[SOUND] You know, I talk to a lot of people in this job and over the course of all of those conversations, some clear trends have emerged.
Outdated political policy hamstringing the pace of innovation in space is right at the top of the list of most common gripes that I hear.
And I have to admit, it does boggle the mind a bit to think that the satellite spectrum policies still upheld today were written when they were around only 500 satellites in orbit in total, way before SpaceX, let alone Starlink or even a twinkle in Elon's eye.
[MUSIC] >> T-minus. >> 20 seconds to L-O-I-P-R-S.
>> Go for the floor.
[MUSIC] >> Today is March 28th, 2024.
I'm Maria Varmasas and this is T-minus.
[MUSIC] FCC denies SpaceX's spectrum request.
Vast is being sued over alleged improper use of radio frequencies.
Spire Global partners with South Korea's Hancom Group.
And we'll be sharing our monthly check-in with the president of the Association of Commercial Space Professionals, Bryce Kennedy.
Bryce will be updating us on the latest workshop series and reminding us to make space and time for ourselves.
[MUSIC] We start our Intel briefing for today with some bad news for SpaceX.
The Federal Communications Commission has denied SpaceX's request to use certain mobile satellite services spectrum that were authorized to Global Star and Dish in SpaceX's Gen 2 Starlink constellation.
So here's the story.
SpaceX filed a modification for its Gen 2 Starlink constellation application in February.
They petitioned to introduce an MSS or mobile satellite service component that would use 1.6/2.4 gigahertz bands, and the 2020 to 2025 megahertz Earth to Space band.
Don't worry, there will not be a quiz on that later.
Okay, so they filed that petition.
But Global Star and Dish, which are already licensed in some of those bands, both then asked that SpaceX's application be dismissed.
So in response, SpaceX then submitted a petition asking the FCC to revise its licensing and spectrum sharing framework for big Leo constellations like Starlink in the 1.6/2.4 gigahertz bands and MSS systems operating in the 2000 to 2020 megahertz Earth to Space and 2180-2200 megahertz space to Earth bands.
Got all that?
[LAUGH] Those two petitions are now online through the FCC and the FCC is asking for comments by April 25th.
In its petitions to the FCC, SpaceX argues that the framework that the FCC adopted three years ago to facilitate multiple operator sharing remains frozen in time, conceptualized around the almost entirely defund MSS systems that were originally proposed in 1994, and that the FCC now has the opportunity to modernize the rules.
Commercial space station company Vast Space is being sued by a former engineer who claims that he was fired for refusing to use improper radio frequencies in designs for the Haven One.
Haven One is Vast's commercial space station that the company hopes to launch as soon as 2025.
And the whistleblower says his boss has demanded that he use radio frequencies that would be out of compliance with the Federal Communication Commission's regulations.
He was fired on December 1st for quote, disagreeing with the technical direction of the leadership at Vast and quote, the suit alleges.
Vast, for its part, says it intends to vigorously defend against these claims.
Spire Global says it is expanding its East Asian operations, announcing a new partnership and satellite mission with its first South Korean space service's customer, Hancome Group.
This will be the first commercial satellite mission for a private South Korean company.
Hancom will host an optical payload on a low earth multi-use receiver, Spire's 3U nanosatellite named Hancom, to support the launch of a new product focused on the agriculture sector, including landscaping applications and expansion of its existing image analysis portfolio offerings.
Chinese media says a modified version of the nation's Long March 8 carrier rocket has completed a 5.2 meter diameter faring separation test and a new satellite rocket joint operation test.
The launch vehicle has been developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.
China says the successful test represents a critical step in the rocket's development phase, as it prepares to enter its maiden flight test phase.
India's Skyroot Aerospace successfully test fired stage two of its Vikram-1 rocket's engine, the Kalam 250, at ISRO's propulsion test facility in Sri Harikota.
Skyroot worked closely with ISRO and in space in this critical test.
The performance was within expected bounds and Skyroot says they have received excellent sensor data across 198 channels.
