Galactic Energy sets a new launch record.

Okay, Maria, as it's graduation time across the US right now, I figure I'd have a graduation joke for you. Why did the sun no longer go to university? The sun no longer went to university because, uh, I don't know. It already had too many degrees. Oh my God. I can never see these coming. I just, I'm, I was like, is it a corona thing? I don't know. I'm not good at these. T-minus. Twenty seconds to L-O-I. Open aboard. Today is May 31st, 2024. I'm Maria Varmausis. I'm Alice Carruth and this is T-minus. China's Galactic Energy sets a new record with two launches in three days. Peru and Slovakia signed the Artemis Accords. Starliner on course for lift off on Saturday. And I'll be speaking to Amit Shrivasta from the University of Adelaide about the inaugural Australian Space Architecture Challenge to stay with us for that chat. Happy Friday, everybody. Let's dive into today's Intel briefing, shall we? And we're starting with a new record set in China for a commercial company launch turnaround. We're getting so used to multiple launches a week, sometimes even in one day over here in the US. Thank you, SpaceX. But still, that's a novel approach across the rest of the world. But China's commercial launch company Galactic Energy has launched two rockets in three days, setting a new record for the shortest interval between two commercial launches by a private Chinese rocket company. Earlier this week, the series one rocket launched from a sea platform for the beautiful world mission. And in a new move, Chinese authorities have decided to restrict the exports of certain components and technologies in the aviation and aerospace sectors starting from July 1. According to state media, the move aims to safeguard national security and fulfill non-proliferation and other international obligations. Per the circular, the items under export control include aerospace structural parts and engine manufacturing equipment and software. The statement noted that the export control policies are not targeted at any specific country or region, but states that the government opposes any country or region using controlled items from China to engage in activities undermining China's national sovereignty, security and development. NASA has welcomed two new signatories to the Artemis Accords. Peru and Slovakia have become signatories 41 and 42 of the coalition agreement, committing to advancing the principles of safe, transparent and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond. NASA Boeing and the United Launch Alliance say they're still on track to launch the Starliner crew capsule on Saturday, June 1. NASA plans to provide live coverage of pre-launch and launch activities for the agency's Boeing crew flight test, which will carry NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sonny Williams to and from the International Space Station. Lift off of the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket and Boeing Starliner spacecraft is targeted for 12.25pm Eastern on Saturday from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Starliner plans to dock to the forward-facing port of the station's Harmony module at approximately 1.50pm on Sunday, June 2. US Space Systems Command is using commercial data analytics powered by commercially and publicly available information to provide timely surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking products to combatant commands. Known as the Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Tracking Program, or we think, TACCERT, the pilot program is a US Space Force Chief of Space Operations Initiative to rapidly deliver commercial data analytics operational planning products through the USSF field components to meet unified combatant command needs. TACCERT aims to provide a rapid, dynamic and competitive acquisition process for commercial vendors to receive taskings and deliver analytical products, using space-sensing data, through a Global Data Marketplace, or GDM. And the GDM is a web-based one-stop-shop interface, allowing the TACCERT cell to advertise, award, fund, short-term surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking contracts with commercial vendors. BlackSky Technology has been awarded a $7 million contract renewal to provide space-based imagery and analytics monitoring services to an international government customer. The undisclosed customer will have the ability to draw from multiple intelligence sources through the BlackSky platform, with direct access to high-resolution electro-optical constellation and access to partner constellations for all weather and very high-resolution imagery. CIDA Space announced that its artificial intelligence delivery platform called FeatherEdge successfully transmitted data back down to Earth for the first time on May 24. The LizzieSat-1 mission demonstrated FeatherEdge's ability to upload new algorithms post-launch, run a machine vision algorithm on the hardware accelerator capable of processing data 300 times faster than a CPU, and downlink health and status data to CIDA's Mission Control Centre in Merritt Island, Florida. Scalespace announced its optical payload launched aboard the Apex Aerys bus on the SpaceX Transport to 10 mission in March 2024, has successfully completed commissioning and captured its first in-space calibration image. Following the successful image capture yesterday on May 30, the payload called Sparrow will continue to collect high-resolution in-space data for undisclosed customers. And hey, welcome to Space CIS Lunar Industries. The company announced its successful first mission to space launched on May 6, 2024. And for that mission, Think Orbital successfully operated an electron beam welding system in space. CIS Lunar Industries developed the system that powered the operation, a 20-kilovolt power supply that boasts industry-leading size, weight and power. Good for them. And there's nothing like an audio-only podcast describing an image. But seriously, this one's worth a gander. Check out the first photo of a wooden CubeSat. You might have heard us tell you about it in previous shows. Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry have completed the LignoSat, which is the world's first wooden artificial satellite. LignoSat will launch from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida to the International Space Station in September. And now we have a picture of it. Definitely an interesting looking spacecraft for sure. And that concludes our briefing for today. We've added three additional stories to the selected reading of our show notes, ones on the ISS National Lab Conference, another on Momentus getting in trouble with the NASDAQ, and a final announcement on water purification systems for Star Lab. Those stories and more can be found on our website, space.ntuk.com, and click on this episode title. Hey T-miners crew, tune in tomorrow for T-miners Deep Space. Our show for extended interviews, special editions and deep dives with some of the most influential professionals in the space industry. Tomorrow we'll have Maria's chat with Shelly Brunswick about space entrepreneurship. Check it out while you're walking the dog. Prepping for another weekend of barbecues or celebrating the end of the school year like my kids are. You don't want to miss it. Scrolling through my LinkedIn feed a few weeks ago, I came across a post about the inaugural Australian Space Architecture Challenge. I reached out to the organiser, Amit Shavasta, to ask him to tell us more about it and where the idea came from. The Andy Thomas Centre has been around for a while and I've been working on space architecture both as a researcher and as a teacher within the context of the architecture school. Recently we had been working on the Australian Rover Challenge, which was part of an initiative to bring the first Australian Rover to the surface of the moon. With the development success of that, we were also quite interested in expanding and seeing what other capacities we've got around Australia that we could capture through a challenge like this. We initiated the Space Architecture Challenge. I think the word architecture sometimes is confusing because people think it's a very specific thing that would be only relevant to architects. Space architecture is itself quite a complex, multifaceted field which gets inputs from all forms of expertise from engineering to psychology to health and all sorts of things. It seemed like a good idea to look at something that will allow all these diverse interests to come together and supporting and helping and thinking about human habitation in space. What is it you're looking for people to put out there as ideas? What is it that you're hoping that this will achieve with this challenge? The thing with space architecture is that it is a design competition. It's an ideas competition. So we really want people to let a loose rein on the imaginations and to really try and think of approaches that are not very common. So within space architecture, one of the interesting things is that we have years of experience that we've had with the ISS and living in zero G. But once we start thinking about going to surfaces like the surface of the moon or Mars, it's a completely different game. So a lot that we've learned would be useful, but it is still really starting from scratch in many ways. So it's an opportunity for people to really get beyond what we already know and not let get burdened by that because that's what happened in an institutional context because you have that old knowledge. Sometimes you are unable to move past the limits of that. And so this is an opportunity to do that. But also this competition is particularly open to students, university students and graduates, recent graduates with the idea that we can see what the next generation is imagining for a human habitations future in space. I love that. I think it's important to start bringing in people from that student group to start thinking about the future of space. Is it only open to Australian students or is this something you're opening up to international participants as well? So the focus is on Australians, but the competition is open to international participants as long as they also have an Australian student or graduate as part of the team. So what we're trying to do is we're trying to build a context within which this collaboration can happen. So as you can understand, space is an emerging field and there are limited number of people who are isolated from each other around the world trying to do their little thing. And it's an opportunity to bring people together and find like-minded people. So what we've also done is we are, of course, supporting university students to find other partners to form teams. But we've also formed online communities to get international people to sort of join in and then connect with Australian students and graduates and see how they can develop a team together. Collaboration is key and they always say space is the ultimate team sport. Now I understand you've got quite a prize up for grabs for this competition. Can you talk to us a little bit about what it is you're offering the winning concept? So we've been quite lucky in terms of getting some sponsorships so that we can get interesting prizes. So there's, of course, a cash prize and we have about $6,000 in cash prizes with the first prize being about $3,000 and then $2,000 and $1,000. But in addition to the prize, the cash prize, there's lots of other prizes. So we have got sponsors from the industry who are supporting it in different ways. So we've got a video game company, for instance, who's going to help the winning entries developed into a video game environment and work with a video game that they're working on. We also have an education company that's going to help these students or the winners to work on as part of their training courses to develop opportunities, taking the ideas up as a start-up and then taking it forward and develop it into a business proposition or things like that. We also have partnerships with research organizations that are looking at next-generation advanced architecture manufacturing who can help students work with new technologies and prepare for other things in the future. So there's a lot of different prizes which are in-kind prizes in addition to the cash prizes. And in addition to that, what we're hoping is that the winning entries will be displayed at the 75th International Astronautical Congress, which is happening in Milan in October this year. Yeah, that's one I read about. I thought, what a great opportunity for students to get involved in. It's interesting that Australia is doing this right now when you're just starting to start a whole launch sector. We've got your first space pool that's just been licensed and hopefully you're going to have a first launch this year. What's the environment like over there in Australia at the moment when it comes to space industry and start-ups? So Australia, with a very small population but a very large land mass, means that we're quite separated from each other. And yes, there's a lot of work happening, particularly in the northern sectors around launch ports because it is an ideal ground for launch. And even in South Australia where I am based, there are a lot of companies that are particularly focusing on launch technologies as well as commsats, so satellites and communications and these sort of things. We are doing really well. But I'm personally interested in architecture and we have been working on the sidelines of looking at developing building materials using in situ resources and things like that. In addition to that, I think I should point out that we recently just launched this really huge research center called Plants for Space, which is a massive international consortium and that's another area of expertise that is developing here, which is looking at space agriculture or growing plants in space. I think you're really covering that whole concept of space for everyone and how there are different kind of