Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 2/27/2023

Portfolio News

Axiom

Axiom is mentioned in CNBC's video covering NASA's next generation of spacesuits 

Lynk

CNBC reporter Michael Sheets woke up to a text message from space last week:

Via Payload:

Obligatory “everybody is doing it” paragraph: Everybody is doing it. There’s Qualcomm and Iridium, as mentioned above, as well as Apple’s Globalstar-partnered Emergency SOS on iPhone 14s. SpaceX and T-Mobile are partnered on providing direct-to-cell service that would leverage the Starlink constellation, and China’s Huawei has rolled out satellite-enabled emergency SOS. And don’t forget about Lynk Global and AST SpaceMobile. Finally, there’s enough cellular backhaul plays that we simply don’t have the space to unpack them all.

While satellite telephones have been a thing for a long time, the trick of using shifting frequencies to overcome Doppler shift to trick a cell phone into believing it is talking to a stationary tower is patented by Lynk Global. While the 50* year battle between mobile carriers and handset manufacturers has left many dead companies in its wake, it's the carriers who win since they own the ongoing customer relationships. Apple began to change that when it debuted but other handset companies have caught up and leveled the field again. The change this time around is the deployment of large constellations. How will mobile carriers respond? 

*Yes, the 50th anniversary of the mobile cell phone call is this April 3rd 

SpaceX

Umbra

Check out some of the amazing SAR images Umbra has been tweeting from their satellites

From left to right: Toyota's Tahara Plant in Aichi, Japan, Vancouver, and Washington, DC. From Todd Masters, Umbra COO:

Everything I am dropping on here is straight out of the processor without any finishing improvements on it. Strong reflectors and RFI suppression are both pretty straightforward. Over the coming weeks, we'll be incorporating both more.

 

General Space News

  • George Whitesides, former Virgin Galactic CEO and NASA Chief of Staff has announced his run for Congress. George is campaigning for the California 27th district which includes Palmdale, Lancaster, and Santa Clarita. This district is just south of the 20th District which is the home of the Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. George is running as a Democrat and the Republican incumbent is considered a weak candidate.

  • As discussed previously, while the demand for launch sites is increasing, the supply remains largely unchanged. The Spaceport Company is one example of a solution: sea-based launch pads. Since they aren’t on land they are not subject to a Part 420 license (the rocket is, though) which makes things far easier to build and deploy.

  • Terran Orbital’s announced $2.4 Billion contract with Rivada Space Networks is being scrutinized by many as not being quite what the announcement suggests since it isn’t clear if Rivada really has the capital to follow through on its plans. 

  • Vast was founded by several former SpaceX engineers and crypto entrepreneur Jed McCaleb and is focused on building a partial gravity capable space station using SpaceX Starships. The company acquired Launcher to support space station development. Launcher’s 80 employees will join Vast’s 40 in a combined company that will move into a larger facility in Long Beach, CA in a few months. Max Haot, Launcher founder and CEO, will become president of Vast.

  • The first meeting of the National Space Council’s Users Advisory Group was late last week and the topics discussed were considered incredibly underwhelming by most. The meeting ended earlier than expected to make room for a photo op with Vice President Harris. Starship was mentioned once and there was no mention of missions such as dearMoon or Polaris. 

 

Other Space News