Space

ispace wants to stake its claim to the moon with November launch • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 31, 2022Posted in ispace, lunar lander, Space, StartupsNo Comments

Tokyo-based startup ispace’s lunar ambitions will soon be put to the test, as the company gears up for its first launch at the end of this month. The startup will attempt to send its “Hakuto-R” lander to the moon’s surface, kicking off an ambitious lunar exploration program of the same name. Founded in 2010, ispace is one of many emerging companies that want to foster new markets on and around the moon; on its website, it describes its goal as becoming “a gateway for private sector companies to bring their business to the moon.” Being the middle- and last-mile delivery partner of the moon could prove to be lucrative, given the intensifying interest from both government space agencies and private companies in lunar exploration. But there’s more than far-off revenues at stake in this first launch; recent reporting suggested that ispace is preparing to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as early as this fiscal year. While the company was previously targeting a launch window of November 9-15, ispace said Monday it was now aiming to launch no earlier than November 22. The new date was chosen “in careful coordination” with launch partner SpaceX, the startup said in a statement. Ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada confirmed that the lander had arrived in Cape Canaveral, Florida, via cargo plane in advance of launch. ispace’s lander being loaded onto the cargo plane. Image Credits: ispace “This mission will be a historic first not only for our company, but also for the development of the cislunar economy,” Hakamada said. If all goes to plan, the Hakuto-R will carry multiple payloads to the surface of the moon. Those include a 22-pound rover for the United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, a lunar robot for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and several more payloads from commercial and government customers. After launch, the mission will be monitored from the company’s mission control center in Tokyo.

Watch SpaceX launch a Falcon Heavy for the first time in three years • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 31, 2022Posted in falcon heavy, Space, SpaceX, US Space forceNo Comments

Thousands are gathering on Florida’s Space Coast to watch SpaceX launch the massive Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time since 2019. SpaceX will attempt to directly inject two U.S. Space Force spacecraft to geosynchronous orbit. The payload includes TETRA-1, a microsatellite developed by Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems, which the company describes as a spacecraft created for “various prototype missions” in an around GEO. The other spacecraft is classified. While the Space Force originally intended to launch the USSF-44 mission in late 2020, it was repeatedly delayed due to payload readiness issues. Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket currently in operation, and it’s only flown three times, the last of which took place in June 2019. Its maiden launch, which carried a Tesla Roadster (and dummy driver) to orbit, is a particularly notable chapter in SpaceX history. The rocket is made up of a trio of Falcon 9 boosters, the very same ones that now launch at least once a week. The whopping 27 Merlin engines together produce around 5 million pounds of thrust. A Falcon 9 second stage and payload fairing is attached to the central booster. This will be the first launch for all three boosters as well as the upper stage and fairing. SpaceX shared a photo last week of the three first stages in the hangar at Kennedy Space Center. Image credits: SpaceX The central booster will be expended, while the two side boosters will land at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch is scheduled for no earlier than 9:44 AM EST.

NASA’s Psyche mission to a metal-rich asteroid is back on the books for October 2023 • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 28, 2022Posted in falcon heavy, NASA, psyche, Space, SpaceXNo Comments

