropriators Markup Space Budgets

The House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee will markup the FY 2023 appropriations bills this coming week on June 22. Behind the scenes, there is a significant fight between budget appropriators on both sides of Congress and NASA over the lack of information from NASA on the Artemis programs plans and budgets. Apparently veiled threats have been made to significantly cut non-SLS-related commercial contract budgets unless NASA starts providing very detailed plans and budgets across the board. There is also a disconnect between authorizers and appropriators when it comes to the amount of ‘control’ the US Government has over commercial providers of infrastructure like space stations and landers. The general mood of the appropriators was summed up as “NASA has not explained to the Subcommittee how its requirements and LEO access and operations are 100% guaranteed in a time when NASA will not control a single facility asset in LEO. If Congress is providing funds then Congress should be in control, not the companies.” The authorizers feel differently but that part of the US budgeting process has tilted heavily in favor of the appropriations committees in recent decades.

An In-Orbit Game of Cat and Mouse: Close approaches prompt calls for communications and norms

More countries, China and Russia, are taking part in ‘counterspace’ - meaning they’re actively taking action to avoid disclosure of their satellite capabilities and/or activities while trying to cozy up to US military satellites.

D-Orbit charts ambitious course for space logistics business

Italian company, D-Orbit, announced that ESA will fund their campaign to improve the performance and reduce the cost of ION, their cubesat and microsatellite transportation vehicle. The contract is worth $2M.

Planet reveals $146 million NRO award and quarterly revenues

During Planet’s earnings call on June 14th, they revealed they won their largest contract to date with the National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL) which is worth $146M over 5 years with the possibility of extending the contract up to 10 years. 

Explosion at Chinese space launch center revealed by satellite imagery

Commercial satellite imagery revealed that an explosion back in October 2021 severely damaged China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. China’s Shenzhou human spaceflight missions launch from this spaceport. It is unclear as to what caused the explosion or what the facilities were used for. 

FAA environmental review to allow Starship orbital launches after changes

The FAA issued a ‘Finding of No Significant Impact’ (FONSI) for SpaceX’s Starship vehicle to be launched from Boca Chica, Texas after they implement over 75 measures to mitigate environmental effects. Even after SpaceX completes the mitigations, they will still have to obtain an FAA launch license.

Sierra Space to start astronaut training program

Former NASA astronaut and president of Sierra Space, Janet Kavandi, is set to lead Sierra Space’s new commercial human spaceflight training center and astronaut training academy at Kennedy Space Center. The center plans to train professional astronauts; including NASA astronauts who will operate the Orbital Reef commercial space station; “specialist” astronauts to do research and other work on the station, and “experiential” astronauts akin to space tourists. Sierra Space plans on flying the first flight of their Dream Chaser vehicle in 2026.

Other Space News

• The launch of two NASA cubesats to track tropical storms on an Astra rocket failed Sunday when the rocket's upper stage shut down

• The Pentagon's Space Development Agency (SDA) is changing plans for a series of experimental satellites.

• SpaceX's Starlink system has played a key role in Ukraine during Russia's invasion.

• The Russian government will allow Roscosmos to negotiate a seat barter agreement with NASA.

• An FAA environmental review will allow SpaceX to proceed with Starship orbital launches from Boca Chica, Texas, but only after implementing dozens of mitigations.

• NASA has raised concerns about SpaceX's plans to perform Starship launches from the Kennedy Space Center.

• A Chinese university says it's completed a first-of-its-kind test structure for space-based solar power technology.

• Belgian startup Aerospacelab said Tuesday it will establish a "megafactory" large enough to produce 500 satellites annually.

• South Korean ground station operator Contec has raised $47.3 million in a Series C funding round.

• Spire announced a $120 million credit facility to support its growth plans.

• The leaders of NASA and ESA signed agreements Wednesday to cooperate on Earth science and a lunar mission.

• The co-founder of Firefly Aerospace is stepping down as CEO but remaining with the company.

• John Hyten, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is joining Blue Origin as an adviser.

• As SpaceX prepares to launch another batch of Starlink satellites, astronomers are renewing their concerns about the brightness of those satellites.

• A game of cat-and-mouse between Chinese and American satellites illustrates the need for norms of behavior, space sustainability experts warn.

• A Euroconsult study sees growing demand for orbital transfer vehicles.

Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 6/10/2022

Portfolio Company News

Axiom

Why NASA Will Pay $3.5Billion to Rent Space Suits Instead Of Building Their Own

Scott Manley breaks down Axiom’s latest contract from NASA to build space suit’s for the ISS and Artemis missions.

General Space News

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, right, and President of the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) Dr. Philippe Baptiste shake hands following the signing of the Artemis Accords at the French Ambassador’s Residence in Washington. France is the twentieth country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s Artemis program.

Credits: NASA/Keegan Barber

France became the 20th country to join the Artemis Accords

President of the French Space Agency (CNES), Philippe Baptiste, signed the US-led Artemis Accords on June 7th alongside NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The Artemis Accords builds upon the Outer Space Treaty and was established in 2020 in an effort to “set forth a framework for the peaceful exploration of space.” 20 nations have currently signed the Accord. The US also formally joined the ‘Space Climate Observatory,’ an effort led by France suggesting there might have been some quid pro quo between the two countries. Given the number of European countries that have already acceded to the Accords, Germany, Belgium, and Greece may find themselves in a very small minority. 

Elon Musk is in no rush to spin off Starlink into a publicly traded company

According to an audio recording from a SpaceX meeting on June 2nd, Elon Musk stated that he wasn’t sure when Starlink would IPO but guessed it would be in 3-4yrs depending on financial stability. Whether or not SpaceX would IPO Starlink on its own has been something investors have wondered about for years. To date, Starlink has launched over 2,600 satellites and the service is available in 32 countries with ~500,000 users. While no one expects an IPO in this market, this does push out any kind of liquidity event for a few more years. 

China plans to test technologies late this decade that could be used for space-based solar power

The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) plans to test solar power generation and transmission at various orbital altitudes in a 4-phase project beginning in 2028, leading up to the development of a space-based solar power station. The satellite, planned to launch in 2028, will ‘test wireless power transmission technology from space to the ground from an altitude of 400km (250 miles).’ If you can read Chinese, the paper is here.

Some military buyers remain distrustful of commercial solutions as a replacement for government-developed systems despite broader enthusiasm for such services

Chief of the Space Force’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office, Clare Grason, said that some military buyers are still skeptical when it comes to replacing government-developed systems with that of commercial services and that her office is working on getting the DoD comfortable with commercial solutions. Military customers are mainly procuring transponder capacity but still want to own and control their own terminals, ground segment, and the management of the network traffic. However, efforts are being made to educate military program managers and the Space Force “is laying the foundation to grow and prioritize commercial relationships.”

A House committee is pushing the military to make increased use of commercial space capabilities

The House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces passed its proposals for its Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. The committee encouraged the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to expand its use of commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The bill also calls for the standardization of satellite and launch vehicle interfaces to deploy payloads faster. This is a perfect example of how mildly schizophrenic Congress is when it comes to commercial space. DoD is being encouraged to embrace it aggressively while NASA is continually in a debate with Congress over the US Government ‘owning’ its own rockets and space stations. The argument will only be settled once members who remember Apollo and Shuttle retire and when the commercial sector proves conclusively that it can outpace most of what the Government is currently doing.

Other Space News

• Blue Canyon Technologies recently launched a cubesat to demonstrate the performance of such spacecraft at very low altitudes.

• Sony seeks to leverage the laser technology it developed for consumer devices like CD players for space communications.

• NASA and SpaceX have postponed a cargo Dragon mission that was to launch this week to investigate a potential propellant leak in the spacecraft. 

• SpaceX has won a new license for its Starlink broadband system in France. 

• Raytheon Technologies will move its global headquarters to the Washington area. 

• The James Webb Space Telescope is fine after one of its mirrors was hit by a micrometeoroid.

