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>> Maria Varmazis: Is the era of one dominant launch company coming to an end? I mean, SpaceX has had a good run thanks to Blue Origin flight anomalies, Rocket Lab flight anomalies, extra testing for Boeing and Sierra. But guess what? The tide seems to be turning for all of them.
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>> Unidentified Person: T-Minus 20 seconds to LOA. Go for the floor.
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Today is October 26th, 2023. I'm Maria Varmazis. And this is T-Minus.
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Sierra Space completes first mission Flight Operations Review. Rocket Lab completes FAA investigation. US and Australia announce an innovation alliance. And I'll be talking to T-minus producers Brandon Karpf and Alice Carruth about their experience at the AIAA ASCEND Conference. Stay with us for that and more.
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Here's what we have for our intel briefing today. Long-held dreams of flying in a spaceplane just got a smidgen more real today, with Sierra Space letting everyone know that its Dream Chaser commercial spaceplane just successfully completed its first mission Flight Operations Review at NASA's Johnson Space Center. All this preparation is for Sierra Space's Dream Chaser to take on its contracted NASA mission to do cargo delivery and return runs to and from the International Space Station a minimum of seven times. The FAA has given a major commercial space company the green light to resume launches of its marquee vehicle. No, not the one in Texas. I'm talking about Rocket Lab, which just got the official FAA authorization to resume Electron launches from New Zealand after a launch failure in September. The company says they expect to start launch operations again by the end of this year. Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said, "Our investigation team with FAA oversight has worked around the clock since the moment of the anomaly to uncover all possible root causes, replicate them in test and determine a path for corrective actions to avoid similar failure modes in future. We look forward to sharing the details of the review once it is fully complete. The US and Australia have announced an innovation alliance, which will cover new areas of cooperation on science and critical and emerging technologies. The allies announced multiple new business partnerships between the nations, including Microsoft's $3 billion investment in Australia, which will expand the company's data center and artificial intelligence infrastructure in the country over the next two years, train more than 300,000 Australians with the skills required for a cloud and AI-enabled economy, and create the Microsoft-Australian Signals Directorate Cyber Shield to harden Australia from cyber threats to individuals, businesses and governments. The US National Science Foundation and Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization have announced bilateral cooperation through the NSF's Global Centers initiative with up to $16.3 million for climate and clean energy research and an AI partnership supported by a combined $6.2 million in grants to drive groundbreaking research. Additionally, New Mexico-based Los Alamos National Lab has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Australian National University to strengthen cooperation in research and education between the United States and Australia. The two nations are expected to sign a space Technology Safeguards agreement that creates the potential for new space-related commercial opportunities while providing the legal and technical framework to protect sensitive US space launch technology and data in Australia consistent with our shared non-proliferation goals. The US Space Force will not meet its 2023 delivery targets for three crucial programs. The Next Generation Operational Control Segment or OCX, Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System or ATLAS, and Military GPS User Equipment or MGUE. OCX aims to provide a modern ground system for GPS satellites but has been plagued by software issue. ATLAS, an important space command and control system, faces complications tied to integration with other capabilities. And MGUE aims to strengthen GPS receivers against jamming and spoofing. Despite efforts to streamline the process by Frank Calvelli, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition, these programs are mired in delays. They're now all slated for delivery in 2024. The persistent delays risk operational readiness and contribute to escalating costs. Calvelli emphasizes a need for more simplified and agile approaches to acquisitions. Well, that's a tale as old as time. The situation underlines the imperative for the Space Force and its contractors to fix these delays to maintain US space superiority, echoing a broader industry-wide need for more efficient systems development and deployment. The blob. Beware of the blob. It creeps. It leaps, and it glides and slides across the floor. During a recent spacewalk to inspect a leaky radiator on the ISS, Russian cosmonauts encountered a toxic ammonia blob. Yes, there's a reason for the blob references today. The issue required immediate evacuation and leaves questions about the radiator's future utility. So, while it's all maybe not as dramatic as the carnivorous ameboid alien from the 1958 cult classic The Blob, it's still pretty serious. Just like the King of Cool himself, the OG King of Cool himself, Steve McQueen, the cosmonauts came face to face with a chilling reminder of the challenges and risks of space. China's youngest astronaut crew just launched on the Shenzhou-17 to the Tiangong Space Station, signaling faster taikonaut rotations and a generational shift in its space program. China is broadening its astronaut selection criteria and planning for joint missions with foreign astronauts with Mandarin Chinese as the working language. Tiangong stands as a key symbol of China's growing space confidence, especially as they're restricted from collaborating with NASA. And the reason that China is restricted from collaborating with NASA is due to the Wolf Amendment, a US law enacted in 2011, named after Frank Wolf, a former US representative from Virginia. He served in Congress from 1981 to 2015. And this amendment prohibits NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from engaging in bilateral agreements and coordination with China or Chinese-owned companies.
