Good morning. The Payload team usually works remotely from all corners of the US (or wherever the current space conference is happening), but this week, we’re all together in DC. Reply to this email with your spiciest space industry take—the editorial team is trying to start a fight. Today's newsletter:
🚂 All aboard the Moon train
👀 The future of GEO
💸 The term sheet |
|
|
DARPA Funds Pie-In-the-Sky Moon Train Study |
|
| Out: the train to space. In: the inter-Moon-base express. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) tapped Northrop Grumman ($NOC) to develop a concept for a lunar railroad, the defense prime announced yesterday. The contract was awarded under the LunA-10 initiative, which is exploring all sorts of out-there concepts to encourage the growth of a sustainable lunar economy in the next decade. The company will continue advancing the railroad concept it’s been working on in secret since securing the preliminary contract in December. That theoretical railroad would transport people and cargo across the Moon’s surface.
All aboard: It’s going to take a village to build a lunar…uh…village. That’s the reasoning behind DARPA’s 10-Year Lunar Architecture program, which is intended to de-risk the technologies that could expand the US’ capabilities in space and support the growth of a commercial opportunity on the Moon. |
-
Other projects selected for the exploratory program include GITAI’s inchworm robots, Sierra Space’s oxygen-extraction tech, and ICON’s 3D printing using lunar regolith.
- 14 companies are participating in the consortium.
|
Don’t get it twisted—these projects are by and large in super early stages, and there’s no guaranteed path to deployment. Instead, DARPA and the LunA-10 companies are spending their time dreaming big and considering how each contribution would complement the others.
Full steam ahead: Now that Northrop has secured a follow-on contract for its train concept, the development continues. The company will continue working with the larger group to think through the railroad’s place in the mix of technologies vying for the place in a commercial lunar landscape.
Planes, trains, and automobiles: It’ll take multiple modes of transportation to cover ground on the Moon. On April 3, NASA will announce the company or companies selected to build the Lunar Terrain Vehicle that will chauffeur astronauts across the lunar surface. |
|
|
Meet Epsilon3 at the 2024 Space Symposium |
Attending the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs? SUBMIT THIS FORM and we'll reach out to schedule an in-person product demonstration with our Co-Founder & CEO, Laura Crabtree.
Laura was one of the Crew Operations & Resource Engineers (CORE) who helped put the United States back in the human Space Flight business. Among the initial operations team members for SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, she was on console for the first Dragon mission, and the mission that delivered astronauts to the International Space Station in 2020!
Epsilon3 software helps teams in the aerospace industry manage complex operations like engineering, assembly, integration, testing, and mission assurance. Ready to modernize your operating system? |
|
|
The Future of GEO is Smaller…And More Precise |
With all eyes on swarming LEO constellations, you might think that satellites in GEO are falling behind, with future annual orders of the high-flying spacecraft expected to be cut in half. But the future of the industry might come in a small package—or a large one.
Micro: Makers of small satellites for GEO made up the bulk of newly announced spacecraft in 2023, with Astranis and SWISSto12 leading the pack. Astranis, which focuses on providing connectivity to regional and national partners, announced a new satellite this week, in partnership with South American ISP Orbith, which aims to boost connectivity in Argentina.
Despite suffering a malfunction attributed to a flawed solar panel on its first operational satellite, Arcturus, the company has a full manifest on each of its next two launches, expected this year and in 2025. CEO John Gedmark said the company expects to launch 20 spacecraft in the next three years.
How will it find them? ExoAnalytic Solutions, a space situational awareness provider, rolled out a new, low-cost GEO tracking product yesterday. The company, which operates a network of 400 telescopes that track objects in orbit with software initially developed for missile targeting, says it can track objects in GEO with uncertainties of less than 100 meters.
Astranis tested the service to track the deployment of its first satellite, while ViaSat is using it to track its own high-orbit spacecraft.
Is the next big thing…big? The other big hope for GEO birds is a renaissance in heavy lift, where competition between Vulcan, New Glenn, and Falcon Heavy drives down the cost of launching large spacecraft—or Starship becomes a regularly-flying commercial option. Cutting those costs could change the economics of big payloads in high orbit—something that start-ups like K2 are betting on. |
|
|
Here are the top three government opportunities for space companies, as compiled weekly by our partner TZero.
🛰️ SSC released an RFI for GEO space domain awareness spacecraft that can conduct RPO operations and host EO payloads. Responses are due April 5.
🌍 NRL has released an RFI to identify new and existing techniques to support remote sensing capabilities, including astronomy and SDA. Responses are due March 25.
📡 DARPA is seeking proposals for scalable, low swap, HF radio environment sensing and validation nodes. Abstracts should be submitted by March 22.
Additional opportunities and details can be found in the TZero Space Tracker, which is offering a free one month trial. |
-
The FAA is working with SpaceX to transition from individual launch approvals to a portfolio of launches (via Payload).
-
Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX COO, said on a Satellite panel that Starship should be ready to fly again in ~six weeks, and that the next flight will not carry Starlink sats.
-
Blue Origin will demonstrate Blue Ring space tug features on the Pentagon's DarkSky-1 mission.
- The EU reached an agreement with the US to launch four Galileo navigation birds on Falcon 9.
- Boeing has started fueling Starliner ahead of its upcoming crew flight test.
- SpaceX said it will sell its laser components to other space companies.
|
|
|
-
Alpine Space Ventures, a Munich-based space VC firm, secured a €10M ($10.9M) investment from the NATO Innovation Fund.
-
Blackwave raised $6.6M for its ready-to-ship carbon fiber satellite tank business.
- Phase Four clinched $6.25M in funding from Leonid Capital Partners.
- Orbital Arc won $120,000 for its participation in the Techstars Future Accelerator Class of 2024.
|
|
|
All eyes are on Vienna in this image released by ESA this week. |
|
|
Questions? Feedback? Let us know by replying to this email.
Care to partner? To ask about advertising, drop us a line.
Don't like space? Feel free to unsubscribe here. |
|
|
© Payload 2919 Main St
Santa Monica, CA 90405, United States of America |
|
|
|