• A NASA audit found that the cost of a second mobile launch platform could be several times higher than originally planned and be completed years behind schedule.

• NASA says it is embracing "high-risk, high-impact" research with a new study to examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). 

• The Indian government is transferring 10 communications satellites from the space agency ISRO to its commercial arm, NewSpace India.

• Shenzhou-14 crewed mission arrives at Chinese space station

Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 6/3/2022

Portfolio Company News

Axiom

NASA selects Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace for spacesuit contracts

Axiom is in the news again after being awarded a contract, alongside Collins Aerospace, for Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) to support the development of new spacesuits for spacewalks outside of the ISS and future Artemis moonwalks. The xEVAS contracts are worth $3.5B between Axiom and Collins Aerospace over ten years.

General Space News

NASA to buy five additional Crew Dragon flights

NASA plans to procure 5 more Crew Dragon missions to the ISS from SpaceX to “ensure redundant and backup capabilities through 2030.”

Long March 2C launches 9 navigation test satellites for Chinese automaker

Geespace, a wholly owned subsidiary of automaker Geely Technology Group, launched 9 positioning and connectivity test satellites Thursday. The satellites are the first of Geely’s “Geely Future Mobility Constellation” that will consist of 240 satellites and will provide centimeter-level accuracy positioning and connectivity support for autonomous driving in Geely brand cars.

Momentus attempting to fix anomalies with first Vigoride tug

A week after the launch of their first Vigoride tug, Momentus is dealing with “some anomalous behaviors” having to do with a communications system that was tuned to the wrong frequencies and required a special temporary authority from the FCC. They have not yet attempted to test Vigoride’s microwave electrothermal thruster. Vigoride is carrying 9 satellites and has deployed 2 from FOSSA Systems so far.

NASA to re-examine space-based solar power

During the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference over the weekend, NASA’s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy said they were beginning a short-term study to reassess the prospects of space-based solar power (SBSP).

Asteroid mining is doing a comeback tour.

AstroForge, a Ycombinator company, raised a $13 million “seed-plus” round from several VCs recently to “take a fresh look at asteroid mining”. For those of us who remember Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, the fundamental issue isn’t the resource extraction technology but the inability to compete against an already optimized terrestrial resource extraction supply chain. Space resources only make sense for use in space. 

UAE official is the new chair of the U.N.'s COPUOS 

The recent announcement that the UAE will be leading the UN Committee On the Peaceful Use of Outer Space and that Omran Sharaf will be representing the UAE in that role made a lot of sense given how quickly the small Gulf country has moved into the business. But what may be more interesting is that the UAE is the only country that has the permanent settlement of space written into its foundational space law. The UAE has always been very clear that it intends on building a UAE city on Mars. That should prove interesting given that many COPUOS members take a very dim view of the human settlement of space.

Other Space News

• Elon Musk to Workers: Spend 40 Hours in the Office or Else

• Eyeing DoD and IC work, ICEYE boosts ‘parallel’ US-only radar-sat constellation

• Analysts: NRO contracts will have long-term ripple effects on the satellite imagery industry

• What does a black hole sound like? NASA has an answer

• China rolled out the rocket that will launch the next crewed mission to its space station. 

• A bipartisan group of House members is seeking a big increase in funding for the Defense Department's responsive launch program.

• Three more countries have approved Starlink services.

• Members of the House Science Committee questioned a proposal by NASA to delay a space telescope that will look for near-Earth objects.

• China is looking to land spacecraft near permanently shadowed regions at the south pole of the moon to look for resources trapped in craters. 

• China announced plans to work with several other countries on an Earth science network that appears to counter a U.S.-led initiative. 

• The FAA has again delayed the completion of an environmental review of Starship launches from Texas, but only by a couple of weeks. 

Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 5/20/2022

Portfolio Company News

SpaceX’s Transporter-5 Rideshare will potentially be carrying 3 Starbridge portfolio companies satellites - Orbital Sidekick, Lynk, and Umbra - as payloads on their upcoming launch targeted for May 25th 

Axiom Space broke ground this week on their new headquarters and factory in Houston, Texas

The crew of a private astronaut mission who spent two weeks on the International Space Station last month said they tried to do too much, putting a strain on themselves and the station's professional astronauts

General Space News

SpaceX secondary sale values the company at $125 billion

Starbridge is working on access to this round but the deadlines are very tight. See below for details.

Rocket Lab Q1 Results Underscore Growing Space Systems Business

Rocket Lab is no longer just a launch company, which makes them more interesting to us. They acquired SolAero Technologies earlier this year and are also producing solar panels for OneWeb’s broadband constellation. In Q2, Rocket Lab will likely have $51M–$54M in revenue with launch being ~$19M and space systems at ~$32M–$35M.

Boeing's CST-100 Starliner is on its way to the International Space Station

The human spaceflight market has been dominated by SpaceX ever since the first NASA commercial crew flight. Many in the industry are starting to become concerned that SpaceX may have a natural monopoly simply because they are able to move faster than everyone else. While NASA has put its hopes in Boeing’s Starliner program as a commercial crew alternative, Boeing has had severe troubles during development and testing early last year. Starliner is also shown prominently in Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef graphics but few consider Starliner to be remotely economical for truly commercial missions. NASA may consider Starliner a viable alternative but few others do. 

Scientists found that plants can grow in lunar soil, although not very well

This article was widely circulated as proof that you can live on the Moon by growing your own food. But few who actually work on Lunar development and settlement ever considered regolith as a growth medium when the terrestrial aquaponics, hydroponics, and vat grown meat and plant systems have shown artificial growth media are perfectly fine. 

Launcher says it's filled the manifest of satellite and hosted payloads for its first space tug mission

When SpaceX dumped Spaceflight Services earlier this year there was some speculation about who would replace them since SpaceX clearly doesn’t like herding cats. There was some speculation that Tom Mueller’s Impulse Space was the preferred new vendor but others such as Launcher or D-Orbit may be filling in behind Spaceflight.

The Pentagon is finding it difficult to keep up with commercial space innovations, a Space Force general said Wednesday

The ability of government agencies to keep up with commercial technology developments has been a complaint going back to World War II. One of the core issues is the short rotation times for officers where they move on to other roles in their branch at just about the time they start to understand what is going on. There is little confidence this problem can be fixed.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has completed its assessment of the effects of SpaceX Starship launches from the company's Boca Chica, Texas, test site

This is an important milestone for SpaceX and for South Texas. But it may be too little too late since SpaceX is building Starship factories in Florida. We expect alternative launch sites to be developed either offshore or in other countries although both currently present logistical and national security challenges.

Check out this map of Starlink’s current availability worldwide

Other Space News

• Sanctions on Russia are starting to affect ISS operations, NASA's safety advisers said Thursday

• Space technology company Redwire said that "volatility" among commercial customers could affect its growth forecasts

• Indonesia's president met with Elon Musk at SpaceX's Starbase site in Texas, although primarily to talk about Tesla

• A Space Force general says the service needs to pay more attention to what is happening in cislunar space

• Two small satellites launched last summer by DARPA successfully tested a laser intersatellite link last month

• AST SpaceMobile will start deploying operational satellites in 2023 even if an upcoming experimental satellite fails

• The Pentagon selected two companies Tuesday to develop small nuclear-powered spacecraft for in-space demonstrations planned for 2027

• NASA confirmed Tuesday that the end is in sight for the InSight Mars lander

• Uzbekistan is trying to convince Starlink and OneWeb to bring their satellite broadband services to the Central Asian country

• NASA is putting on hold spacewalks at the ISS while it investigates a water leak during a spacewalk in March

• NASA is puzzled by telemetry coming from the Voyager 1 spacecraft

• NASA is seeking public input on a set of objectives that will guide its long-term exploration strategy

• Stratospheric ballooning company Space Perspective has raised an additional $17 million

• China's Zhurong Mars rover is going into hibernation for the Martian winter

Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 5/13/2022

Portfolio Company News

Xplore

In case you missed it, Xplore Co-Founder & COO and Starbridge Venture Partner, Lisa Rich, spoke with Emily Chang and Justin Bachman on Bloomberg Technology

General Space News

Globalstar agrees terms with “global customer” for terrestrial connectivity

Globalstar has signed a term sheet with a "large, global customer" to deploy some of its S-band spectrum for terrestrial use in the United States and elsewhere. It is believed that Apple may be the wholesale buyer of this capacity with the release of their iPhone 14 later this year. Globalstar also recently registered plans for a constellation of over 3,000 satellites in LEO. There is some speculation that the service will only be capable of sending Apple Push Notification messages to the iPhone rather than full SMS or MMS messages. 