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>> Maria Varmazis: That concludes our briefing for today. Stay with us for some insights from the ASCEND Conference from our team on the ground. As always, you'll find links to further reading on all the stories we've mentioned in today's episode in our show notes. And I've added a story on the Space Force looking for in-orbit refueling solutions and news from ASCEND that suggests US and Chinese officials met at the IAC in Baku to discuss space safety. All these stories and more at space.n2k.com. Hey, T-Minus crew. If your business is looking to grow your voice in the industry, expand the reach of your thought leadership or recruit talent, T-Minus can help. We'd love to hear from you. Send us an email at space@n2k.com. Or send us a note through our website so we can connect about building a program to meet your goals.
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T-Minus producers Brandon Karpf and Alice Carruth spent the first half of this week at AIAA's ASCEND Conference. And I spoke to them about their takeaways from this event.
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I am just very curious to hear how the conference went. Alice, do you want to start off with the conversation about your thoughts on AIAA ASCEND this year? Maybe any key takeaways, anything that's sticking out in your mind?
>> Alice Carruth: I was surprised by the sheer amount of people that were presenting this year at ASCEND. There was a lot going on in this one conference. We had over 200 speakers talking about multiple verticals. And it was great for people that are coming in with one singular interest. But I think people that want to get a breadth of what's going on in the industry, it almost became too busy to be able to get to see absolutely everything that was going on. But what a great way to be to have too much content versus not enough. So --
>> Maria Varmazis: Overall, it's a problem to have.
>> Alice Carruth: Yeah, absolutely. Wonderful problem to have. And everybody seems to have been really enjoying themselves.
>> Maria Varmazis: Brandon, how about you? Any main takeaways for you?
>> Brandon Karpf: Yeah. Similar to Alice, it has been a great conference. In fact, yeah, I've told numerous people, probably the best space conference I've been to all year. A couple in terms of content takeaways from me really starting with Cislunar. Cislunar is not an economy. Nobody knows how to make it an economy. And NASA's approach --
>> Maria Varmazis: Varmazis: Uptake.
>> Brandon Karpf: -- trying to get -- yeah, Cislunar services, you know, getting those as a service, it's really up in the air whether that's going to be viable long term. There's really only one customer, and it is the government. And so trying to make it an economy is probably not going to work. Second big takeaway for me, and Pam Melroy, deputy administrator of NASA, touched on this quite a bit yesterday, is cybersecurity is a problem. And they don't have a lot of good solutions. And they need help in that area. And so, there is a growing focus from NASA and from industry around cybersecurity. What's a challenge, though, is when you go to all the security sessions. And there was many. I attended five myself. There's probably another four that I didn't get to attend. Not very well attended by non-cyber security people. And so folks recognized the problem, but they're not really driving towards solutions. And it's a little bit of an echo chamber. My third observation is the regulatory regime is totally broken. And nobody has a good solution to that. FAA is struggling. FCC is struggling. Of course, those are US-centric but have an international footprint. And it's -- I think, a collision is coming, not a physical collision. I'm saying like a collision of priorities, a collision of requirements. And regulation is really holding it -- the industry back. And is going to hold the industry back even more in the coming year. And so there needs to be a huge push on Capitol Hill, a huge push from the industry around effective regulatory and policy regimes to make this a viable economy. Business has way moved beyond the current structures and regulation. Those are my three big takeaways.