NASA said Friday that its Psyche mission (named after the asteroid the mission is targeting) has been rescheduled to October next year. The news comes just a few months after the agency announced that it would definitively miss its planned 2022 launch attempt. The delayed schedule is due to late delivery of key components of the spacecraft, including the flight software and testing equipment. The launch window for this year concluded on October 11. NASA conducted an internal review to determine whether the mission could launch next year, in addition to a separate independent review commissioned by the agency to examine the failures that led to missing the launch window. It appears that the review determined that next year’s launch is a go. While the launch window has changed, NASA said the flight profile will be similar: The spacecraft will use Martian gravity in 2026 to propel the spacecraft toward the asteroid Psyche. If the mission does move forward next year, the spacecraft is targeted to arrive at the asteroid in August 2029. The mission, which is being led by Arizona State University, will explore the metal asteroid dubbed “Psyche” located between Mars and Jupiter. It was chosen for exploration because scientists believe it is the nickel-iron core of an earlier planet, making it a rich target for understanding how our own planet came to exist. Folks with asteroid mining ambitions, of course, undoubtedly also have their interest piqued. Total mission costs, including launch, are $985 million; of that, $717 million had been spent as of June. Two additional projects were scheduled to launch with Psyche: a NASA mission called Janus, to explore a twin binary asteroid system, and a technology demonstration of high-data-rate laser communication data. The latter has already been integrated with the Psyche spacecraft and will launch with it, but NASA is still exploring options for Janus. In February 2020, NASA announced it had awarded the launch contract to SpaceX for a value of $117 million. The agency booked a ride on a Falcon Heavy, the most powerful rocket currently in operation and which has only flown three times in its history. (The fourth could take place as early as next week.)

The ghost in the machine • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 25, 2022Posted in Max Q, SpaceNo Comments

Hello and welcome back to Max Q. Disrupt is finally behind us, which can only mean one thing: We are officially counting down to TC’s Space event in December! Learn more here. In this issue: Kayhan Space presents at Disrupt Report: Investment in space battered by high interest rates, inflation News from SpaceX, Orbex and more We’ve covered Kayhan before, but during a presentation at Disrupt the company revealed how it has progressed considerably. The company, which was founded by friends Araz Feyzi and Siamak Hesar, is taking on a growing problem in space: traffic. “There are a lot of satellite-on-satellite conjunctions; it’s less than 10% today but the paradigm is shifting,” Feyzi told ZebethMedia (by “conjunction,” he’s referring to situations when spacecraft orbits overlap). “The sheer number of conjunctions is increasing, because we’re tracking more objects and there are more active satellites — and we expect that to get worse.” As the number of satellites in the sky grows, operators can no longer rely on the time-intensive solutions they previously used to decrease the odds of an in-space collision occurring. That’s where Kayhan comes in. Click the link above to learn about how they’re attempting to fix this problem. Kayhan Space pitches in Startup Battlefield at ZebethMedia Disrupt in San Francisco on October 19, 2022. Image Credits: Darrell Etherington / ZebethMedia Private investment in space continues to be battered by larger macro-economic trends, like high interest rates and inflation, but not all sectors of the space industry are affected equally, a new report from New York-based VC firm Space Capital found. While broader market conditions are disproportionately affecting funding in deep tech — which includes high capex industries like launch and “emerging industries” (think private space stations and orbital debris mitigation) — geospatial intelligence and remote sensing companies are well positioned to withstand these trends, the quarterly report found. Overall, $3.4 billion was invested in 79 space companies this quarter, representing a 44% decline from the same period last year. While total investment declined, early-stage investments increased by 24% versus the same period. Total rounds also saw a 26% decrease YTD compared to the same quarter last year. Image Credits: SpaceX More news from TC and beyond Ariane 6’s first flight has been pushed back to the fourth quarter of 2023, the European Space Agency announced. (ESA) Astra has 200 committed orders for the Astra Spacecraft Engines on the books. (Astra) The Federal Aviation Administration named 21 new members to the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, including representatives from SpaceX, Astra, Relativity Space, Blue Origin and Virgin Orbit. (FAA) Firefly Aerospace added Chris Emerson, the former chairman and CEO of Airbus US, to its board of directors. (Firefly) James Webb Space Telescope did it again. Bravo. (NASA) Orbex, a U.K.-based spaceflight startup, closed £40.4 million ($46.1 million) in funding as it makes a final push to a first orbital flight next year. (ZebethMedia) NASA announced the 16 individuals that will form the independent study team examining unidentified aerial phenomena. (NASA) NASA’s Crew-4 returned home. The four-person crew splashed down off the coast of Florida aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule after six months on the International Space Station. (NASA) NASA ordered three more Orion spacecraft from Lockheed Martin for Artemis VI-VIII missions, to the tune of $1.99 billion. (Lockheed Martin) Relativity Space will increase its rocket engine testing footprint at NASA’s Stennis Space Center by 150 acres to support testing of the heavy-lift rocket Terran R’s Aeon R engines. (Relativity) SpaceX’s Falcon 9 completed its 48th launch this year, completely obliterating a once-a-week launch cadence and hitting a new record as the most flown launch vehicle in a year. (Elon Musk) SpaceX withdrew its request to the Pentagon that it fund the ongoing use of Starlink internet terminals in Ukraine, just hours after it was reported that the Pentagon was considering footing the bill using a fund that finances contracts for weapons and equipment for the Ukrainian military. (ZebethMedia / Politico) Starlink is coming to commercial airplanes through a partnership with a commercial- and private jet-focused subbrand, Starlink Aviation. (ZebethMedia) The White House is exploring bringing Starlink to Iran, where civil unrest is still widespread. First Ukraine, now Iran? (CNN) Photo of the week The iconic “Pillars of Creation” as captured by James Webb Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA Max Q is brought to you by me, Aria Alamalhodaei. If you enjoy reading Max Q, consider forwarding it to a friend.