DoD inspector general finds nothing improper in U.S. Space Command basing decision

The Pentagon's inspector general concluded that the decision to move U.S. Space Command headquarters to Alabama in January 2021 was reasonable and not improperly influenced by politics.

SpaceX training begins this month for first commercial spacewalk mission

Jared Isaacman, billionaire businessman, pilot, and commander of the Polaris Dawn mission, said the training will begin this month for the private astronauts scheduled to fly on and conduct a spacewalk from, a Crew Dragon spacecraft. This is the first of three missions Isaacman has booked through SpaceX. This would be the first purely commercial spacewalk since NASA is not involved in this mission. 

Feast your eyes on the first image of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way

Scientists have produced the first image of a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, which is over 4 million times the mass of the Sun, courtesy of the international Event Horizon Telescope collaboration. The supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, was initially discovered in 1933 by physicist Karl Jansky.

Humanity will go to Mars 'in this decade,' SpaceX president predicts

SpaceX President and COO, Gwynne Shotwell, told CNBC that she predicts that a crewed mission to Mars could happen sooner than we think. SpaceX is developing Starship, a huge, reusable rocket, to go to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Starship will also be sending the first NASA crewed lunar lander to the Moon’s south pole in 2025 for the Artemis program.

Citadel founder Ken Griffin wins Blue Origin spaceflight auction, donates 2 seats to New York City teachers

Jeff Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, donated 2 seats on its New Shepard rocket to nonprofit Robin Hood’s, auction to benefit New York City. Citadel founder Ken Griffin placed the winning bid of $8 million and subsequently donated his spot to two educators. 

Autonomous drones fly through Chinese bamboo forest

Video of a swarm of drones navigating through an uncontrolled environment as part of an experiment led by scientists from Zhejiang University in China.

Other Space News

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

• Boeing to move headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, VA

• SpaceX agreed to change the launch site for an NRO mission, provided the agency would let the company fly a reused booster. 

• Chinese startup Deep Blue Aerospace conducted a vertical takeoff and landing test, flying a vehicle to an altitude of one kilometer. 

• The FAA and NTSB say they are talking with each other on roles in commercial spaceflight investigations. 

• Virgin Galactic is delaying the start of commercial suborbital spaceflights again.

• Stratospheric ballooning company World View says it has signed up 1,000 customers.

• NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter has encountered power issues.

• South Korea's new president wants to make the country a major space power by 2035.

• Blue Origin auctioned a seat on a future flight Monday as part of a charity event in New York for the Robin Hood Foundation.

• The Indian space agency ISRO is considering using Amazon Web Services (AWS) ground stations to support future human spaceflight missions.

• Colombia is the latest country to sign the Artemis Accords.

• Boeing says it's considering a long-term design change for valves on its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle to fix corrosion discovered last year.

• Boeing clashes with key supplier ahead of Starliner spacecraft launch

• A Space Force general said the use of Starlink in Ukraine shows the benefits of megaconstellations.

• Two senators have introduced a bill authorizing a Space National Guard.

Starbridge Weekly Update for 5/6/2022

Portfolio Company News

Axiom

Canada's MDA announced it sold technology it is developing for the Canadarm3 robotic arm to Axiom Space.

Four of the eight awardees for NASA's In Space Production Applications (InSPA) awards involved Axiom Space as a partner

Space Forge

In-space manufacturing could help humanity fight climate change, startup says

Space Forge plans to launch it's first returnable and reusable, ForgeStar, in-orbit manufacturing demonstration mission this year. CEO and co-founder, Josh Western, said at the ‘Towards a Space Enabled Net Zero Earth’ conference in London, "The applications that we're focused on at Space Forge are really in the advanced material sphere, and that allows us to develop new types of semiconductors, new types of composites that can leapfrog the state of the art about 100 times in terms of performance through improvements in thermal capacity and power handling."

General Space News

Crew-3 splashes down in the Gulf of Mexico

Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down on May 6th, returning NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer back to Earth after 6 months on the ISS.

Nelson criticizes “plague” of cost-plus NASA contracts

NASA Administrator, Bill Nelson, called out cost-plus contracts as a “plague” on the industry while testifying at a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing on May 3rd. Cost-plus contracts allow for a government contractor to be reimbursed a fixed amount plus additional fees vs. a fixed-price contract where the contractor receives a fixed amount.

* The above image above is an edited meme replacing Benji Reed, Senior Director of Human Spaceflight Programs at SpaceX, with Administrator Bill Nelson explaining to Boeing and Lockheed what fixed-price contracts mean.

In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing National Strategy

In one of the first examples of how the Biden administration views the development of a new space policy within the Executive Branch, the White House has published the product of a nearly four-year-old interagency working group on in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) and designated it a National Strategy. The document is worth reading but it isn’t clear what actual impacts it will have on authorizations or budgets. The White House is soliciting comments on how to implement the new strategy 

Falcon 9 is busier than ever as Starship reviews are delayed again

SpaceX successfully completed 6 launches in April marking the most successful launches in a month. Two of the six launches were Starlink satellites, the others were the Ax-1 and Crew-4 crewed missions, the Transporter-4 rideshare mission, and the NROL-85 classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. SpaceX Senior Director of Human Spaceflight Programs, Benji Reed, noted that “This is the kind of flight rate that we need to be thinking about as an industry. We should all look forward to the day soon when we are launching every day, every hour, every minute.” Meanwhile, Starship was delayed yet again with the FAA stating that it needed to complete an environmental assessment for orbital launches of Starship out of Boca Chica, Texas.

DARPA moving forward with the development of nuclear-powered spacecraft

DARPA issued a request for proposals for the next phase of their  ‘Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations’ (DRACO) to focus on the design, development, fabrication, and assembly of a nuclear thermal rocket engine. DARPA previously selected designs by General Atomics, Blue Origin, and Lockheed Martin.

Satellogic to launch 68 satellites with SpaceX

Satellogic announced its agreement with SpaceX to launch 68 satellites starting in 2023. This news came the day after they published their 2021 Financial Report which shows reported revenue of $4.2 million, a net loss of $117.7 million, and adjusted EBITDA of –$30.7 million. Satellogic previously projected revenues of $7 million and adjusted EBITDA of –$32 million for 2021. Satellogic went public through a SPAC merger in January.

Space Force leaders questioned on their plans to invest in technology and workforce

During a hearing for the Department of the Air Force’s 2023 budget request, Chief of Space Operations General John Raymond said that their priorities are to modernize the missile-warning space architecture to defend against increasingly advanced hypersonic missiles and glide vehicles, and to keep track of objects orbiting in space that could be a potential threat. 

First Dream Chaser vehicle takes shape

Sierra Space shared images of their first Dream Chaser vehicle and noted that it has completed structural testing and was beginning final integration and testing before being shipped to Ohio for thermal vacuum testing. Following that, they will integrate Dream Chaser onto the Vulcan Rocket at Kennedy Space Center with a launch planned for next year.  

Space Force Cancelled

Much to the relief of Space Force personnel, the Netflix TV show Space Force has been canceled. 

Other Space News

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

• In a case of launch vehicle catch-and-release, Rocket Lab briefly caught a descending Electron booster after a launch Monday, only to drop it into the ocean moments later.