>> Maria Varmazis: Those are great takeaways. Thank you both for sharing that. I know after I attend a conference and sort of things settle a little bit, some sessions will stand out in my mind or conversations anecdotally. Alice, I'll start with you. I guess sort of like favorite memories, conversations you had, any sessions or talks you attended, and you're like, "That was especially really good." Anything you want to share?
>> Alice Carruth: I particularly enjoyed the diverse dozen conversation that they have. Every year ASCEND finds a group of people that come from across the globe that want to really focus on a particular area. And they have selected people from all over the place. I spoke to people from Africa, from Pakistan, and from across the US. And they all had an area of interest. Obviously, we had Michelle Lucas on the show talking about diversity in the workforce and going to a different area to reach out to a different group of students. We had the girl Yumna Majeed from Pakistan talking about how difficult it is as a space communicator in her nation, in her area, and how important it is to get more diversity from the Southeast Asia area. So that, to me, was a really big standup. It really did make you realize just how far we've come in the US, but yet how far we need to bring our global allies with us and make sure that they come along on the journey with us.
>> Maria Varmazis: What a great point. Brandon, how about you?
>> Brandon Karpf: Yeah, similar to Alice, AIAA has done a fantastic job bringing in diverse voices and sharing those perspectives. A couple that really stood out to me. Emma Louden hosted two series called Astro Debates, which were great. They had a couple debate teams. They assigned, you know, pro versus against on the stage. And then, the debate teams debated issues like systemic economy and things like that like resources mining in space. That was a really fantastic segment. You know, a lot of these panel discussions at these conferences have gotten boring. It's the same people saying the same things that you read. If you keep tabs on this industry, you're not going to be surprised by anything that any of these panel members have been discussing. Astro Debates was new. Astro Debates was interesting, was engaging, was fun, was different. I think that's a fantastic format to really elevate hard conversations in this industry to move the industry forward.
>> Maria Varmazis: So, for either of you, anything surprise you during the conference? Either something that happened, something that somebody said, or anything that comes -- stands out as surprising?
>> Alice Carruth: I wouldn't say it was necessarily surprising. But obviously, the absence of a lot of the government people here, this conference was quite felt. A lot of that is to do with the fact that there is a lot of issues, as you know, when it comes to funding right now. They aren't in the situation to be able to turn up. But that felt like a big gap. We were looking for somebody to answer those regulatory questions that were coming up in panel discussions in those Astro Debates. And there wasn't somebody here that was able to answer it. Obviously, it's not their fault. It is to do with the funding situation. But that, to me, was a big standout of what was missing from this conference. Hopefully, next year, we are not going to have a situation where we're worrying about whether or not there's going to be funding for our federal agencies. And they will be able to come and engage with industry because that is really such an important thing. It's academia. It's industry. It's the government sector. And we need to get all of them on the same page and working together.
>> Maria Varmazis: Absolutely. Brandon, anything that stands out in that way for you?
>> Brandon Karpf: Yeah. I mean, AIAA, being a professional association, being more research-driven. I mean, this conference did have quite a bit in terms of learning sessions. I would've liked to see workshops that were more engaging around bringing people together to solve problems and come up with unique solutions. In that kind of academic learning environment, there were a number of tech talks. There were a number of papers presented here that were fantastic. But bridging the gap from that research, the academic background to operational solutions, is something that I want to see in the future that I didn't really see much of during this session. Maybe I missed some of those sessions. I did hear there were a handful of workshops specifically around autonomy in space that they did come to some really fascinating solutions that were driven by some of the initial research presentations and then engaging the audience in discussions to come to solutions. So I heard of that. I didn't get to attend that session. I would like to see even more of that moving forward and bringing together industry, military, civil space, as Alice mentioned, the regulatory executive branch agencies, bringing all of those folks together in one room and then driving them towards, "Here's the problem set. Here's the research. What do you think we should do about it?" I think that's where this conference can be really effective in the future.