The New Zealand Defense Force, known as NZDF, has announced that it launched an experimental satellite payload into orbit on a US satellite last week.
The satellite aims to allow defense scientists to conduct space communications research.
The payload, called Kory Mako, was attached to a research satellite, which was launched on a rocket lab electron rocket mission from Wallops last week.
Scientists from NZDF's Defense, Science and Technology will monitor and interact with the payload via a ground station north of Auckland.
Initial tests indicate that Kory Mako survived the launch and is operating as expected.
We're hip-hopping all over the world today.
Zimbabwe is planning to launch three new satellites.
The ZIMSAT-2 Earth Observation Satellite is currently under development and the Zimbabwean government has approved the development of two additional satellites in the initial production phases.
The African nation says it's working in collaboration with Japan on the manufacturing and development of the spacecraft and for training Zimbabwean graduates.
The European Space Agency has successfully executed its mission to de-ice the Euclid spacecraft.
Hooray!
The space telescope is millions of miles away, we should note.
The agency expected the mission to be a long-term operation with an uncertain outcome, but thankfully the plan to de-ice Euclid went off without a hitch.
After heating just one internal element, ESA found Euclid's occluded vision had cleared completely.
That is awesome news.
And hey, NASA wants your help, yes you, to track the April 8th eclipse in North America.
The US Space Agency is teaming up with Western Kentucky University to develop an app to track April solar eclipse on cell phones, and they're looking for citizen scientists to snap photos of the cosmic spectacle for research.
Participants both in and outside the eclipse path are encouraged to join NASA to learn more about our sun and earth and the effects of a total solar eclipse.
And if you're thinking that you don't have experience doing science, really, you're listening to this podcast really, but no matter, it doesn't matter.
NASA says no problem.
Projects are available for participants of any skill level.
We've added a link for further information in our show notes.
Go get it, citizen scientists, you can do this.
And an update from friend of the show, John Thompson.
Happy to report that the team that he mentors at the University of Portland is headed to the NASA Student Launch Challenge.
Congratulations to the team on their hard work, onward and upward, and best of luck in Huntsville next month.
[MUSIC] That's it for our Intel briefing for today.
You'll find links to further reading on all the stories we've mentioned, along with a few extras.
One's from Boeing on their Starliner crew, another from Hawkeye 360, announcing a new advisory board class.
And the last is a new COO announcement from Sierra Space.
AT-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.
Just send us an email at space@entuk.com.
Send us a note through our website so we can connect about building a program to meet your goals.
[MUSIC] [SOUND] Our guest today is returning friend of the show, Bryce Kennedy, president of the Association of Commercial Space Professionals, or ACSP.
ACSP recently held a workshop in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
So I asked Bryce to tell us a little more about how it went.
[MUSIC] Every time I'm amazed by this, because it's a pretty intensive training, like I said before, we focus on export compliance, telecom, and government contracting over four days.
But the thing that really was different about this one was the deep level of networking and interaction with the speakers themselves, that I think is so helpful and it's something that we're going to lean into more.
It's not just your talk that, but the attendees were able to really dial in and ask some really good questions and then also share meals with these talk-level speakers and subject matter experts that I don't think they would normally have access to.
And so that's kind of what we're seeing the secret sauce to our boot camps.
Yeah, I'm really excited and I think it's a huge takeaway.
That's awesome.
And is there another one coming up later this year in DC?
Or am I making that up?
No, we actually do have one.
It's going to be focused on nuclear rights, actually.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, yeah.
It's in the fall.
And basically, the whole focus is to start having the conversations from an advocacy part and then also two scientists from Sandalia Labs came to me last year or two years ago.
And they're like, "Hey, do you know how we can start spreading the word on commercial nuclear launch?"
And I was like, "You're Sandalia Labs.
And it turns out that any of the regulatory schemes, just like everything else, but for nuclear is brutally difficult.
Commercial companies don't have any clue how to do it, let alone a lot of government entities.
And so if we're looking to advance in space, then a high probability nuclear is going to be it.