• FAA delays environmental review of SpaceX’s Starship launches from Texas for a fourth time

• Canada's MDA announced it sold technology it is developing for the Canadarm3 robotic arm to Axiom Space.

• Boeing will move its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia.

• The Space Force also has an "insatiable" appetite for geospatial intelligence, a general said.

• Two Russian cosmonauts performed a lengthy spacewalk Thursday to set up a robotic arm on the International Space Station.

• Arabsat has ordered its first fully software-defined satellite from Thales Alenia Space.

• An Emirati astronaut will fly a long-duration space station mission in 2023.

• A senator and former astronaut played down the threat posed by Russian ASAT weapons.

• Sierra Space says it is making good progress on the first Dream Chaser vehicle.

• In a case of launch vehicle catch-and-release, Rocket Lab briefly caught a descending Electron booster after a launch Monday, only to drop it into the ocean moments later.

• Viasat is asking the FCC to perform a detailed environmental review of SpaceX's second-generation Starlink system.

• The Space Force has selected 125 industry teams for the initial phase of the Orbital Prime program for debris cleanup and other services.

• A Ukrainian government minister says there are 150,000 Starlink users in the country.

• Ukraine War Puts Spy Satellites for Hire in the Spotlight

• NASA and the German space agency DLR will end operations of the SOFIA airborne observatory in September.

• DARPA announced Wednesday it is moving into the next phase of a project to test space nuclear propulsion.

• NOAA will hold meetings next week with various partners to discuss plans to evaluate emerging satellite and ground architecture technologies.

Starbridge Weekly Update for 4/22/2022

Welcome to the Starbridge Weekly Space update for April 22, 2022. After a long hiatus due to closing Fund II and tax season, the weekly Starbridge Space Update is back! 

NASA announced Axiom Space’s Ax-1, launched April 8th, will now undock at 6:35 p.m. EDT Saturday, April 23 and splashdown off of Florida’s coast at 1:46 p.m. Sunday, April 24. The Ax-1 crew originally was scheduled to stay only 8 days at the ISS but will now spend 14 days. NASA ISS program manager, Joel Montalban, said NASA will track the Ax-1 splashdown with the usual tracking assets as they would for a NASA commercial crew mission. Following Ax-1’s splashdown, NASA will proceed with the Crew-4 mission launch to the ISS as soon as April 26th and will return the Crew-3 astronauts ~5 days after. 

Axiom Space and Mitsui announced a joint venture in Japan for on-orbit services. Mitsui invested in Axiom last year and previously acquired launch rideshare company, Spaceflight, Inc., in 2020. 

Lynk First Cell Tower in Space

Lynk announced on April 6, 2022, that their satellite completed its on-orbit check-out making it the world’s first commercial-ready cell-tower-in-space. They will begin extensive testing around the world and position Lynk to deliver commercial satellite-direct-to-phone service later this year.                           

An Oros Apparel customer has posted an excellent review of their latest products. The company is quickly approaching the deployment of Solarcore AP products as well as various contracts with US Government customers. 

General Space News

Amazon announced it purchased up to 83 launches from Arianespace, Blue Origin, and ULA to deploy a majority of their 3,236-satellite Project Kuiper broadband megaconstellation. “Securing launch capacity from multiple providers has been a key part of our strategy from day one,” Rajeev Badyal, vice president of technology for Project Kuiper at Amazon, said in a statement. “This approach reduces risk associated with launch vehicle stand-downs and supports competitive long-term pricing for Amazon.”

NASA halted their third attempt at an SLS practice countdown on April 14th due to several issues with the filling of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen into the tanks. It is unclear when NASA will continue with another attempt at another SLS test.

ULA ordered 116 RL10C-X engines from Aerojet Rocketdyne for their Vulcan rocket's upper stage. ULA plans to fly Vulcan’s first mission at the end of the year.

Kepler validated their inter-satellite data-relay terminal allowing satellites the ability to communicate on-orbit. They “successfully transferred the first [data] packet from one satellite to the other” four days after launch, CEO Mina Mitry said in an interview.

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

• The new planetary science decadal survey recommended NASA continue its Mars Sample Return campaign and develop new missions to Uranus and Enceladus.

• NASA selected six companies for awards to demonstrate communications services for agency spacecraft.

• The Pentagon says it supports a ban announced by the White House this week on destructive direct-ascent ASAT tests.

• Two Russian cosmonauts performed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Monday to begin activation of a robotic arm.

• South Korea is boosting its space spending this year by 19% as it works to bounce back from a launch failure last year.

• One Defense Department official is impressed with how SpaceX dealt with jamming of its Starlink system in Ukraine.

• A British startup that plans to use satellites as part of a quantum encryption network may be overstating its technology.

• Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth Friday night.

• Astronomers, meanwhile, are looking to the moon as a site for research, provided there's no interference from other missions.

• The billionaire funding a series of crewed SpaceX missions says the date of the first flight could slip.

• NASA and the Space Force are cooperating on near-Earth object (NEO) data.

• Astranis sees an opportunity to break into the defense market as the military considers diversifying its communications architecture.

• Kepler Communications has successfully tested inter-satellite links for its planned Aether data-relay constellation.

• U.S. Space Command says space domain awareness is its No. 1 need.

• ESA said Wednesday it was further cutting links with Russia by ending cooperation on a series of lunar missions.

• A top U.S. intelligence official says the government is not restricting the ability of commercial satellite imagery providers to share their data publicly.

• The Space Force is planning a test of refueling satellites in orbit.

• Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks says the Pentagon has to find ways to work better with startups.

• A new White House strategy seeks to bolster the nascent in-space servicing and manufacturing field.

• The governor of Texas says he will work to ensure SpaceX can perform Starship orbital launches from Boca Chica.

Space VC Open Office Hours

Since all of our space industry conferences are now on hold, Michael Mealling, one of our General Partners, is holding weekly open office hours on Zoom and Clubhouse in order to stay connected with everyone. The Zoom meeting opens every Tuesday from 11:00 am until 12:00 pm EDT and then from 12:00 pm until 2:00 pm on Clubhouse. Feel free to bring your lunch! Here are the Zoom meeting details:

Meeting link: https://zoom.us/j/549472247

Topic: Space VC Office Hours
Time: Every Tuesday from 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Eastern

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/549472247
Meeting ID: 549 472 247

The name of the Clubhouse room is “Space VC Open Office Hours” and is part of the “Small Steps & Giant Leaps” club.

Starbridge Weekly Update for the week ending 3/8/2021

Starship launch fever followed the Monday morning SPAC fever with SN10’s spectacular launch and landing that appeared to be successful at first but a persistent fire at the base resulted in an explosion about 14 minutes after landing. But in true SpaceX fashion, SN11 rolled out of the highbay this morning to start its rollout to the pad. Some of SN10’s landing legs appeared to fail to lock into position which led to the significant lean after touchdown. In subsequent reviews the vehicle also appeared to land a bit more energetically than intended, resulting in a noticeable ‘bounce’ on touchdown. 

In SPAC news, Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya sold the rest of his personal shares in Virgin Galactic for $213 million. That, added to his previous sales of shares, brings his net to $313 million. He still owns a large number of shares through Social Capital Hedosophia. Chamath, through his firm Hedosophia, was the driving force behind the Virgin Galactic’s SPAC. 

In the “we aren’t sure if these are related” department, former Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides is stepping down from his role as Chief Space Officer to pursue opportunities in public service. Whitesides voluntarily moved from CEO to the role of Chief Space Officer back in July when Virgin Galactic hired Michael Colglazier, a former Disney exec, into the CEO role. We wish George well in his new endeavor. 

The other big news last week was a surprise across the board increase in pricing for space station services by NASA. The new pricing is meant to capture all costs associated with providing any service by NASA for purely commercial use of the ISS. According to clarifications from NASA this does not apply to commercial companies involved with NASA on research, which is what both Lynk and Axiom fall under. This appears to be related to Congress’ unwillingness to fully fund the LEO commercialization budget and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s objections to any real or perceived subsidies for commercial use of ISS. 

