The Internet has been blowing up with posts from people finally paying attention to NASA's plan to de-orbit the International Space Station. Yes, it is happening, folks. And although we agree with some that the station should ideally be in a museum or worthy of being placed in a position to be preserved for longer, we also understand that NASA saw the de-orbit plan as the best option. It's all well and good to call for use and recycle, but the tech just isn't ready for that. And it is a gamble to not have a plan in place right now. After all, 2030 really isn't so far away. Today is June 27th, 2024. I'm Maria Varmausis, and this is T-minus. NASA selects SpaceX to de-orbit the ISS. MDA Space contracted for the next phase of the Canadarm 3. Sierra Space's Dream Chaser is not going to be on the next ULA Vulcan launch. And our guest today is Troy Morris, CEO and co-founder of Calamorris Incorporated, also known as KMI. KMI has just announced a new partnership with Gate Space, so we'll be hearing more about that later in the show. Let's dive into today's intel briefing, shall we? The International Space Station, a testament to scientific progress and cooperation, sadly does have an expiration date. The orbiting lab is slowly deteriorating, and NASA has said for quite some time that the ISS's funding will end through 2030. That's only six years away. Time flies, right? So after the funding peters out, the ISS sadly can't be split into pieces and reused, or stay in orbit as a monument to science or a one-day museum. And while it would be nice if it could, it'd be one massive piece of space debris up there that would soon fragment into more and more problematic pieces. NASA has looked into these options, it says, but no, sadly. Once its mission is over, the ISS needs to be disposed of. And learning its lessons from the uncontrolled reentry PR nightmare that was Skylab's fiery end over Australia back in 1979, NASA has officially hired SpaceX for $843 million to build a vehicle to tug a defunct ISS to a controlled reentry over the Pacific Ocean. There aren't any details yet from NASA or SpaceX about what launch vehicle will get that space tug to space or what that space tug will look like. But it is expected to go down with the ISS and burn up during the reentry process. Still, you have to hand it to a lot of news outlets that are having fun with the headlines on this story. Like this one from the BBC, Musk's SpaceX hired to destroy ISS space station. Technically correct, but... And what comes after the ISS? Well, plans for what's next in space stations for NASA are already underway. MDA space has been awarded $1 billion from the Canadian Space Agency for the next phases of the Canadarm3 program. Canadarm3 will be used aboard Gateway, which is a multinational collaboration led by NASA, to establish a space station in lunar orbit to support human and robotic missions to the surface of the Moon. The contract includes funding for final design and construction, system assembly, integration and test of the full robotic system, as well as a ground segment for command and control. MDA space will support commissioning of the Canadarm3 robotic system once in orbit from the company's new mission control facility at its global headquarters and space robotic centre of excellence in Brampton, Ontario. The contract will also include planning and personnel training in preparation for on-orbit mission operations. The contract is expected to run until March 2030. Spaces have been flying that we were going to see Sierra Space's Dream Chaser on the next ULA Vulcan launch in September, but the space plane has been left off of the manifest. ULA's CEO said during a press conference that Sierra informed the company that it had significant risk towards making the September launch date and that it would step aside so the rocket company could move ahead with its certification with the Department of Defence. Sierra Space says that despite the change of plan, the first Dream Chaser space plane, called Tenacity, is still on track for its maiden mission before the end of the year. IntelSat has signed a contract with Starfish Space for an Otter servicing vehicle to provide life extension services to an IntelSat geostationary satellite beginning in 2026. Initially, Otter will dock with and maneuver a retired IntelSat satellite in geostationary graveyard orbit. Following this initial operation, Otter will proceed to dock with and provide life extension service to an operational IntelSat satellite using its onboard propulsion system to keep the client's satellite in operational orbit for additional years of life. Yesterday's rumors about Collins Aerospace backing out of a space suit contract with NASA have been confirmed. According to the US Space Agency, they have mutually agreed to de-scope the existing task orders on the Collins Exploration Extravihicular Activity Services contract. This de-scope includes ending the International Space Station suit demonstration, which was targeted for 2026. No further work will