Plus: ispace expands lunar transportation plans
By Jeff Foust
In today's edition: Blue Origin looks to raise outside funding, ispace expands its lunar transportation plans, space companies pitch new business opportunities for Golden Dome and more.
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Top Stories
Blue Origin is looking to raise $10 billion in the company's first outside funding round. A report Wednesday said that the company was in talks with investors led by Coatue Management that would value Blue Origin at $130 billion. The company has not publicly commented on the report but CEO Dave Limp appeared to confirm it in a memo to employees, saying the round had "been in the works for some time." The round would be the first outside investment the company has taken in its history; founder Jeff Bezos has funded the company to date by selling Amazon.com shares. The round comes as Blue Origin is embarking on several capital-intensive projects, from rebuilding its New Glenn launch pad to broadband and orbital data center constellations. [SpaceNews]
Japanese lunar company ispace plans to use SpaceX's Starship to send larger payloads to the moon. The company announced Wednesday it purchased 500 kilograms of payload space on a Starship lunar lander mission flying as soon as 2030. A rover system will deploy from the lander to take payloads up to several kilometers away. The Starship deal would be in addition to ispace's existing, smaller lunar landers, meeting growing demand for lunar payload services stimulated by NASA's moon base plans. [SpaceNews]
MDA Space is buying an Earth data analytics company in its second big acquisition in recent weeks. MDA said Wednesday it will buy 70% of Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS) for about $650 million in cash. CLS is a 40-year-old French company that uses satellite data for Earth science data analytics and for marine tracking. The French space agency CNES will retain its 30% stake in CLS. MDA Space announced last month it would buy smallsat manufacturer Blue Canyon Technologies for $620 million in cash. The deals are part of a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the space sector in recent months that have involved companies ranging from Globalstar and Iridium to lunar lander company Astrobotic. [SpaceNews]
The proposed Golden Dome missile-defense system has companies looking for new business opportunities. The prospect of deploying hundreds or even thousands of satellites for missile warning, tracking, communications and even interception missions has prompted companies to search for opportunities beyond the spacecraft themselves. That includes areas such as satellite refueling, orbital transportation, communications relay networks and in-space servicing, as companies argue those services will be essential to Golden Dome's satellite constellations. However, the Pentagon, which has disclosed few details about the Golden Dome architecture, has not indicated its interest in those other services. [SpaceNews]
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Other News
SpaceX set a booster reuse record on its latest Starlink mission. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 5:25 am Eastern Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, putting 29 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the 36th flight of this Falcon 9 booster, designated B1067, which made its first flight five years ago. [Spaceflight Now]
The latest application for Starlink is dog tracking. Pet technology company Fi launched a dog tracker Wednesday that uses T-Mobile's Starlink-enabled T-Satellite service to remain connected across the United States, even outside the telco's terrestrial network. The company said Fi Ultra marks the first consumer product outside smartphones to ship with Starlink Direct-to-Cell as a core feature. The company expects a "meaningful share" of its customer base to upgrade to the Starlink-enabled tracker, especially those in rural regions or who travel in remote areas. [SpaceNews]
Singapore's new space agency has signed a cooperative agreement with Japan. At the Spacetide conference this week, the National Space Agency of Singapore (NSAS) signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Japanese space agency JAXA covering potential joint work in areas ranging from space technology to industry development. The agreement is the first signed by NSAS since it began operations April 1. The agency has several mandates, which include growing the country's space industry and developing a national space law. [SpaceNews]
Cosmic rays could help detect orbiting nuclear weapons. A study published this week discussed how a satellite could determine if another satellite had a nuclear weapon by approaching it with a neutron detector. A surge of neutrons would be a telltale sign that the spacecraft had a nuclear weapon, as cosmic rays would interact with the bomb's fissile material creating the neutrons. Experts caution, though, that the satellite with detectors would have to come very close to the spacecraft to detect the neutron, which would raise concerns. [Science News]
Spherical tanks that washed ashore on an Australian beach likely came from a launch vehicle. The metallic tanks, about a meter across, washed ashore over the weekend on beaches in Queensland. The Australian Space Agency said it concluded the tanks are pressure vessels from a launch vehicle. It added it believes it has identified the source of the tanks but did not disclose it, saying it was in discussions with international authorities to confirm the source of the tanks. [New York Times]
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FROM SPACENEWS |
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Winner Take All
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"Interoperability is for losers at this point in time."
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– Rohit Jha, CEO of satellite optical communications company Transcelestial, arguing during a panel at the Spacetide conference Thursday that the field was too young to set standards that would allow different systems to be compatible with one another.
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