Plus: Artemis Accords hit 50 signatories, SpaceX valuation climbs to $350 billion, and a drone incident at Vandenberg
| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 12/12/2024 | | | | | Australian company Fleet Space Technologies has raised $100 million to advance satellite-based mineral exploration technologies on the Earth and moon. Teachers' Venture Growth, part of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, led the nine-year-old company's Series D funding round announced Wednesday, valuing the company at $525 million. The proceeds will help the company miniaturize mineral prospecting ground sensors that use its satellites to send seismic data to customers. Fleet says more than 50 exploration companies have used its ExoSphere service on projects across five continents. The company has also developed a version of the technology for use on the moon, with a sensor going on Firefly Aerospace's second Blue Ghost lunar lander mission in 2026. [SpaceNews]
President-elect Trump's choice to be NASA administrator said the U.S. "can't be second" in space. Speaking at the Spacepower Conference Wednesday, Jared Isaacman did not comment directly on Trump's intent to nominate him to be NASA administrator, focusing instead on broader issues of American competitiveness in space. Isaacman was emphatic about the transformative potential of space entrepreneurship, stating that he believes we are entering "an era of great experimentation" with promising economic horizons, and urged companies to take risks in developing solutions ahead of government demand. He acknowledged that his Polaris program of private astronaut missions is "a little bit of a question mark" now. [SpaceNews]
The head of a U.S. Space Force unit in Europe says the military is now sharing intelligence more rapidly. Brig. Gen. Jacob Middleton, commander of U.S. Space Forces Europe and Space Forces Africa, said in an interview at the Spacepower Conference that it is now delivering critical data to users within just 90 minutes. However, he added that adversaries are trying to disrupt that flow of information through cyberattacks. He said the military should tap commercial capabilities from private industry and specify what should be handled by government-specific requirements, while also striking a balance between public and classified operations. [SpaceNews]
Space industry executives are calling for greater integration of commercial capabilities into military systems. Such integration, executives said at the Spacepower Conference, allows for enhanced resilience and effectiveness of hybrid architectures of government and commercial systems. That improved integration could involve a unified forum to streamline efforts and establish standards that would enhance compatibility between commercial and military sectors. [SpaceNews]
Maxar announced a partnership with Satellogic to provide improved geospatial intelligence for national security agencies. The agreement, announced Wednesday, allows Maxar to task, collect and distribute imagery from Satellogic's constellation of more than 20 satellites. That constellation can provide more frequent updates than Maxar's smaller fleet, although Maxar satellites can provide imagery at higher resolutions. Maxar said it can leverage this capability to address government demands for comprehensive site and change monitoring, using its own satellites to take high-resolution followup images of areas of interest. [SpaceNews]
The Artemis Accords hit the milestone of 50 nations as signatories Wednesday. In separate events at NASA Headquarters, Panama and Austria signed the Accords, which outline principles for safe and sustainable space exploration. Seventeen countries have signed the Accords this year alone, which officials credit to shared interest in the Accords' principles and the ability of the Accords to provide a forum for discussion of those issues. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson suggested that several more countries will sign the Accords in the next few weeks. [SpaceNews]
| | | | | JPL has completed an investigation into the final flight of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. Ingenuity, designed for just five flights, made a hard landing on its 72nd flight in January, breaking its rotors. At a briefing Wednesday, project officials said the helicopter's navigation system was confused by the featureless terrain it was flying over, causing it to land with a high lateral velocity. While engineers originally thought that the rotors broke after making contact with the ground, they now believe that high loads from the hard landing snapped the rotors without hitting the ground. While Ingenuity can no longer fly, its other systems continue to operate, collecting data on conditions at its final landing site. [SpaceNews]
A startup in Oman has joined China's International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program. Oman Lens signed a memorandum of understanding with China's Deep Space Exploration Laboratory last week regarding participation on ILRS. It's unclear what role Oman Lens, a company planning a satellite constellation, would play in ILRS. The signing came around the same time that Oman conducted a sounding rocket launch from the site of a future spaceport as the country seeks to expand its role in space. [SpaceNews]
Spaceflight training company Orbite has raised $4 million. The company, founded in 2019, offers astronaut orientation programs in France and Cape Canaveral, combining training with luxury vacations. The Series A funding will support its Experience Train Fly Program, where customers can learn what it's like to train for space or live in space. The company also plans to develop a Spaceflight Gateway campus in Florida. [SpaceNews]
SpaceX has completed a secondary share sale that values the company at $350 billion. The company and outside investors are buying back $1.25 billion in shares from insiders at $185 per share, confirming a share price recently reported. That share price gives SpaceX a valuation of $350 billion, far higher than the $210 billion just earlier this year. [CNBC]
A Chinese national was arrested for flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force Base. Yinpiao Zhou, a Chinese citizen and U.S. permanent resident, was arrested just before boarding a flight back to China Monday. He flew a drone over the base hours after a SpaceX launch last month, taking footage of launch sites there. He allegedly modified the drone's software to enable it to go higher than designed and to go into no-fly zones. According to court documents Zhou admitted flying the drone over the base was "probably not a good idea." [Los Angeles Times]
A documentary about Sally Ride will premiere next month at Sundance. SALLY, from National Geographic and director Cristina Costantini, will profile Ride's life using archival footage and interviews with Ride's family and friends. The film has already won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, given to the film at the Sundance Film Festival with the most outstanding depiction of science and technology. [collectSPACE]
| | | | | | Send Elon to Mars
"Having taken observations over a whole solar cycle, we did some calculations to see what the impact is when we are planning to send humans there, when we send Elon in a couple of years."
– Don Hassler of the Southwest Research Institute, discussing studies of the radiation environment at Mars during a session of the AGU annual meeting Wednesday.
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