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.