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.
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