Starbridge Weekly Space Update for 4/10/2023

Portfolio News

Axiom

• Axiom Space's second private astronaut mission is scheduled for launch next month.

Lynk

• Lynk continues testing across the Solomon Islands' six major islands and  nearly 900 smaller islands across Oceania

• Listen: Lynk Global on making direct-to-device accessible to all

Outpost

• Exclusive: Outpost Wins $1.7M DOD Contract for Ferry Platform - Payload

SpaceX

• "Starship is stacked & ready to launch next week, pending regulatory approval"

• Hype grows for SpaceX’s Starship orbital flight test, but barriers remain

• NASA Reveals What Made an Entire Starlink Satellite Fleet Go Down

 Xplore

• The Seattle suburb long associated with Microsoft is embracing a new identity as a space city.

General Space News

Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this morning.

We have received a few questions about the impact of this bankruptcy and whether it is a general issue in the sector. The simple answer is no because airplane-launched systems like Virgin Orbit serve an incredibly niche market where a customer either wants to launch from a specific location or wants to launch into a specific, non-traditional inclination (angle from the equator) and in either case price is no object. This particular flight profile was originally developed to serve what the military calls 'responsive launch' where they could have airplanes on standby ready to deploy new satellites within 20 minutes of notification. The other notional market was countries who wanted their own spaceport in a location where a vertical take-off capability wasn't possible. In other words, Virgin Orbit's price was far to high and only served a very limited market. It was simply impossible for them to compete against SpaceX. 

Human Lunar Missions Overview

There are three separate Lunar flyby missions planned over the next few years. Two are privately built and crewed and one is the Artemis II mission. The dearMoon mission recently finalized its flight crew and Artemis announced its crew last week. Here is a quick breakdown of each mission's crew selection and purpose:

Artemis II

Artemis II is primarily a technical systems checkout ride. "Their trans-lunar injection burn will send the astronauts on an outbound trip of about four days, taking them around the far side of the Moon, where they will ultimately create a figure eight extending more than 230,000 miles from Earth. At their max distance, the crew will fly about 6,400 miles beyond the Moon. During the approximate four-day return trip, the astronauts will continue to evaluate the spacecraft's systems.

Instead of requiring propulsion on the return, this fuel-efficient trajectory harnesses the Earth-Moon gravity field, ensuring that—after its trip around the far side of the Moon—Orion will be pulled back naturally by Earth’s gravity for the free return portion of the mission." - NASA

dearMoon

The first civilian mission to the Moon is planned to take place in 2023 (although that is now in question - e.d.) aboard one of the first crew-capable Starships. In 2018, Japanese entrepreneur Yusaka Maezawa purchased all of the seats on this mission, dearMoon, to offer artistic individuals the opportunity to fly by the moon. 

 Dennis Tito

In 2001, Dennis Tito became the first private person to travel to space and he is now bookending that accomplishment with a honeymoon trip to the Moon with his wife Akiko. "One of the things I hope to do, we both hope to do, is inspire people that as we get older, there are so many things we still can do," Tito said. "And flying in space actually is a lot easier than a lot of other things. I mean, I'm beyond the age of skiing, but space is a lot easier than that."

Other Space News

• Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this morning.

• NASA announced the four-person crew of the Artemis 2 mission Monday.

• Redwire plans to demonstrate a "security camera" for military satellites.

• The Space Force is asking industry for input on a second phase of a missile warning satellite constellation.

• A departing Virgin Orbit executive sharply criticized company leadership for taking the company into bankruptcy.

• The first set of satellites launched by the Space Force's Space Development Agency (SDA) are working well.

• China has invited Venezuela to join its lunar research station project as the country works to gain partners for the endeavor.

• Dawn Aerospace has performed the first set of rocket-powered flights of a suborbital spaceplane.

• A new NASA office will coordinate overall progress on Artemis missions.

• A May launch of the first Vulcan Centaur is in doubt after an incident during a test of another Centaur upper stage.

• A dispute between the Russian and Kazakh governments could affect other plans for Baikonur.

• Port Canaveral is working with its neighbors at Cape Canaveral to better coordinate launches and ship traffic.

• A U.S. Space Command general is calling for better tracking of space objects.

• India successfully lands reusable space plane prototype for 1st time (video)