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

• That Crew Dragon mission remains on schedule for launch next month, but a Boeing CST-100 Starliner test flight is facing more delays. 

• The National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) is looking for ways to provide faster and better products and services. 

• A Japanese billionaire is relaunching plans to fly people around the moon on SpaceX's Starship. 

• SpaceX is reportedly interested in incorporating the Texas site where Starship is being built and tested as a town. 

• An Australian company is developing "quantum sensors" for space applications. 

• A change in NASA pricing policy has sharply increased the costs for commercial users of the station.

• The Pentagon's Space Development Agency (SDA) will solicit proposals later this year for up to 150 satellites to be launched in late 2024. 

• The longtime CEO of Virgin Galactic, who moved to a new position at the company past year, is stepping down.

• The chairman of Virgin Galactic has sold his personal stake in the company. 

• A South Korean manufacturer that does business with American space companies is expanding its presence in the United States.

2020 Year In Review And A Look Forward

With all the news and challenges of the past year, I wanted to first take some time to review the most important events within the space industry of 2020, dig into them a bit in terms of what they mean going forward, and highlight some events and trends we see happening in 2021 and beyond.

US Return to Human Spaceflight

Out of everything that happened in the space industry last year, from our perspective, the United States returning to human spaceflight May 2020 was by far the most significant event of the year due to the follow-on effects it will have across both NASA missions and commercial space activities going forward.  It also has a psychological component in expanding the perception of what is now possible in the very near future in space-related activities and is one of the factors behind the increase in investor interest in space that we’ve seen accelerating in the past year.

For those who don’t recall, NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken flew to the International Space station on a test flight of SpaceX’s ‘Crew’ Dragon capsule out of Kennedy Space Center, Florida on May 30th 2020. This launch marked the first time since the cancellation of the Space Shuttle program over a decade ago that NASA astronauts launched from US soil and was followed by another successful crewed launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 on November 15, 2020. 

This was also the first commercially crewed spacecraft where NASA was simply the first of many customers and the launch of humans to space became a business, not just a one-off mission. This is a pretty important distinction from Starbridge's perspective, and we see it enabling many other activities that are in the pipeline from a host of other companies and organizations. If you watched the Superbowl ad for Inspiration4, you saw one of the first examples of this.

Axiom Space Contract Win

Another example we were very pleased to see last year came from Axiom Space, which is a Starbridge Fund I portfolio company.  Axiom kicked off 2020 with a big contract announcement back in January valued at over $100 million that makes them the exclusive provider for the expansion of the International Space Station (ISS).

This will involve Axiom’s building and launch of several new state-of-the-art workspace/habitation modules that will be flying up on existing launch providers to attach to the ISS in a series of stages over the next few years (video here).  The plan being, upon retirement of the ISS sometime in between 2028-2030 timeframe, these newer Axiom modules will detach and form their own fully functional space station. 

Or, to put it another way, the first fully functional COMMERCIAL space station.  This will be an ideal place to conduct complex research and manufacturing activities that will greatly benefit or require having a human to manage it. 

Axiom has also announced several very attractive revenue generating collaborations for astronaut training services, and near-term research and manufacturing projects on the existing ISS.  They’ll also be managing several civilian astronaut missions to the ISS, including a high profile mission with actor Tom Cruise that is scheduled to launch next year. Check out this video by Scott Manley for a deeper dive into what this contract win means to Axiom and the future of space.

Starbridge has been invested in Axiom since their Seed round and we’ve been able to bring in a number of co-investors along the way, including their recently closed $130M Series B.  See our more detailed updates on Axiom and others, along with new Starbridge portfolio companies such as Carbice, Xplore, and Orbital Sidekick in the Portfolio discussion section below. 

Made In Space Acquired

Speaking of in-space research and manufacturing, another Starbridge Fund I portfolio company, Made In Space, was acquired by private equity firm AE Industrial Partners and their subsidiary Redwire in April 2020.  This happened three to five years ahead of schedule (from our perspective), but it proved to be a precursor to the growing number and pace of acquisitions in the space sector.  Other exits in 2020 include: Aerojet Rocketdyne acquired by Lockheed Martin, Blue Canyon acquired by Raytheon, and Nanoracks acquired by our friends at Voyager Holdings.  In total, there were 24 M&A events in the space sector in 2020.

Big Tech Steps Up

We also saw some big players enter or expand their presence on the stage in 2020. Amazon announced a dedicated unit called ‘Aerospace and Satellite Solutions’ that will expand on their efforts with the Amazon Web Services and Project Kuiper satellite constellation they have planned.  Microsoft also announced their own cloud-based satellite data services platform, which has partnered with Starbridge portfolio company Kubos to expand their service offerings.

Constellations

In the same vein of communications and data services, in November 2020 customers began connecting to SpaceX’s ‘Starlink’ internet broadband satellite network.  This is significant for the space industry due to the ever growing number of satellites  in LEO. In perspective, there were about 2,000 active satellites in space from ALL sources only about two years ago. Starlink has already surpassed 1,000 satellites in orbit with dozens more launched almost every month; current plans are to add a minimum 11,000 more satellites over the next 3-4 years.  

This is not without controversy however, and Amazon, in particular, is pushing back on SpaceX’s FCC licenses claiming that SpaceX is taking up too much ‘real estate’ in LEO leading to communications spectrum allocation challenges to competitors.  LEO-based satellite internet broadband is likely a $30 billion a year business opportunity; waiting to be realized though, so it’s something we will be monitoring closely.

The Moon

Going a bit further out in space, NASA awarded multiple contracts to companies last year to prepare for crew and cargo missions to the Moon with actual missions starting within the next year and ramping up from there.  The largest is the contract for human-capable landers which requires not just landing, but being able to return to Lunar orbit and rendezvous with the Lunar Gateway. The companies that responded are Dynetics, SpaceX, and a team led by Blue Origin. Down select to two providers is expected in March 2021.

NASA also selected several smaller landers for reconnaissance missions to scout for water, landing sites, and explore lava tubes. These were all awarded as commercial contracts under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Awardees include Masten Space Systems, Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines, and Firefly.

This is of special note to my fellow General Partner, Michael Mealling, since prior to joining Starbridge he was one of the co-Founders of Masten Space Systems; which was one of these NASA contract award winners to land cargo on the Moon in the 2022 timeframe.

Starship

We also saw an amazingly fast development of SpaceX’s very large, fully reusable new rocket, Starship. We highly encourage you to view some of the test launch videos for this rocket. Starship is absolutely enormous relative to any other rocket currently out there, and combined with it’s reusability, it’s going to be another space industry game-changer, if and when it enters regular service.  Starship has an anticipated width of 30 feet, an eventual height of almost 400 feet (equivalent to about a 40 story building), and a cargo capacity of 100+ metric tons to orbit. But what really makes it interesting to us business-minded folks here at Starbridge, is in what it can do to lower the cost of launch through economies of scale like nothing we’ve seen before.  This leads us to a whole new calculation on what is and isn’t a viable business case for anything requiring space access in the future, and what types of businesses Starbridge should be investing in now.

Covid-19 Impacts

The effects of Covid-19 on the space industry in 2020 were perhaps more muted than what we saw in other sectors of the global economy.  Because much of this sector is of strategic national importance and satellites play a vital role in modern society functioning, we saw a lot of current activities proceed almost unhindered.  There was admittedly an adjustment period in the 2nd quarter of 2020 as everyone moved to Zoom meetings and a lot less face-to-face interaction.  This did impact the pace of deal-making around mid-year, but by the 4th quarter, most companies had adjusted to these newfound challenges leading to a flurry of year-end activity that has carried over into 2021.  This isn’t to say that there were no casualties in the space industry in 2020, but outside of very early stage and underfinanced companies, or grossly over indebted companies, a majority of businesses in the space sector seem to have weathered Covid-19 remarkably well.  Part of this is certainly due to the long-cycle nature of contracts in the space sector itself which allows well-managed companies to skim over many short-term economic impacts.  There were also some ‘new’ elements that came into play last year that both directly and indirectly benefited the space industry as a result of Covid-19 ‘responses’ acting as a strong tail-wind. 