And so how do we do that safely?
How do we do that intentionally?
And so that's what this next one's going to be.
And we're really excited.
We're just in the ground phase of putting it all together, but that's going to be a big one for ACSP.
That's really cool.
And I'll make sure that we put a link in the show notes for folks to find out more information for those who want to register.
Okay, that's awesome.
So, all right.
So you've also had other stuff going on since we last talked.
And so walk me through what you've been up to.
Hard pivot.
So I don't know for the listeners, but that was before my space for a...
I was an executive coaching company in New York City for Boston Consulting Group for many years.
And I recently, after the boot camp, took a week off and I went to meditate in Northern California, which I tend to do a couple of times a year.
And it really struck me that as our society is moving faster and harder, and we have more technology and we have more inputs, and we have more of this, that, the other thing, and we're checking our phones and everything that everyone knows, right?
The addictions, this, that, that.
It used to be even five years ago when I was in the space, kind of looked at as a luxury to meditate, to look inward.
And I realized this last week when I was meditating that it's, we're getting to the point where it's not so much a luxury anymore.
It's like eating healthy or sunlight or air with this just oversaturation of stimulus.
That the need for really self care, self reflection and boundaries on time and space is just, it's critical.
It's critical.
And that was a big aha for me because that was one of the things that I always worked on with my, with the consultants.
I was like, Hey, it's important.
But now we're at this point, there's a special where it's like, it's not, it's, it's even more than important.
It's like necessary.
I really appreciate you saying this because I have heard anecdotally so many times of when people are talking about sort of their glory days of when they worked at NASA or something, they knew so many people who'd like killed over at work or like the moment they retired, you know, they had like, or just so many health issues and from overwork.
This is one of those things I'm sure some people are going to desperately just very, very strongly disagree, but there, there is sort of a glamorization of, you know, give your all to the job, you know, don't have those boundaries work until, you know, everything towards the mission, which is like, I understand the, the nobility behind that, but it also makes your life feel very expendable.
And that's really not a healthy way to be.
No.
So the big thing that I used to stress to my clients and I saw it happening with me, right?
I'm a space attorney.
I'm spaced this like I'm, I'm, I'm the minute you begin identifying as the thing, whether it's a job, whether it's an industry, whether it's any type of identification is really you're leaving yourself open for a, the ripple effect of that identification being taken from you and a, in terms of a job, but B, it really, it really puts you subject to the whims of the identifying thing.
So one of the things that I noticed when I was coaching was, and I noticed it myself too, is that if your boss or your team did really well or really poorly, all of a sudden, I was affected by that external thing as good or bad.
And so now my life is, you know, correlated to the, how we're doing as this thing.
And so the disidentification, a lot of people get nervous.
They're like, well, am I still going to be very, you know, effective?
And I'll do that.
Am I going to be invested?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was one of the big things too.
They're like, well, my anxiety and my fears, what tries me and I'm like, that is awful.
That is, because it's, it's exhausting.
That was the thing when I went to this week retreat, I was like, I'm, I'm tired.
I like, at like a basal level, not just like from working to art, but like there's the energy that is used in the identification was just exhausting.
You're depleted.
Totally depleted.
Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I remember years ago when I was in the earlier part of my career, a piece of feedback I had been given, because I was also very driven by fear and anxiety, helping me do my job.
And I'd be working until like 10 or 11 at night, sometimes until two or three in the morning and then getting up at seven and doing it again.
And I remember my, the person giving me a review told me, don't take your work so personally.
And I was like, how, how do I not do that when I am literally my, I am my job.
I took it so seriously.
How do I not take feedback personally?
Such an integral part of my self identity.
It was sort of that realization.
I was so enmeshed.
It took a very, very long time and I'm still working on it, trying to de-mesh my personality with what I do.
It's very, very hard.
It's brutal.
And a lot of people would say, I also, I'm exactly with what you just identified, that that investment is what keeps them going.
Like how do you work in a sustainable way, effectively, really caring about what you do if you're not putting your all into it?