Apex Space takes on satellite bus ‘bottleneck’ with seed round led by a16z • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 25, 2022Posted in a16z, Andreessen Horowitz, apex space, katherine boyle, Space, StartupsNo Comments

Apex Space, a startup that aims to transform satellite bus manufacturing, emerged from stealth Monday with a $7.5 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The Los Angeles-based company has set its sights on the satellite bus — the part of the spacecraft that hosts the payload — which it says is the “new bottleneck” hitting the space industry. Apex’s two co-founders, Ian Cinnamon and Maximilian Benassi, said in a blog post that they independently observed core changes to the industry that convinced them that a new satellite bus manufacturing solution was needed. Cinnamon, a technology startup founder whose company, Synapse Technology, was acquired by Palantir in 2020, said he saw payload customers being “held back” by the long and costly process associated with building custom satellite buses. Benassi, an engineer whose career includes a six-year tenure at SpaceX and nearly a year-and-a-half at Astra, observed changes to launch economics that make mass manufacturing — rather than the bespoke engineering process that’s characterized satellite buses thus far — more sensible. “Given this transformative change, we must begin to think about spacecraft differently and adapt to the new market conditions,” the pair said. “We cannot just build spacecraft. We must manufacture them at scale.” This approach, which Cinnamon described in an interview with ZebethMedia as scalable and product-led, is a major departure from traditional satellite bus manufacturing. Apex aims to deliver satellite busses to customers in a matter of months, rather than the status quo timescale of a few years. Apex will come to the market with a small satellite bus called Aries, which will be capable of carrying payloads up to 94 kilograms. That platform will be suitable for missions to low Earth orbit; the startup says on its website that future products will be compatible with other missions, such as those to geosynchronous orbit. Apex also offers add-ons like insurance and flight booking. Cinnamon said the company plans on delivering the first Aries platform in 2023, followed by 5 in 2024, and continue to scale from there. While the two co-founders praised the likes of Astra and Rocket Lab for transforming the launch sector, these companies are also competitors, each designing satellite buses as part of a full-stop-shop solution for customers. Other major players in the satellite bus manufacturing space are Terran Orbital, which announced plans last year to build a 660,000-square-foot satellite manufacturing facility in Florida, and York Space Systems, which landed a $1.12 billion valuation after selling a majority stake to Firefly Aerospace’s owner AE Industrial Partners. But Cinnamon said Apex is differentiating itself from these players in a few different ways: the first is that the startup’s “bread and butter” will be commercial customers, rather than government customers. He added that the company is aiming to manufacture on a scale of a matter of months to keep up with demand from the commercial sector. The call for large-scale manufacturing clearly found resonance at Andreessen Horowitz, which launched a new fund at the beginning of this year called “American Dynamism,” led by general partner Katherine Boyle. The fund aims to invest in companies that bolster the nation’s interest and solve problems in industries like supply chain, aerospace and manufacturing (amongst others). As Boyle argued in her sweeping investment thesis, “the only immediate way to kickstart American renewal is through startups building for critical problems.” To the Apex co-founders, solving the satellite bus manufacturing problem isn’t just critical to the space industry today. It’s also key to making humans a multiplanetary species in the future. “If we really think about that future, do we think that all of the other spacecraft that are out there, that are moving around goods and services, that are doing imaging of Mars and the Moon, that are providing communication services, etcetera, are all of those spacecraft truly going to be built by hand as custom one-offs like they are today? Or are they actually going to be manufactured at scale? And I believe that in order to enable that future, they have to be manufactured at scale, and we want to be the first company out there to truly scale up manufacturing of these vehicles.” In addition to a6z, the round also saw participation from XYZ Venture Capital, J2 Ventures, Lux Capital and Village Global. The number one priority for the new funding is hiring, Cinnamon said, and the company is looking for people from new space, traditional aerospace, and outside the space sector entirely. The company will also use the raise to continue developing the Aries platform, including ordering components and beginning to assemble the manufacturing line.