Governments worldwide pumped an enormous amount of financial liquidity into the economic system in 2020 through both fiscal and monetary policy, and we expect to see the effects of this become even more evident in 2021, and even much of 2022 as well. 

Public Investor Demand

One of these effects has been a rapid increase in investment valuations across most asset classes from stocks and bonds to even real estate and cryptocurrencies.  But the high-tech innovation and new growth narratives coming out of the commercial space industry seems to have caught a lot of new investor interest.  As one of the pure play space industry companies with a publicly traded stock, Virgin Galactic (ticker: SPCE), has illustrated this new investor demand for anything space related.

Virgin Galactic’s stock price has also benefited significantly from the announcement in January 2021 of a proposed Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) from the ARK Invest team led by Cathie Wood, which already has highly successful ETF’s covering most of today’s hottest tech companies and growth trends including Tesla. 

SPAC SPAC SPAC

When Virgin Galactic went public through a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) agreement in 2019, it was somewhat unusual for a rising tech company to take that path rather than a traditional IPO route.  Since then, however, the number of companies going public through SPAC deals has exploded; there were over 200 market wide in 2020 alone.  Within the space sector alone, we’ve seen SPAC deals in the works for Momentus ($3.5B), AST & Science ($3.5B), Astra ($5B), and BlackSky ($2B), with dozens more in the works.  Nearly every company we talk to (including our own portfolio companies) has been approached by SPAC sponsors and/or is seriously talking with investment bankers to analyze if this is an appropriate option for their company. 

This alone is an enormous sea change in the space industry, which has been notoriously slow to find quick exit opportunities for early investors.  The space industry seems to have undergone a 180 degree turn where companies are now scheduled to go public at an astonishing rate. If this current investment environment holds course for at least another 12 months, we are likely to see ARK Invest’s new space ETF filled with 15-20 newly public space companies; several of which Starbridge is likely to have been an early investor in. 

This will certainly drive more investors to take a deeper look at these companies earlier in their business life cycle to get ahead of the large valuation increases now associated with these SPAC deals. But that’s where it gets tricky.  The earlier you invest in a company, the more savvy you need to be about the actual company, its technologies, and its actual market prospects.  This is where we expect Starbridge investors will continue to have a leg up on others looking to deploy capital into the space sector given our existing early-stage focus and experience.  

Already, we’re seeing what we would describe as a huge disconnect between hype and reality for several space companies being rushed through the SPAC process.  As long as supply is limited and investor demand is high, these companies will likely trade up and short-term investors will get rewarded.  But as the supply of space-related companies being publicly traded inevitably grows, we suspect the markets will become increasingly discerning and start to better differentiate the true growth companies with good tech and fundamentals from those with only a good marketing story.  

Starbridge views the new SPAC phenomena largely as a positive for the commercial space industry.  This new exit strategy has accelerated the natural trajectory we expected for exits in the space industry by the 2023/2024 timeframe. Frontloading this with more capital sooner will certainly accelerate business plans and the pace of returns for companies and investors in the near future.  The ‘lack of exits’ argument we had heard for many years has quickly been retired.  

As always though, we’re looking for companies that have a solid business path with or without this new variable of financial engineering.  In other words, if this new influx of capital into a company will aid in speeding up what was already a solid team with a solid go-to-market strategy and revenue picture, then everyone wins.  If, however, the new cash influx is more of a hail-mary play to rescue a company with high competitive pressures, no revenue, and a lot of high technical hurdles remaining…well, that’s not going to be a good place for any investor to be once valuations become more rational again (jump on a call with us if you want our specific opinions on which-is-which!)

Other Notable Events Over the Past Year and Onward Into 2021

• 3 major Mars missions launched separately by the U.S., China, and United Arab Emirates, with all three successfully reaching Mars in February of 2021.

• The restructuring and continuation of the OneWeb satellite constellation as the era of mega-constellations continues to unfold.

• 2nd U.S. crewed mission in Nov, 2020 on a Dragon capsule; with 4 astronauts this time instead of the initial two launched in May.

• Continuation of big financing raises for small launch providers like Relativity Space and Firefly

• Chinese lunar sample return mission highlights the growing Chinese technical proficiency in space

• SpaceX Starship development continues at a record-setting pace

• Virgin Galactic is set to fly its first suborbital paying customers in early 2021

• Challenges are mounting for NASA’s SLS rocket both technically and politically

• Virgin Orbit successfully began air-launch operations.

• FCC auction of satellite C-Band spectrum raises $81B, with more to go.

• NASA is back in the nuclear rocket engine business for deep space missions

• NASA in new partnership with Japan for lunar Gateway project

• China’s primary space contractor is planning at least 40 launches this year

• India’s space agency is stepping up commercial efforts with more than two dozen Indian companies

• U.S. Space Force has a new space enterprise initiative (NSTXL)

• SpaceX’s Starlink constellation deployed their first set of satellites with laser inter-satellite communications links.

• SpaceX purchased two large oil rigs with the intention of converting them to offshore launch/landing platforms.

• The U.S. Office for Science and Technology Policy was elevated to a Presidential Cabinet-level position, to be led by Maria Zuber, an MIT Vice President and accomplished planetary scientist.

• Google shuttered its Loon project due to what we suspect were a combination of cost reductions and technical issues specific to the approach they had taken.

• Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine joins private equity firm Acorn Growth.

• James Webb Space Telescope to launch in late 2021 (hopefully).

• ULA’s Vulcan rocket first flight in 2021, carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander (maybe).

• China to launch their new space station’s core module in 1H 2021.

• A new space-related fund is coming to Wall Street.

• The large number of satellites on SpaceX’s rideshare launch posed a challenge for space traffic management.

• SpaceX wants to get into the natural gas business. 

• Boeing says it has completed a requalification of the software on its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle

Starbridge Industry Outreach and Support

One of the side effects of the pandemic is an increasing willingness of everyone to engage via various video and audio services such as Zoom. In order to remain connected with the industry and help introduce new companies and investors to it, Michael Mealling began a weekly Zoom meeting called SpaceVC Open Office Hours. Scheduled every Tuesday from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM EST, the meeting has regular attendees from around the world where we discuss sector developments, finance, and even hear company pitches.

Recently a new social media application called ClubHouse has enabled an even wider audience. The SpaceVC Open Office Hours Room regularly has hundreds of listeners and dozens of attendees asking questions. If you wish to attend either event simply follow @mmealling on Twitter for scheduling updates (and have an iPhone, ClubHouse is not currently available on Android). 

The Starbridge team also participated in numerous industry events such as: the SpaceCom Entrepreneurs Summit (four Starbridge team members were judges); AFWERX “Engage Space” investor panels; NASA and OSTP Venture Capital Studies; Astor Perkins’ “All Things Space and Survival” conference; Satellite 2020 Venture Capital panel and Space Entrepreneurs Pitch Competition; mentored for Techstars Space and Allied Space cohorts; European Space Agency Investor Forum, Harvard Business School’s Venture Capital & Private Equity (VCPE) Conference 2021; etc. 

In addition to all of the events above, Starbridge also published a paper recently on Market Readiness Levels (MRL). Meant to complement NASA’s Technology Readiness Levels, an MRL is a metric for determining where a company’s product development process is at and whether the process is learning from the customer what the actual problem is to be solved. 

Concluding Thoughts

While 2020 was challenging in many different ways, it also proved to be something of a springboard for the space industry, both in new technologies and in investor capital being deployed. It saw the return of human spaceflight in the U.S., and the full embrace of the SPAC phenomenon as a viable option for many commercial space companies to accelerate both business plans and value creation for early investors like us.