be performed on the task orders. This action was agreed upon after Collins recognized its development timeline would not support the space station schedule and NASA's mission objectives. The Federal Aviation Administration has announced that Firefly is the third new space company this month to formally have the Space Data Integrator, or SDI, tool become operational. SDA allows the FAA to track launch and reentry vehicles in near real time during flight for safety and airspace efficiency. Firefly will transmit vehicle telemetry data, such as position, altitude, and speed to the FAA to increase situational awareness, help to reduce airspace closures, and contribute to safety for all airspace users. Virgin Galactic and Sierra Space became SDI operational earlier in June, and SpaceX has been using the SDI tool since 2021. US Space Command confirmed the breakup of a Russian-owned decommissioned satellite from 2013, the Recurs P-1, which broke up in the North orbit on June 26th, at approximately 10 am mountain time, resulting in over 100 pieces of trackable debris. And this from the US Space Command press release. "US Space Command has observed no immediate threats and is continuing to conduct routine conjunction assessments to support the safety and sustainability of the space domain. As such, US Space Command has notified commercial, governmental, allied, and partner organizations via spacetrack.org to include Russia as the satellite owner." The Bavarian State Chancellery has signed a letter of intent with Axiom Space to collaborate on space exploration activities to include a possible future human spaceflight. The letter of intent envisages opening up the possibilities of sustainable access to space for Bavaria in the future. ISPACE's flight model of its Hakuto R-Mission-2 Resilience lunar lander has successfully completed thermal vacuum testing and remains on schedule for a winter 2024 launch. The testing was completed at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tsukuba Space Center. The flight model was assembled at the facility and all payloads or testing models were integrated into the lunar lander before testing began. ISPACE engineers are now reviewing the detailed data that resilience collected during the 10-day testing regime. The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, also known as UNOSA, and its platform for space-based information for disaster management and emergency response, known as UN-Spider, have announced that the South African National Space Agency, known as SAMHSA, has officially become a regional support office for UN-Spider. This development was confirmed during the Committee of the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space's 67th session, which will conclude on June 28. So we'll collaborate closely with UN-Spider on outreach, capacity building, cooperation, and technical advisory support. This partnership is expected to enhance disaster management and emergency response efforts in the region, leveraging SAMHSA's expertise and resources. House Stark could not be reached for comment. And that concludes today's briefing. You'll find links to further reading in the selected reading section of our show notes, and we've added a few additional articles in there, ones on ViASat working with the Spanish MOD on broadband for the Airbus C-295 MPA fleet, and another on U.S. projects to prevent hackers targeting satellites. 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. Our guest today is Troy Morris, CEO and co-founder of Cal Morris, Inc., also known as KMI. I'm Troy Morris. I'm one of the co-founders, and I serve as CEO for Cal Morris Inc. KMI. We are a space logistics company developing services for space, most famously on our orbital debris, but we're talking about some other pieces here today. Awesome. Yes, and it's been a few months since we spoke at Space Symposium, but you're back because you have some news to share, so please, I'd love to hear about it. Yeah, so it was either in the minutes before or the hours thereafter that we got an in-person meeting with our now partners at Gatespace. So KMI, we've been developing a wealth of leading technologies for the rendezvous retrieval relocation of objects in orbit, and one huge asset of that is how do you actually affix yourself or other hardware onto something in space. And with Gatespace, they've brought the Jetpack, a great propulsion solution, with the question of, "Okay, we can apply it here on the ground to help bring this propulsion opportunity as a external swap." How do you fix it to something that's already post-launch? And so between our two problems, as we looked at each other, having originally met out in October during a great event, meeting again in Colorado Springs there and touching hardware, talking, really being able to build this collaboration. And just this week, we're announcing the partnership is we're working to move those technologies together as just one offering between both companies that we'd be able to affix propulsion, affix mobility