career paths coming in. Could you tell us a little bit about what the University of Adelaide is doing to really ensure that students understand that there are multiple opportunities to get involved in the space industry? Yes, it's been fascinating to be at the University of Adelaide and as you've already pointed out, we are relatively new into this game. But only about five, seven years ago when the Australian Space Agency was moving its headquarters here, I think the University of Adelaide was very proactive in setting up the Antithoma Center and what they did was they actually recruited people from around the world to provide a good leadership. And since then, our Vice Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor have been particularly valuable in supporting the center and in expanding it. So you can totally understand that when the Space Research Center originally started, it was in many ways focused on very few things that we knew we were doing well. But in a matter of only a few years, they've expanded it to different areas. Like I said, space architecture, we also have space psychology. We are showing quite a leadership in space law particularly. And we have all these different forms of engineering as well as the sort of human factor sides of it coming together. And I think that's really the point of difference that we're trying to create here. Because of course a lot has happened in the past 50, 60 years where American institutions and European institutions have a lot of existing knowledge around this. And this is a point of difference that we're trying to create, which is focusing a lot on the human factors in terms of exploring space for all, as you said. Now, I know recently you've just had an Australian that went through the European Space Agency's astronaut program. Are you finding that that's inspiring the next generation of people to get involved in the space industry over there? Of course, there's no doubt about it. Every time an Australian name comes up, you can see it across the media and across social media and that is definitely having an impact. And as we are discussing right now, space is a collaboration game. It's an international game. There is no way that we can be isolated as individual nations trying to do our own little things. And the Artemis Accord is already proving that it is meant as a collaborative effort. And so any kind of contribution that any country, including Australia, is making in that regard means that a whole new generation of people feel like they're part of this larger international community. Especially in a world where we have lots of stresses for the new generation to think about with climate change and all sorts of political issues where they feel continuously disheartened by it. And these kind of efforts really establish that we are working together in a collaborative manner in trying to make the world and in this case, the universe a better place for mankind. I love that. That's a great little idea to end us on. So if people are interested in learning more about this competition, where can they find out the details and how long have they got until they're able to register their interest in this? So of course, all the information is available on our website. People can simply search for the Australian Space Architecture Challenge and that should come up. It's free to register and the registrations are open until 30th of June, after which people will have time to work on their design till the end of August with the results coming out in September. Once you go to the website, there is also a link to our online community. So if there are any international participants, they can join the online community and that will help us connect them to potential team members here in Australia. We'll be right back. Welcome back. All right, here's a little science refresher. Space is really big. Thank you, Douglas Adams. Over its vast expanses, as the universe continues to expand, light also gets stretched and we use the stretching of light to help us figure out how very, very old galaxies and stars are. Older light gets stretched more and it stretches into red, the longest visible wavelength of light and then even more into infrared. And we measure that stretching of light with the term red shifting with a number afterward. So the bigger that number, the more light has been stretched and that means the longer that light has been traveling. In other words, the further away that source of light is. Got it? Okay, so in 2015, the European Southern Observatory stunned a whole lot of people with its discovery of CR7, a very bright and very old galaxy whose full name is Cosmos Redshift 7. That puts it at about nearly 13 billion years old, given that we think the universe is around 13.8 billion years old. That means Cosmos Redshift 7 was formed a mere 800 million years after the Big Bang. It's a young and it's a young and I'm telling you all this because of web. So if you think Cosmos Redshift 7 is old, I mean, yeah, it is. Well, earlier this year, web's advanced deep extra galactic survey observed a very bright galaxy named Jade's GSZ 14-0 and this galaxy has a redshift of 14.32. That makes it now the most distant galaxy ever observed and given its redshift relative to the start of the universe. It's quite young. It formed less than 300 million years after the Big Bang and we do not understand yet how or why a galaxy formed that quickly after the Big Bang came to be so bright so fast. So there's a big mystery here. But the exciting thing is Jade's GSZ 14-0, that is a mouthful, isn't expected to be some standalone anomaly. In fact, we may very well find many more very ancient and very bright galaxies like it with web. In web's first year of observation alone, researchers found hundreds of other candidate galaxies to study that could be similar. So here's to web continuing to shatter records and uncovering deeper cosmic mysteries. Wow, pretty amazing stuff. Now let's sit for T-minus for May 31, 2024, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes at space.n2k.com. We'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like the show, please share a rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the show notes or send an email to space@n2k.com. We're privileged that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine 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. N2K makes it easy for companies to optimize your biggest investment, your people. We make you smarter about your teams while making your teams smarter. Learn how at N2K.com. This episode was produced by Alice Carruth. Our associate producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliot Peltsman and Trey Hester, with original music by Elliot Peltsman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Iben. Our executive editor is Brandon Karp. Simone Petrella is our president. Peter Kilpie is our publisher. And I'm your host, Maria Varmausus. Thanks for listening. Have a wonderful weekend. [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]