Like how does one do that?
That's the paradox.
That's the thing that is so, so insane.
Because again, I can only do it 20 or 30 or 40% sometimes.
But the irony of it is you're actually more effective when you're not expending the subconscious or conscious fear on fear.
When your whole nervous system isn't geared towards that and you have space and your freedom to think, big ideas come, smoothness comes.
There's this lack of grit and whatever that takes up so much energy to push through.
I noticed even that it was something with my diet.
During the week, I removed sugar from my diet.
And all of a sudden, my anxiety levels went down.
I stopped drinking alcohol probably in 2016.
When I stopped drinking, I noticed I didn't have time to nurse the hangover.
My anxiety was so high that any type of stress you're on, whether it was food or alcohol or whatever, if I could remove that, all of a sudden, things became more seamless.
Things became more fluid and all these other things.
And so those are the type of things that I realized these external factors of building that up.
Also, the typical stuff of not checking your email first thing in the morning, having a cup of coffee, going for a walk.
Because the minute you do that, it's like you're training the mind for the hip.
You're ready for the hip.
Good hip, bad hip, it's a hip.
To me, this conversation is so crucial, especially when we're talking about, if we're going to get really tactical like workforce, development, but also taking care of people, seeing people as human and recognizing that if we want people to be their best at what they're doing, especially solving really hard problems, we have to respect the whole person and see that whole person and give them the space to be a whole person.
I think a lot of us are seeing nowadays that is not happening.
And I don't know if there's a minute time that that has happened, but can't we do better?
Yeah.
And then I always tell leaders, I always tell them, this is why me running my own organization, it takes, it starts, everyone's so focused on their workforce and all that stuff, they don't even know themselves, they don't even understand how they work.
And so giving any type of feedback, if you don't have just even a modicum of understanding of who you are, it's really kind of nonsense.
That was one of my big takeaways too when I was coaching.
I'm like, you're telling them to understand themselves, but you, that's why like the leadership is so damn important and I stress it to everyone.
I'm like, you gotta figure yourself out first.
Before you start projecting that onto your team, there's a reason your team is failing.
There's a reason your team is, you know, not cohesive.
Look at yourself first.
We'll be right back.
Welcome back.
We're going to close our show out today with a visual because why not?
We're an audio only podcast.
That said, let me tell you about this amazing image from the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration.
Do you remember where you may be a part of, because I was the nerdy furor when not that long ago, we all saw our first ever photo of the Event Horizon around a black hole.
It was kind of a blurry orangey halo around, well, a black hole.
If after that you thought researchers were just going to pack up their things and go home, no way.
In an image released yesterday, we got to see that blurry orangey halo in focus, conceptually.
And yeah, it's no blur anymore.
We have a view of distinct streaks of the magnetic fields swirling around the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* in the Milky Way.
And it looks sort of like taffy or molten metal or glass that's being pulled and shaped.
In this remarkable image, Sagittarius A* is being observed in polarized light for the first time.
And in this view, with those streaks, uncovers a magnetic field pattern, also seen in the black hole of the M87 galaxy.
And that hints at a common trait among black holes.
The discovery suggests the potential presence of a concealed jet in Sagittarius A*, by the way.
The image and findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, and the results offer insights into the magnetic dynamics at play in the heart of our galaxy's enigmatic supermassive black hole.
And yeah, the image is absolutely mind-blowing, so go look it up right now if you haven't seen it yet.
We'll link to the article in our show notes so you can see for yourself it is truly mesmerizing.
That's it for T-minus for March 28, 2024.
For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes at space.ntuk.com.
We're 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 Caruth, mixing by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester, with original music and sound design by Elliot Peltzman.
Our associate producer is Liz Stokes.
Our executive producer is Jen Iben.
Our VP is Brandon Karp.
And I'm Maria Varmazes.
Thanks for listening.
Go check out that amazing image from "Segeterious A Star."
Seriously, talk to you tomorrow. .
T-minus.
God.
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