Starbridge has and will likely continue to benefit from these trends in 2021 as our investment thesis is particularly competent at identifying companies that are fundamentally better positioned to create real customer value early on, are already revenue-generating, and are far closer to profitability than the early-stage norm.  

This is a truly exciting time to be involved in the commercial space sector as the ‘foundational’ companies that will lead the industry over the next few decades or more are currently rising out of stealthy private market obscurity and into full public attention. As the levels of technical innovation coming out of the space industry become more evident, there will be deeper integration and interchange between it and all other sectors of the global economy. That really is the sweet spot for investing in the space sector right now - to get ahead of the broader realization of this reality. 

Thanks to everyone reading this who has already decided to take this investing journey with us!  We’ve already racked up some very nice performance numbers for our Fund I investors, with Fund II now launched and open to new investors.  We expect to have a lot more good news to share with you this year, so we hope this letter finds you all healthy and productive in 2021! 

Sincerely,
Steven Jorgenson 
Founder and General Partner
Starbridge Venture Capital

Starbridge Weekly Update for the week ending 3/1/2021

Monday morning brought a fresh new round of SPAC press releases. The first was RocketLab at a $4.1B valuation raising $470M in permanent capital. That was quickly followed by Spire at a $1.6B valuation raising $475M in permanent capital. Both companies are fairly mature and have proven revenue and customer pipelines. The Starbridge team expected the quality of space industry SPACs to improve as companies who were far more stable and mature could push back on initial offer terms. Earlier SPAC announcements seem to have been first simply because the companies were not in a strong position to negotiate and needed the capital.

Both RocketLab and Relativity also unveiled plans for going upmarket (very predictable in both cases) by building much larger launch vehicles. RocketLab’s new Neutron vehicle will be able to carry 8 tons to LEO while Relativity’s Terran R will loft 22 (!) tons. 

Redwire continued its acquisition plan by adding Deployable Space Systems. Redwire’s parent company, A&E Industrial Partners, built Redwire to design, build, and deploy complex space systems primarily for Government and Defense customers but will service commercial customers as they appear. 

In an attempt to demonstrate the capability of refueling in orbit, OrbitFab and Benchmark are designing compatible systems with the intent of flying a demonstration mission. Benchmark plans on selling the combined capability to smallsat customers. In related news, Lockheed Martin is upgrading future GPS satellites with satellite servicing interfaces which suggests that not only does Lockheed see the benefit, but its Government customer also sees the need for sustainable GPS satellite resilience. 

The Inspiration-4 mission announced one of its passengers last week. Hayley Arceneaux, 29, a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and a survivor of bone cancer, will occupy the seat reserved for a front-line healthcare worker at St. Jude who symbolizes hope. 

The industry news onslaught is keeping everyone on their toes. See below for the rest of last week’s space sector news. 

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

• Spire Global, Inc., a Leading Global Provider of Space-Based Data and Analytics, to Go Public Through a Merger with NavSight Holdings, Inc.

• Redwire is acquiring space structures company Deployable Space Systems (DSS)

• Elon Musk says that SpaceX is planning to double speeds on its Starlink broadband internet service this year.

• Two startups are partnering to demonstrate in-space satellite refueling.

• A childhood cancer survivor will join the crew of a commercial Crew Dragon mission later this year. 

• An Antares launch over the weekend deployed 30 "ThinSat" education satellites. T

• L3Harris has won a contract to provide Lockheed Martin with four GPS payloads. 

• NASA showed off a stunning video Monday of the Perseverance rover's landing on Mars. 

• NASA wants to maintain competition in lunar lander development as it nears a decision on what companies will proceed in that program.

• The United States and allies are working on a proposal for rules of behavior in space. 

• DARPA ordered six more satellites from Blue Canyon Technologies. 

• The White House said Tuesday it has no schedule for nominating a NASA administrator. 

• Members of Congress want the Pentagon to talk more openly about threats to space systems posed by China and Russia. 

• SpaceX confirmed its latest funding round Tuesday.

• A weather data company announced plans Wednesday for a constellation of satellites equipped with radars. 

• A new poll finds the public is more interested in Earth science and planetary defense than sending humans to the moon or Mars. 

•  Virgin Galactic won't start regularly flying space tourists until early next year because of delays in its test program.

• Blue Origin announced Thursday it is delaying the first launch of its New Glenn rocket to late 2022. 

• Maxar says it's at only the beginning of a "multi-year" diversification strategy that calls for more national security work. 

• The South Korean government will spend more than half a billion dollars on space projects this year. 

• Relativity Space is planning to develop a larger launch vehicle. 

• Rocket Lab announced Monday it is merging with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and developing a larger vehicle. 

• Iceye has released the first images from its latest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. 

• Lockheed Martin is planning upgrades to GPS satellites to support in-space servicing. 

• A longtime satellite communications industry executive is the new president of geospatial analytics firm Ursa Space Systems. 

Starbridge Weekly Update for the week ending 2/22/2021

NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars Thursday. The mission will attempt to identify past environments capable of supporting microbial life, seek signs of past microbial life in those environments, collect and store rock and soil samples for transport back to Earth on a future mission, and test oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere. Starbridge would like to congratulate one of our LPs who has a mission onboard Perseverance. 

As announced last week, Axiom Space announced their $130M raise. CEO Michael Suffredini said in an interview with CNBC:

Axiom did discuss going public, Suffredini said, especially because special purpose acquisition companies have become an option for space companies looking to raise money. Suffredini expects the company will again assess the “public-versus-private” conversation the next time it seeks capital. He added that Axiom has “two-to-three acquisitions we’ll look at over the next year” as it examines ways to add complementary capabilities while the company grows.

Starbridge has been investigating ways to help our investors access SpaceX stock without paying the onerous fees being charged elsewhere. It is becoming more and more difficult for investors to gain new exposure to shares as evidenced by the SpaceX $850M raise last week. What was originally a regularly scheduled, purely secondary sale of employee stock, morphed into a full company raise that opened and closed within 36 hours. This was due to excessive institutional demand led by mega-fund Sequoia Capital.

Last week Starbridge also released a tool to help startups and other investors to evaluate the process of developing a new product. Based significantly on the Lean Startup Methodology and intended to be a companion to NASA’s Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), Starbridge’s Market Readiness Levels outline ten stages of product development and the criteria required to advance to higher levels. Unlike NASA’s TRL, though, the intent is that a development process will iterate across levels as it refines its understanding of its value proposition and the customer’s needs. 

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

• Private space station developer Axiom Space announced Tuesday it raised $130 million. 

• SpaceX has reportedly raised a new round of $850 million, valuing the company at $74 billion. 

• NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars Thursday.

• Sequoia Capital reportedly led the new $850 million funding round in SpaceX. 

• A contest this month to raffle off a seat on a Crew Dragon flight has raised only a small fraction of its goal. 

• Geospatial intelligence company BlackSky announced Thursday it will go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

• Frontier Aerospace has won contracts to provide propulsion systems for Astrobotic's lunar landers. 

• ABL Space Systems has a customer for its first launch. 

• Raytheon says it will challenge Lockheed Martin's acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne. 

• German propulsion startup Morpheus Space has opened a U.S. office in Los Angeles. 

• Russia is preparing to sign a memorandum of understanding with China to cooperate on a concept for an international lunar research station. 

• Two Falcon Heavy launches of military payloads are scheduled for this year. 

• NOAA plans to increase the amount of satellite radio occultation data it acquires from GeoOptics.

• The Pentagon's inspector general will investigate the decision to relocate U.S. Space Command headquarters to Alabama. 

Axiom Space Raises $130M Series B

Axiom Station - Courtesy Axiom Space

Axiom Space announced the close of their $130M Series B round this morning on CNBC. Starbridge, which has been an early investor in Axiom since their first outside round, participated through our SPV.

