Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 2/20/2023

Portfolio News

Axiom

• NASA is providing commercial space station developers with additional information about its plans for those facilities. 

SpaceX

• SpaceX President says Starlink had a 'cash flow positive quarter' & is on track to 'make money' in 2023

• SpaceX has scuttled plans to convert oil rigs into Starship launch platforms.

• Before the two Falcon 9 launches, the FAA announced its intent to fine SpaceX for not providing data ahead of a Falcon 9 launch last year.

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the government has had "conversations" with SpaceX about restrictions the company has placed on the use of Starlink by Ukraine.

Umbra

Umbra announced an agreement with Maxar for direct access to their radar imaging satellites data. Above is an example of Umbra's SAR image and Maxar's optical image of the same location. You can find a more detailed overview of Umbra in one of last week's Payload updates.

General Space News

Shares in Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ: LUNR) skyrocketed to a high of $51 a share after de-SPACing last week. The company ended the week at $40.70/share but no one is quite sure what caused the jump to happen. Via Payload: 'Intuitive Machines originally anticipated that its SPAC transaction could generate $301M. However, a recent filing with the SEC revealed that SPAC shareholders opted to redeem a whopping $279.9M (or 27.5M shares) prior to the transaction, which closed on Valentine’s Day. The high redemption rate leaves Intuitive Machines with far less cash than expected.'

Maxar Technologies (see Umbra announcement above) announced the end of its “Go-Shop” period last week. Maxar discussed acquisition proposals from 36 potentially interested third parties but did not receive any that were better than Advent’s $53/share all cash offer. 

The Space Force confirmed its plans for a "dual-lane approach" to its National Security Space Launch (NSSL) procurement program that specifically enables contracts with emerging launch companies and with vehicles that may not be able to reach all NSSL-required orbits. 

The Biden administration’s Space Force budget proposal for 2024 will likely ask for an additional $3 to $6 billion dollars over the 2023 budget which could easily be $31 to $34 billion in funding for 2024. The primary motivation seems to be due to increasing awareness of 'space' threats from both Russia and China.

There is an almost daily debate in Europe concerning how its space industries and ambitions survive in a world of Starships and Starlinks.  Whether it was the tech divide during the pandemic or now with the war in Ukraine, Technological Sovereignty is once again a hot topic in European policy circles. One result is a renewed understanding that Europe’s capital structure does not support innovation but is rather focused on wealth preservation.

There have been several announcements recently of new Europe-focused ‘venture funds’ with the latest being Germany’s new deeptech and climate fund (funded by the German government's €10bn Future Fund). The issue with many of these ‘funds’ is that they focus on sovereignty far more than they focus on innovation which equals much less profitability or return on investment. If the goal is simply to maintain parity while growth and ROI are a distant “nice to have,” then how much will Europe’s tech and space sector, specifically, be distorted?

Other Space News

• An uncrewed Soyuz spacecraft is set to launch to the International Space Station later this week after a Progress cargo spacecraft that suffered a coolant leak departed.

• National Space Council (NSpC) Users' Advisory Group (UAG); Meeting

• SatSure, a Bengaluru-based, space-focused intelligence startup, raised a INR 120 crores (~$14.5M) Series A

• Two senators have reintroduced legislation to create a Space National Guard.

• For the second time in less than two months, a Russian spacecraft docked to the International Space Station suffered a coolant leak.

• Astranis won a contract to incorporate military communications on one of its small GEO satellites. 

• Aerospace and defense contractor Boecore is acquiring Orbit Logic. 

• The European Commission will conduct a full-scale investigation of Viasat's proposed acquisition of Inmarsat, which may further delay the completion of the deal. 

• The European Parliament has approved a proposed satellite connectivity constellation.

• Boeing opened this week the production facility where it will build a new Space Launch System upper stage.

• Japanese space agency JAXA aborted first launch of the new H3 rocket Thursday night just after igniting its main engine. 

• NASA and Boeing say the first crewed flight of the company's CST-100 Starliner vehicle remains scheduled for April.

• Space Station Research Announcement for Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Open Now

• European Startups Hungry for Space Tug Market Share - Payload