Starlink signals could work as GPS alternative, whether SpaceX likes it or not • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 24, 2022Posted in SpaceNo Comments

With some 3,000 satellites in orbit, the Starlink constellation is easily the largest in history and of course presents an immense opportunity for global connectivity. But its signals could also be analyzed and used as an alternative to traditional GPS, a new paper claims, with or without SpaceX’s blessing. Todd Humphreys and his team at the University of Texas Austin dove into the “signal structure” of the Starlink downlink, and while there’s only so much they can learn without insider info from the company itself, they did find plenty of useful data. Satellites must of course pass their signal down to the ground at some point, and in Starlink’s case it’s pretty much a constant stream. That doesn’t mean anyone can just tap in, though — the signal itself is structured and encoded in a proprietary way that, presumably, SpaceX has decided is best for the kind of orbital broadband it’s providing. The exact parameters of this signal are not known, but in order to make sure packets are arriving in order and intact, the transmission — like any data transmission these days — includes very precise timing data and other telemetry so the receiver and sender can stay in sync. By carefully analyzing an incoming signal from a single satellite, and combining that data with what is known about the satellite’s exact position, the time down to the nanosecond, and so on, Humphreys was able to decode the transmission to a certain extent. They document their results in a paper, currently awaiting peer review and publishing. A side effect of having precise telemetry coming from a few satellites (in addition to other measurements like doppler) is that you can use it to work out your exact location, and the paper describes how this might be done. As The Register points out, this idea isn’t new and in fact was being pursued as a possibility years ago, but ultimately SpaceX decided to focus on the consumer side of things. But the scientists at UT Austin had had a taste of the possibilities, and decided to pursue it independently with its own rig, without SpaceX cooperation. As they write in the paper’s intro: The signal characterization offered herein includes the exact values of synchronization sequences embedded in the signal that can be exploited to produce pseudorange measurements. Such an understanding of the signal is essential to emerging efforts that seek to dual-purpose Starlink signals for positioning, navigation, and timing, despite their being designed solely for broadband Internet provision. To be clear, no one is accessing Starlink user data here. The sync sequences are just strings of timings and other data that the machines use to stay in touch — the payload data is entirely separate. In the paper, due to the fact that the signal was being targeted at an actual Starlink user terminal, the location had to be for that terminal too, and they were able to get it within 30 meters. Not better than GPS, obviously, but it could be quicker and eventually more accurate if SpaceX were to give the project its blessing. A software update that slightly adjusts how the satellites send their signals, and a bit of data on correcting for variance between their clocks, and Humphreys suggests Starlink transmissions could be used to locate oneself to within a meter. It would be a public service and wouldn’t cost SpaceX much of anything to implement, but it’s also a valuable service that no business in its right mind (especially one that just committed to a deeply unprofitable connectivity deal in Ukraine) would just implement and provide for free. That said, it may be that the genie is out of the bottle — the data in the paper “illuminates the path” to this use, and someone might find a way to make it work no matter what anyone says.