>> Maria Varmazis: I know after a conference, I often feel really motivated to take something with me. And it spurs me onto some sort of action when I get back home. I imagine you might both be feeling something like that now. What's that feeling for you? Brandon, why don't I start with you?
>> Brandon Karpf: Yeah, for me, it's thinking about, I just mentioned, the digital systems here that are enabling the space environment and then enabling the use of space technologies here on the ground. And I've had a number of conversations here with folks who are focused on things like autonomy, data management, digital IT focus systems. We mentioned security earlier, the digital ecosystem that is enabling the space environment. There are people that are interested in this. There are people that are working on this. There are people that are passionate about it. There's a lot of work to be done. And so I'm really interested in pulling the thread on that specific part of the space environment and kind of elevating some of the solutions, some of the creativity and some of the problem sets that need new solutions in the near future. I'm talking six to 12-month timeframes that people are asking for. I really want to let that bubble to the surface in the coming months.
>> Alice Carruth: And I think, for me, it's the accessibility and diversity aspect of the workforce. And there's been so many incredible presentations. There was one that was female-led managers talking about how they came from a very different background and ended up in the aerospace industry and how other people can find those channels, which I think is great to be sharing amongst the space industry. But what I want to see from this is how that gets out, how we can share that information to that wider audience because we all know it's a problem. We all know that we've got solutions to it. But how do we implement those solutions? How do we find those new worlds? How do we start getting students from completely different backgrounds interested in the aerospace industry and following those career paths through? And how do we get that out there globally as well? It's not just a US problem. It's an international problem.
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>> Maria Varmazis: And we asked AIAA's executive director, Dan Dumbacher what we can expect next year.
>> Dan Dumbacher: 2024, last week of July and the first week August. Hopefully, it's going to be bigger and better. It will be co-located with our aviation forum. Aviation will be five days. And in the middle three will be ASCEND in parallel with aviation. This is a real opportunity for our aviation community and the space community to work together, maybe find some cross-fertilization and help integrate communities a little more. It'll all be one ticket to get in, one badge. So we'll make it easy for everybody. And hopefully, everybody will find it a worthwhile endeavor.
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>> Maria Varmazis: We'll be right back.
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Welcome back. Getting astronauts to and from the crew quarters to the Launchpad that can be quite a distance, maybe like eight or nine miles. And yeah, they're not going to walk there all geared up. So they need a sweet ride. During the space shuttle era, there was the Astrovan, a modified Airstream camper van, very shiny in chrome that was charming in its own way. And yes, it's history. And yes, it's very beloved. I know. But it also gave kind of an impression that the astronauts were on their way to make s'mores and tell ghost stories around a campfire. To me, it wasn't very space-agey. Don't at me, Astrovan fans. I'm just being honest. Maybe NASA got a smidgels of the slick Teslas that astronauts get when they hit a ride on a SpaceX crew dragon because in April, they selected EV maker Canoo to make the new crew transport vehicle for the Artemis generation. And Canoo's new ride, well, its form factor is very decidedly EV, no front hood to hold an engine. And as the company name kind of hints, imagine a canoe flipped upside down, sort of like an elongated semicircle. That's basically the shape of these transfer vehicles. Yes, on the outside, they do look very modern and also kind of cute. Maybe a lateral move there from camp songs. But the exterior is one story, and the interior is another. Folks at the Formula 1 race in Texas this week actually got a peek inside the new crew transport vehicles. And this baby has got plush seats, branded padding, a sunroof, mood lighting. There are a lot of really nice details on this thing. I have to admit, I am not really a car person, but even I'm impressed. The tire rims are gorgeous, for Pete's sake. I'm not sure if this new generation of crew transfer vehicle has been given a name yet. But given these are EVs, may I suggest Astrovan 2 Electric Boogaloo?
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That's it for T-Minus for October 26th, 2023. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes at space.n2k.com. We are privileged that N2K and podcasts like T-minus are part of the daily routine of many of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector, from the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. This episode was produced by Alice Carruth, mixing by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester with original Music and sound design by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Brandon Karpf. Our Chief Intelligence Officer is Eric Tillman. And I'm Maria Varmazis. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
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