onto objects already in orbit. Oh, that's exciting. Well, congratulations. That sounds like a peanut butter and jelly, like a merging of two really great things right there. It really is. Yeah. It's a partnership that once you took one-in-one and one-hand-of-the-other, you're like, "These should go together." Yeah. It was a very fortuitous and very easy type of... Once we started getting some of the technical questions answered. Oh, that's fantastic. So timelines, details, tell me a bit more about what this is going to look like. Yeah. So timelines, as there's a wealth of other missions already happening, they're nearer term than some of the space missions we talk about for decades out of, you know, met on Venus. But it's something we're looking 2026, 2027 to really bring these capabilities online. There's some testing components that still need to prove out the hardware in a free-flying environment. But it's something that unfortunately also falls beyond other priorities, which I won't balloon this news with that other exciting pieces that'll be coming out in a few weeks here of what at least KMI is working on. So it's something we're excited that this has a realistic deadline. It has a realistic path both on the commercial side as well as our government partners. We've got a wealth of opportunities just within KMI alone to bring the technology known as Astiria is the special piece here that goes with the Jetpack. So Jetpack is all good, but you need some straps to put it onto a soldier. So for those fans of Rocketeer back in, oh, what was that, the nineties? Oh my God. Yeah. I try not to think about that movie too much, but yes. It is a delightful new movie. I'm not disagreeing. You've insulted me. That's one of my favorites. I'm not disagreeing, but like, we use the word Rocketeer so much, I have to be like, don't think about the movie. Don't think about the movie. So it's just. I'm directly leaning into the movie. Okay. So, you know, very early on they developed, you know, that Jetpack that just flies around, but you need some way to attach it. You need some way to have control. And that's what Astiria provides is that actual attachment piece. And Astiria isn't just for, for Jetpacks and for deorbit devices and for, you know, big sales so we can drag things around. It really is a post launch attachment for many things. And Gatespace is wonderfully one of our early partners recognizing that opportunity and wanting to bring their mobility to more customers. And it just, it, hearing this is just so neat because it just really does sound, I mean, we were talking about the Rocketeer and I'm just like, it does sound like all this really cool sci-fi come to life. And I sort of, what I love about doing this job is I get to talk to people like yourself and we're making that happen. And especially for such a really worthy, really important mission. I mean, it's just really freaking cool. That's the goal. That's the goal is that I think we said very early on in KMI's company history that we just want to impress our younger selves. And that's a very high bar. We had great imaginations as children and young students. So it's something that, yeah, when we can continue to impress others, whether that's, you know, part of the industry, commercial customers, government customers, we really want to be able and available as a suite of solutions. And so being able to offer this that, yep, if you've already missed your critical design reviews, you know, you can still work this. If you've already launched, you can still work this. If you lost control, but you'd like to regain some, we can come in and provide a longstanding solution that isn't just an attached tug that stays on the outside, but a leave behind effect. And that's really where we see the opportunities that, you know, it's one thing to have a tugboat pulling you around a harbor. That's a lot of mass you're moving around. But if you can leave just what you want, just the propulsion, that's the opportunity that we've heard many customers asking for. That's pretty incredible. And in terms of timelines, as you mentioned, I mean, in terms of space, that's pretty soon. I mean, we talk about usually decades. I mean, that's pretty soon. So that's fantastic news and that came about at Space Symposium is pretty neat too. Yeah. I think in the press release is a picture of us by, I call it Lake Broadmoor. I'm sure it has, it's an actual name. But right there where we watched the fireworks every year was, you know, we stood there, pulled out hardwood, looked at it and I was like, Oh, we should take a picture. This is a cool opportunity. You know, so rarely in this modern age do you get to get your hands on hardware without a lot of extra travel. And as a small businesses, you know, travel is an expense in time and funds, but often time. And so being able to meet, I think we've now met in the three different parts of the world at different events and being able to hammer this out between those and plenty of online calls. It's something