Kayhan Space is making orbit safer with timely, automatic collision warnings for satellites • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 20, 2022Posted in Battlefield, battlefield 20, Disrupt, Kayhan Space, Space, Startups, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022No Comments

The orbital economy is heating up, but the infrastructure that supports it is starting to creak. Kayhan Space is a startup that makes sure your satellite doesn’t crash into another — or a launch or piece of space trash, for that matter — using modern data crunching techniques and a web-accessible platform. Kayhan presented today at Disrupt SF as part of the Battlefield, and the business is considerably further along than when we first covered them; at the time, they were raising a pre-seed round, but now they’ve got their feet under them and are raising again. Founded by old friends Araz Feyzi and Siamak Hesar, who came together to the U.S. from Iran for school years ago, the company is taking on the natural result of the last decades order-of-magnitude increase in satellite launches: traffic. Space may seem like a big place, but low Earth orbit is actually pretty crowded, relatively speaking. With thousands of satellites zooming around on all kinds of trajectories, and tens of thousands of pieces of space junk as well, the chances your spacecraft will have to juke a bit to avoid a screw going 20,000 mph or so are getting higher. When orbits overlap to the point that a collision is possible, it’s called a “conjunction” — a more neutral term than “collision course,” certainly. “There are a lot of satellite-on-satellite conjunctions; it’s less than 10% today but the paradigm is shifting,” Feyzi told ZebethMedia. “The sheer number of conjunctions is increasing, because we’re tracking more objects and there are more active satellites — and we expect that to get worse.” Worse not just in terms of frequency, he explained, but in the decreasing amount of time before a potentially catastrophic event occurs. This lead time is very important, because last-minute maneuvers are both hair-raising and waste fuel — what could have been avoided by a tiny impulse hours ago becomes a longer emergency burn. Normally satellite operators report their positions and orbits to Space Command — sounds impressive, but imagine a control tower at an airport that suddenly grew to 10 times its normal size. They can only do so much, so fast, and they rely on operators calling in the latest data and changes. With thousands of satellites in the sky, de-conflicting orbits over a period of hours or days — and deciding what to do via phone call — is no longer a realistic option. Kayhan’s Pathfinder orbital tracking platform. Kayhan is working to automate the process as much as possible using the freshest data available. Some of that is the high precision object database maintained by the government, yes, but there are other tracking sources too, plus the real-time info coming from customers and anyone who makes it available. Their Pathfinder platform provides situational awareness, conjunction warnings, recommended new orbital paths — if you have the right thruster, it’ll even provide the impulse. “We use all of this data, and we’ve developed a large amount of proprietary algorithms and processes. For example, we’ve developed a modern prediction engine that predicts the paths of objects, that allows us to very rapidly calculate, simulate and re-simulate the motions of objects in space,” Feyzi said. The turnaround time for a conjunction response is measured in minutes instead of days, but it’s no less carefully considered, Feyzi continued: “When you go on Pathfinder and you look at the recommendations prepared for you, you can be sure they’re safe — we’ve screened them — and second, it’s feasible for you because it fits all the constraints you have: your propulsion system, your ground contacts.” Image Credits: ZebethMedia He also emphasized that these capabilities aren’t limited by, for example, how fast a radar dish can turn. Being a data-based product, it can scale arbitrarily. “The beauty of software, and the way we have designed our infrastructure is it is easily scalable. We could onboard every satellite available today and it wouldn’t be a problem for us,” Feyzi said. Integrations with other satellite and mission management platforms are coming as well — not everyone wants to work with a whole new tool, so the data will be available via SDK. You may wonder whether a pure data play is defensible as a business. Feyzi admitted that others may very well attempt the same type of system, but Kayhan’s head start and expertise is not to be underestimated. “We have five Ph.D.s in astrodynamics on our team today. The amount of data we process and the amount of processing we do is extremely heavy; unless you develop these core capabilities to run effectively and efficiently, you won’t be able to achieve what we are achieving,” he said. “If you have the data, the capital, the people, yes, maybe in two years, you could develop the platform — no one has done it so far, but where we’ll be in two years is very different from where we are today.” To that point, Kayhan itself is expanding its capabilities with a now product it calls Gamut, meant to offer the same kind of automated safety checks but for launches. Image Credits: Kayhan Space Scheduling launches isn’t just about waiting for good weather — you have to thread the needle to put the payload in the right orbit and place, perhaps among dozens or hundreds of peers. As the number of satellites rises, the prospect of a ride-share mission hitting several different orbits quickly becomes a very complex logistical problem. And the kicker is, if you miss your launch window by a few minutes, you need a new solution. “We invented a new method that leverages GPU processing to process launch screening an order of magnitude faster,” Feyzi said. That means launch companies can be prepared for more eventualities, and hit fast forward on the paperwork and other official processes one has to get through to send a rocket into space. Gamut is still in development and testing, but you can expect to hear more about it soon as

