Starbridge Space Industry Newsletter for March 20, 2023

Starbridge Portfolio Company News

Axiom

• Axiom Space reveals next-generation spacesuit for astronauts returning to lunar surface
• NASA Reveals Artemis 3 Moon Mission Spacesuit
• New NASA spacesuit from Axiom Space promises better fit for Artemis III moonwalkers
• Ax-2 Mission to Expand Robust Scientific Research, Biomanufacturing, Technology Demonstrations in Low-Earth Orbit

Lynk

• Lynk selects Dawn Aerospace propulsion following an extensive industry trade study
• Satellite executives spar over direct-to-device evolution
• The FCC released its proposed framework for how satellites can provide direct-to-device connectivity using terrestrial spectrum.

Umbra

• ‘How to Change an Industry (Slowly, then all at once) ’ -Joe Morrison
• Recent Umbra SAR image of the Panama Canal:

General Space News

• Last week, NASA?released a cost/benefit analysis of various debris mitigation methods . The general findings were that some low-cost techniques (space and ground-based lasers) have a very fast return on investment. The value of returning large but well-known pieces of debris (ie. old Russian and Chinese upper stages) was not as significant as the rhetoric suggests.

• While Space Force has been working hard to?change how and what satellite assets it acquires ,?Congress simply can’t wean itself off of the pork . This not only distorts the industry as a whole but distracts DoD from its mission.?

• Early last week Virgin Orbit?announced ?it was temporarily halting operations and furloughing staff. Furloughs in a tight aerospace jobs market usually mean losing key personnel almost immediately.?Now, less than a week later, Virgin Orbit is?preparing to file for bankruptcy protection ?if it cannot secure new funding.?

Other Space News

• The space industry is grappling with the effects of the collapse of a major bank Friday.
• The Space Force has assigned three historic pads at Cape Canaveral to four small launch vehicle companies.
• A startup is betting that the future of satellites involves bigger, not smaller, buses.
• The White House is requesting $30 billion for the U.S. Space Force in its 2024 budget proposal.
• NASA projects spending up to $1 billion on a tug to deorbit the International Space Station at the end of its life.
• Amazon plans to start offering "beta services" from its Project Kuiper broadband constellation next year.
• Investors expect funding for space companies to rebound in 2023.
• Firefly Aerospace won a second NASA lunar lander mission Tuesday.
• Voyager Space has acquired ZIN Technologies to bolster the capabilities needed for its Starlab commercial space station.
• OneWeb says it's given up any hope of recovering satellites stranded at a Russian-operated launch site.
• Venus may have active volcanoes today, according to a new analysis of decades-old radar images.
• Astra is asking Nasdaq for an extension of the deadline to raise its share price or face delisting.
• SpaceX launched the final two satellites for SES to clear C-band spectrum Friday night.
• The surge in SpaceX launches comes as much of the space industry complains of a launch shortage.
• Cost growth in Mars Sample Return could affect not just other planetary missions but also a heliophysics mission.
• Satellogic, a company that provides Earth imagery from its satellite constellation, is now offering to sell whole satellites.