that we're very happy to be working with the Gatespace team. They're a fellow creative destruction lab company. And we've gotten to finally get something out there into the world about what we're working on together. Oh, that's cool. And we'll make sure that we'll send this to the symposium folks that they know. I mean, I know they know the value of their event, but seriously, it just speaks to how important being in person really, it matters for a lot of these kinds of relationships. And especially as you said, getting your hands on hardware, I mean, there's nothing better than that. So that's really cool. It's fun when you can take it, try not to break it, but really see how things can come together. So yeah, we've enjoyed it and we're looking forward to it came out, you know, many of our other partnerships that with this is kind of a lead in the charge of there's a good reason to get out the word. Sometimes the aerospace industry has a problem of being too quiet or too reserved. And I think, you know, for example, contemporary, we look at what China has recently done to the moon and back. You got to put the word out there so that people know this cool sign stuff is happening every day. The mundane madness that we all live in should be shared with the world. And so that's what we're trying to do. It's keeping space clear for all, but also let's let's champion space for all though. So that's that's what I'm leading towards here. Cosign absolutely on board with you. I think that's so important. Obviously, that's a big part of our mission too. So I'm thrilled that that you're also making that happen. So congratulations on this cool partnership news. It sounds fantastic. So looking forward to seeing what as things progress, how things go. So thanks for sharing it with us as well. So really appreciate your time. I appreciate it. It's always great getting into talk with T minus. I mean, with T is my name. It just is a natural fit. So I know I appreciate it. And for anyone looking to learn more, I always welcome to reach out through a website, call morris.com. We're very active on social media, LinkedIn. Find us at one of these events and conferences. I know we've got a few different key notes and panels we've been invited to through the rest of the year. So if you see a space ranger and a K my shirt, say hello. We'd love talking, finding these opportunities and building more together. We'll be right back. Yesterday our top story was about naturally occurring graphene apparently found on the moon via the Chung of five mission. And today there are some more surprises from rocks in space. This time from the asteroid Bennu via NASA's OSIRIS Rex mission. Yes, we are now getting the science from that jar of retrieved asteroid samples that just wouldn't become unstuck. Read Joyce Bennu was picked as an asteroid to study because it is a primitive asteroid, meaning it's a time capsule of materials formed at the start of our own solar system. And as expected, the sample reveals that Bennu is indeed very carbon and nitrogen rich. And that also as expected, it contains organic compounds that serve as the building blocks of life. It's a mostly clay asteroid, similar in composition to rocks frequently found in mid ocean ridges on earth. Cool stuff. But unexpectedly, the Bennu sample also contains an unusually pure magnesium sodium phosphate. OSIRIS Rex hadn't detected the phosphate while it was at the asteroid, so this did come as a surprise. And okay, it's been a while since my last chemistry class. So what does the presence of phosphate mean? Well, in a blog post on NASA's website, Dante Loretta, who is the principal investigator for OSIRIS Rex at the University of Arizona, Tucson, said the presence and state of phosphates, along with other elements and compounds on Bennu, suggest a watery past for this asteroid. Bennu potentially could have once been part of a wetter world, although this hypothesis requires further investigation. We don't want to dive too deep here, but let's just stay with that hypothesis for a moment. Since Bennu's rocks are in their unaltered, unmelted original state from our solar systems formation four and a half billion years ago, that presence of a watery past might mean that Bennu came from an ancient watery world from our solar systems very distant past. Just another tiny piece in the massive puzzle here that might help us better understand how life, as we know it, came to be. That's it for T-Minus for June 27th, 2024, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes at space.n2k.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, many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. This episode was produced by Alice Carruth. Our associate producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester, with original music by Elliot Peltzman. 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 Varmasus. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow. [MUSIC PLAYING] [VIDEO PLAYBACK] -T-Minus. [END PLAYBACK] [END PLAYBACK] [BLANK_AUDIO]