Flights to offer drinks, snacks and now Starlink • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Commerce, Elon Musk, Hardware, Space, SpaceX, starlink, Starlink AviationNo Comments

Having barely expanded Starlink onto the seas and looking at the Ukraine war as a business opportunity, Elon Musk has expanded Starlink through a commercial- and private jet-focused sub-brand, Starlink Aviation. The idea of having Wi-Fi up in the sky isn’t new, but your service is typically limited. On a commercial flight, one is charged fees to access, at best, mediocre service. Most in-flight services use air-to-ground services which top out at around 10 Mbps. Because the speeds offered are per plane, what you actually get is dependent on how many individuals are using it. For the most part, Starlink Aviation is tackling the speed issue, claiming to provide services that’ll let users game, stream, make video calls and so on “at any altitude”. The service will offer 350 Mbps (the same offered on Starlink Maritime) on each plane and with “latency as low as 20 ms.”. “Passengers can engage in activities previously not functional in flight, including video calls, online gaming, virtual private networks and other high data rate activities,” Starlink claims on its website. “As the world’s largest satellite constellation with coverage over land, the oceans and polar regions, Starlink is positioned to connect passengers wherever your flight routes evolve.” However, with monthly fees ranging from $12,500-$25,000 and a one-time hardware installation cost of $150,000 the question of accessibility has been thrown out the door. The kits will include the Aero Terminal (an “electronically steered phased array antenna” that sits flush to the plane’s surface) 2 wireless access points. The service noted there are no long-term contracts and any hardware is covered by warranty for as long as the buyer subscribes. Starlink has already secured a deal with Hawaiian Airlines to provide their Wi-Fi service to passengers, according to a report from CNBC. The report further detailed the airline will provide the service to passengers for free across their Boeing 787s and 717s. SpaceX has also secured a contract with charter carrier JSK. It’s a direct challenge to Gogo, the leading inflight connectivity provider. Buyers can begin accessing Starlink Aviation at the start of 2023.

Investment in space continues to drop, but some sectors more resilient than others, report finds • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 18, 2022Posted in Space, Space CapitalNo Comments

