Brian Binnie, pictured here standing on Space Ship One after winning the XPrize, passed away this week. Binnie's 24-minute flight reached a peak altitude of 69.6 miles (112 km), qualifying Scaled Composites to win the Ansari XPRIZE, which offered $10 million to the first privately-built spacecraft to fly twice into space within a two-week period. This specific moment is considered by many to be the beginning of the commercial space race.
Portfolio Company News
Avealto Launches $20M Series A
Avealto announced their $20M Series A raise last week. Proceeds will be used to establish manufacturing operations and production of full-sized commercial Wireless Infrastructure Platform (“WIP”) vehicles. While the initial focus is on high throughput, low latency communications in disconnected areas, Avealto’s airships can also provide high-resolution earth imagery and security services.
Axiom
Axiom Space announced three new agreements with countries to fly their astronauts to the International Space Station. Saudi Arabia plans on flying two astronauts to the ISS, one of which will be a woman. On Sept. 19, Axiom announced an agreement with the Turkish Space Agency to fly a Turkish astronaut on a future Axiom mission. The third was an MOU with the Canadian Space Agency that could include flying Canadian astronauts to the ISS. Canada is a junior partner in the ISS partnership so its astronauts rarely get ISS slots. Axiom has also signed similar agreements with Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, and the UAE.
Voyager
Voyager Space announced that it is working with hotel chain Hilton to help design its commercial space station. “For decades, discoveries in space have been positively impacting life on Earth, and now Hilton will have an opportunity to use this unique environment to improve the guest experience wherever people travel,” Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta said in a statement. Voyager and its operating company Nanoracks are developing the free-flying Starlab space station in partnership with Lockheed Martin. The companies aim to have the first Starlab operational in low Earth orbit as early as 2027.
General Space News
Signatories to the US-led Artemis Accords met for the first time this week at the International Astronautical Congress in Paris. While the meeting was intended to focus on organizational issues, it was clear the member nations were interested in tackling concrete problems quickly. A few members were even eager to move toward more formal multilateral agreements but all agreed that would still take time.
While DoD still uses geostationary orbits, even it has to concede that lower orbits have significant advantages. One major reason is that GEO satellites, due to their cost, are generally large and very capable systems which makes them high-value targets in any conflict. Businesses that depend on GEO markets growing continue to face challenges like this.
Other Space News
The head of Roscosmos said Russia "most likely" will remain on the ISS to 2028.
NASA issued a request for proposals Friday for a second Artemis crewed lunar lander.
The French government intends to increase spending on space by 25% over the next three years.
Two Chinese astronauts performed a spacewalk outside the Chinese space station Sunday.
Planet will develop a series of hyperspectral imaging satellites.
SpinLaunch raised $71 million to continue the development of its alternative launch system.
The new Space Force procurement chief is taking aim at the old way of doing business.