At Starbridge, we look for companies, such as Axiom, that are key to enabling the economic expansion of space. Axiom’s planned commercial extension of the US segment of the International Space Station (ISS) is a key piece of infrastructure that enables destinations for human spaceflight, research, manufacturing, satellite servicing, cloud computing, and cybersecurity markets.

The company's recently announced private mission to the ISS — a historic first — is another example of how entities that aren’t members of the ISS consortium are leveraging Axiom for their national space programs. Starbridge expects Axiom’s commercial crew missions to grow quickly over the next few years.

One of our core hypotheses for the commercial space industry is that in-space manufacturing is becoming a significant new market. The primary reason that it has not happened yet is the lack of commercially focused in-space manufacturing facilities. While the ISS is a phenomenal research platform, the industry needs dedicated development and manufacturing platforms to enable advances in pharmaceuticals, life sciences, additive manufacturing, and advanced ceramics and alloys. This is the next market Axiom will enable.

We are eagerly looking forward to the next few years with our friends at Axiom as we together help create our future in space!

Starbridge Weekly Update for the week ending 2/15/2021

This week in commercial space saw steady progress across the board. The news this week came more from the political world and national space programs. Both the United Arab Emirates’ Misabar Al Amal (Hope) orbiter and China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter/lander/rover successfully entered Mars orbit with NASA’s Perseverance rover landing this Thursday, February 18th. 

The UAE’s launch is especially interesting since it is the first non-major power to send a mission to Mars. Recent statements by Saudi Arabia suggest UAE’s mission may have created a pan-Arab space race.  

In domestic news, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, current Vice-Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and long-running Chairman, has announced that he will not be running for re-election in 2022. Shelby has a long history of supporting large NASA programs that favor Marshall Space Flight Center and its supplier companies. His support for the Space Launch System and its predecessor, the Constellation program, have long distorted NASA’s budgets and the industry in general. While the announcement occurred this week, it has been common knowledge in Washington, DC since early 2020. Recent decisions such as not flying Europa Clipper on SLS and some recent rumored program reviews within NASA suggest agencies are feeling freer to navigate around SLS. 

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

• Telesat has selected Thales Alenia Space to build its low Earth orbit constellation. 

• Richard Shelby, a senator who has had a major influence on NASA programs, announced Monday he will not run for reelection next year.

• Predictions of an investment apocalypse for the space industry in 2020 failed to come true. 

• Views of an "overheated" launch market depend on what part of the industry you're looking at.

• The supply of commercial satellite imagery is growing, but pricing and other issues remain hurdles to greater adoption.

• New cloud computing services could help space companies better turn that data into customer revenue.

• Elon Musk said he would be willing to take SpaceX's Starlink broadband service public once it has more a predictable business.

• China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft went into orbit around Mars early Wednesday. 

• The UAE's Hope spacecraft entered orbit around Mars Tuesday. 

• A Falcon Heavy will launch the first modules of the lunar Gateway.

• SpaceX is finding strong interest in its smallsat rideshare services.

• Eutelsat won a contract to provide a navigation overlay service. 

• Blue Origin has built a test version of the lower stage of its lunar lander.

• NASA confirmed that it no longer plans to launch its Europa Clipper mission on the Space Launch System.

• Analytical Space Inc. won a $26.4 million contract to begin developing an optical communications network.

• A startup is acquiring assets from remote sensing company Urthecast to establish a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite system.

• The government of Saudi Arabia is considering proposals for missions to the moon and Mars. 

• Companies in the commercial remote sensing industry want the U.S. government to make greater use of their services.

• Axiom Space may help NASA secure a seat on April's Soyuz mission.

Starbridge Weekly Update for the week ending 2/8/2021

In Starbridge news, Fund II has made an investment in Orbital Sidekick (OSK), a hyperspectral earth observation company. Hyperspectral imaging is a special class of spectrographic imaging where sensors collect a set of 'images' where each image represents a narrow wavelength range of the electromagnetic spectrum, also known as a spectral band. The entire set of images is called a ‘data cube’.

Certain objects leave unique 'fingerprints' in the electromagnetic spectrum known as spectral signatures. Analysis of these spectral signatures against known samples allows the identification of the materials that make up a scanned object. For example, a spectral signature for oil helps geologists find new oil fields while a signature of a diseased plant can help farmers diagnose crop diseases. 

OSK deployed its first sensor attached to the International Space Station in 2018 and used that time to enhance the final designs of the sensor as well as their proprietary analytics platform. OSK recently finalized its plan to deploy its Global Hyperspectral Observation Satellite constellation (GHOSt).  GHOSt will capture more than 400 spectral bands in the visible to a shortwave infrared range of 400 - 2500 nm to feed OSK's Spectral Intelligence Global Monitoring Application (SIGMA™) platform.

In news from around the industry, another set of private astronauts is set to fly later this year on a SpaceX Crew Dragon. Jared Isaacman, the 37-year-old founder and chief executive officer of Shift4 Payments (NYSE:FOUR) and an accomplished pilot, will be the commander of the mission. The mission is “to inspire support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® and send a humanitarian message of possibility, the journey represents a new era for human spaceflight and exploration”. Isaacman is donating two seats to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, one of which will be given away in a raffle. The fourth seat will go to a deserving entrepreneur who uses Shift4Shop eCommerce platform. 

In other SpaceX news, the Starship SN9 test flight earlier this week demonstrated again that the bulk of the ship’s systems work as designed except for the reliable restart of its Raptor engines. The test appeared to be nearly identical to the SN8 flight but the root cause of the failure of one of the Raptors to re-light on landing has not been determined. 

The White House made some recent announcements that suggest the National Space Council will be mothballed in favor of a return to the Obama Administration system of a split between the National Security Council (NSC) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). OSTP has been recently elevated to a Cabinet level position. Industry experts worry that this will return space policy to a period where civilian and national security space were stove-piped into competing regulatory, policy, and budgetary silos. The White House did recently confirm its support for both the Artemis Program and Space Force but little else is known, especially when it comes to budget priorities. 

In “everyone gets a SPAC” news, small launch company Astra said it will merge with Holicity, allowing it to go public on the Nasdaq exchange. The deal would provide up to $500 million in cash for Astra and value the company at $2.1 billion.

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

• A billionaire entrepreneur has purchased a Crew Dragon flight from SpaceX, and will use contests to fill some of its seats. 

• Small launch vehicle company Astra announced Tuesday it will go public by merging with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). 

• NASA has informed the companies in its Human Landing System program that it will need more time to decide which companies will proceed with lander development.

• NASA announced Monday several appointees to leadership positions. 

• For the second time in less than two months Tuesday, SpaceX launched a prototype of its Starship vehicle on a suborbital test flight, only to have the vehicle crash and explode.

• The SN9 flight took place hours after the FAA revealed that the previous Starship prototype launched in December in violation of its license. 

• The Biden administration's nominee for deputy secretary of defense says she will scrutinize space acquisitions. 

• Astra plans to use the proceeds of a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to ramp up launch vehicle production and expand into satellites.

• Jeff Bezos will soon have more time to devote to Blue Origin. 

• The White House affirmed its support for the U.S. Space Force Thursday.

• A group of Democratic senators has asked the White House to preserve funding for NASA's Human Landing System (HLS) program.

• NASA has created a new position of senior climate adviser to oversee agency activities related to climate change. 

• The White House said Thursday it endorsed NASA's Artemis lunar exploration program, but offered no details on budgets or schedules. 

• The head of United Launch Alliance is worried the launch market is becoming "overheated" with too many entrants.

• A Biden administration national security space policy will likely be similar to that of the previous administration. 

• A White House memo suggests the Biden administration will not continue the National Space Council. 

• DARPA wants to hear from the space industry about their capabilities to manufacture large structures on the moon. 

• The United Arab Emirates' first Mars mission is about to enter orbit. 

• China has released the first images of Mars taken by its inbound spacecraft. 

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.