Private investment in space continues to be battered by larger macro-economic trends, like high interest rates and inflation, but not all sectors of the space industry are affected equally, a new report from New York-based VC firm Space Capital found. While broader market conditions are disproportionately affecting funding in deep tech — which includes high capex industries like launch and “emerging industries” (think private space stations and orbital debris mitigation) — geospatial intelligence and remote sensing companies are well positioned to withstand these trends, the quarterly report found. Overall, $3.4 billion was invested in 79 space companies this quarter, representing a 44% decline from the same period last year. While total investment declined, early-stage investments increased by 24% versus the same period. Total rounds also saw a 26% decrease YTD compared to the same quarter last year. In some ways, the large drop in investing seems to be a correction to what Space Capital founder and managing partner Chad Anderson called the “market mania and irrational exuberance” of 2021, where companies were closing huge deals at sky-high valuations. Last year saw record investment in emerging industries “and most of that was invested by VCs who were investing in the space economy for the first time,” Anderson said. “Nobody was doing any diligence,” he said. “This year, everyone’s tune has completely changed. Everywhere you go, every VC is talking about the importance of diligence.” This market correction was likely even if the larger macro trends were not in place, Anderson said, but the Fed raising interest rates no doubt had a direct impact on the pricing of venture deals and the larger private market. While investing dropped, it’s not all bad news: Anderson said he’s starting to see a pickup in deals, with more capital likely being deployed in the next quarter. Space technologies that play an increasingly important role in the global economy, like remote sensing, are also likely to grow over the coming years. “This is demonstrating how the space economy is really counter-cyclical and resilient to some of these macro market conditions,” Anderson said. “As the world becomes more dynamic and more uncertain, with the war in Ukraine, geopolitical issues elsewhere, supply chain issues, enterprises and governments want more information, not less. These companies are providing that critical information to them.” Space Capital tracks 1,753 companies that have raised a cumulative $267.9 billion over the past 10 years. The report divides the space industry into three categories: infrastructure (with a subsection, emerging industries); distribution; and application. Much of the investing activity in launch was in later-stage companies, while early-stage rounds made up over three-quarters of the investment in emerging industries. The leading verticals in emerging industries were space stations, “transport” (like ispace’s lunar landers) and debris mitigation.

UK launch startup Orbex closes fresh funding in push to first orbital launch next year • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 18, 2022Posted in Orbex, Space, UK Space AgencyNo Comments

The United Kingdom is known for many things, but rocket launches are not one of them. Spaceflight startup Orbex is part of a slew of U.K.-based companies hoping to change that by bringing vertical launch to U.K. soil for the first time. Orbex is aiming to conduct its first orbital rocket launch as early as next year, and today the company announced it closed £40.4 million ($46.1 million) in funding to power its final push there. Orbex is developing a 19-meter (62 foot), two-stage microlauncher called Prime. The company rolled out its first full-scale prototype of the orbital rocket back in May, calling it the “first of a new generation” of launch vehicles capable of carrying very small satellites to space. Once operational, Prime will have a payload capacity of 180 kilograms to low Earth orbit. The rocket is powered by seven engines, six on the first stage and a single engine on the second stage, all fueled with a renewable bio-propane called Calor’s Futuria Liquid Gas. Orbex says this will reduce the carbon emissions of launch by up to 96% compared to rockets of a similar size. The Scotland-based company is currently in the midst of a testing campaign in advance of its first launch in 2023, which will carry an experimental payload from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. The company said in a statement that this new Series C funding will enable it to scale its resources and support future endeavors. The round was led by a new investor, the Scottish National Investment Bank, and includes participation from existing investors BGF, Heartcore Capital, High-Tech Gründerfonds and Octopus Ventures. Other new investors include Jacobs, the Danish Green Future Fund, Swiss VC firm Verge Ventures, and British entrepreneurs Phillip and James Chambers. The new lead investor, Scottish National Investment Bank, is particularly notable as the latest sign that major government institutions in the U.K. view the space sector as a major source of economic growth. Earlier this year, the government released a plan to invest £1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) in military satellites and other space technologies for the defense sector over the next decade. That and other funding announcements are part of a sweeping National Space Strategy aimed at “leveling up” the country’s space economy. Prominent ministers from the Scottish and U.K. parliaments applauded the funding, with the U.K. Science Minister Nusrat Ghani calling it a “vote of confidence” in the country’s “ambitious plans to make the U.K. one of the most innovative and attractive space economies in the world, supporting long-term economic growth.” Orbex was one of two companies selected by the U.K. government in 2018 to perform launches at a new facility, the Space Hub Sutherland Spaceport on the north coast of Scotland. It will be the first spaceport for vertical launch in the U.K. Orbex applied for its license to launch with U.K. regulators in February and recently announced it is increasing its headcount by 50 in the final countdown to launch.