SpaceX goes up and to the right, again.

Four fantastic test flights for Starship. Nearly two-thirds of satellites in low-Earth orbit belonging to Starlink. Sometimes multiple Falcon 9 launches in one day. Yeah, it is not a mystery to anyone why SpaceX is worth a lot. And I do mean a lot of money. And that, its valuation continues to go up and up and up. Yeah, no mystery there either. T-minus. Twenty seconds to ALOS. Open aboard. Today is June 28th, 2024. I'm Maria Varmasus and this is T-minus. SpaceX's new overall valuation reaches $210 billion. New space debris cloud making a mess in Leo. Palislinia Space takes a closer look at the feasibility of data centers in space. And today's guest is Casey Hines, Executive Director of the Limitless Space Institute. Permission is to provide education to educators about space. Learn more about that later in the show. [Music] Happy Friday everyone. Here is our Intel briefing before the weekend. And last time SpaceX floated its tender offer insider share prices to Bloomberg was last December bringing the company's potential value back then to $180 billion. And yeah, back then our eyes were watering just looking at that number. Well, they've done it again. In a new exclusive with Bloomberg, SpaceX says they're now looking at yet another increased insider share price of $112 per share. And with that, bringing SpaceX's potential overall value to $210 billion. That would make it worth almost as much as ByteDance, the parent company that makes the app, TikTok. Well, we're talking about monetary worth anyway. And a follow-up to yesterday's news via US Space Com about defunct Russian satellite research P1 breaking up into debris. The debris cloud apparently necessitated the crew aboard the ISS to take shelter for about an hour. And that happened a little after 10 a.m. mountain time on Wednesday. And while US Space Com had initially tracked about 100 pieces of debris from the initial satellite break up on Wednesday, Leo Labs' own eyes on the debris said they had found nearly double that amount of debris fragments just a day later. In a statement to Reuters, Leo Labs estimates several quote "weeks to months" until this cloud of debris falls low enough to Earth to burn up in orbit. Telesolenea Space has released the results of its 2023 advanced space cloud for European net zero emission and data sovereignty, otherwise known as Ascend study, which took a look at the feasibility of data centers in space, specifically of up to 1 gigawatt of capacity on orbit by 2050. Putting data centers into orbit would help with a number of European initiatives and priorities, improving European data sovereignty, increasing data center power stability, what with unlimited solar power and no worries about the weather, and reducing the significant emissions produced by data centers, especially as AI continues to ramp up its energy consumption requirements. The emissions reduction would especially align with EU climate goals, we should note. And the study says that the technology to make all this possible is technically within reach and pursuing it would spur major investment in a high capacity, reusable launch vehicle for European use. Christof Valourge, chief technical officer at Telesolenea Space, said this of the study. The results of the Ascend study confirmed that deploying data centers in space could transform the European digital landscape, offering a more eco-friendly and sovereign solution for hosting and processing data. We're proud to be contributing to an initiative supporting Europe's net zero objectives and strengthening its technological sovereignty. Another delay for JAXA's H3 rocket, but blame the weather this time. Japan's space agency has postponed the launch of its H3 rocket, carrying the Allos-4 satellite to Monday, due to predicted bad weather. The Allos-4 satellite is designed for Earth observation, disaster response, and monitoring military activity. This launch marks the third attempt for the H3 rocket, which aims to succeed the H2A and reduce launch costs. A lot of local political leaders in Washington state showed up for a tour at Amazon's Project Kuiper Production and Testing Facility in Kirkland recently, and in a blog post about the facility and that visit, Amazon says the Kirkland facility is expected to build and ship more than 3,000 satellites for Kuiper's first constellation, with satellite deployment moving a bit out to the right, as it often does in this field, from initial estimates of the first half of this year to Q4 of this year, with the bulk launching in 2025. And that first Q4 deployment for Kuiper, by the way, will be from a ULA Atlas V. And with this updated timeline, Amazon says they expect to remain, and a quote, "on track to begin offering service to customers next year." Earth Observation Company Planet Labs has announced layoffs that will affect about 17% of its global workforce. About 180 employees in all have been or will be let go. For its part, Planet says this is part of a restructuring plan, and it expects all costs related to the reduction in force to be complete by the beginning of next year. A spending bill for Fiscal Year 2025 that is circulating in the U.S. House of Representatives, and is currently going through markups, would increase NASA's budget by 1.2% over 2024 to $25.18 billion. But it still would provide less than the White House's official request for the federal agency from this past March. That difference is a total of $205 million cut out, with that money coming from science funding, which would remain the same as 2024, no increase there at all, as well as cuts in educational STEM engagement programs. The bill is still being worked on though, and there is another markup scheduled in July, so expect things to change. And the watchful eyes of the fantastic teams at nasaspaceflight.com have been keeping tabs on the goings-on at SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, and as operations continue in preparation for Starship Flight Test No. 5, it appears that there's been some new testing involving the flight tower's arms, or chopsticks as they're often called, potentially in preparation for a tower catch of the Super Heavy Booster in the next test flight, instead of a soft ocean landing as we saw in Test No. 4. That tower catch attempt is something that Elon Musk had said he wanted to see in this next flight test, and it looks like things are moving in that direction. We've got a link with pictures and video for you from nasaspaceflight.com in the show notes. What are your plans for Sunday, by the way? A Bennu-themed picnic, perhaps, complete with jar-opening contests? Or maybe even a rewatch party of the video of Dart slamming into Diddymos? I mean, you do have plans for Asteroid Day, don't you? The Global Day of Awareness is June 30th, and it's meant to help educate the broader public about the importance of asteroids and why we need to defend Earth from any potential catastrophic asteroid impacts. Just ask the dinosaurs. And just in time for the festivities, on Saturday morning Eastern Time, break out the good glass. You're best binoculars or your telescope if you've got one. And if the gods of weather smile upon you with clear skies, you may be able to see Asteroid 2024 MK, a 400 to 800 foot rock that will be passing safely by us on Earth at a distance of only three-quarters the distance between the Earth and the Moon, which is super-fricking close! But again, no danger. It's going to be whipping by as fast, though, so it will be tough to catch, but theoretically possible. And just since this is a daytime viewing situation, watch where you are pointing your telescope, friends, and yeah, keep it away from the sun. [music] And that is it for our Intel briefing for this Friday. As always, we've got links in our show notes for you for stories that we didn't cover, but we think you'll enjoy, including a story about how NASA is going to be flying planes over the United States to make maps of air pollution sources. All this and more in air show notes and at space.ntuk.com. Hey T-minus crew, tune in tomorrow for T-minus Deep Space, which is our show for extended interviews, special editions, and deep dives with some of the most influential professionals in the space industry. And tomorrow we have a really, really special deep space for you. I'm speaking with Dave Williams at NASA, talking about the missing Apollo 14 moon trees. All of us here at N2K have been talking about this story since I interviewed Dave a little while back, and it has inspired us to seek out moon trees near where we live. So definitely tune in tomorrow to learn more about them, and hopefully get inspired to find some near you. This story is really amazing. You don't want to miss it. [music] [music] My guest today is Casey Hines, Executive Director of the Limitless Space Institute. I asked her to tell me more about her mission. [music] So our mission at the Limitless Space Institute is to inspire and educate the next generation to travel beyond our solar system, along with supporting the research and development of those technologies that will take us there. So we help fund academia around the world through grants and fellowships who are doing research on solar sales, laser propulsion, nuclear to electric, and even warp drive. And there are things that seem like science fiction, but they're actually becoming a reality. Our smartwatches and phones used to be something in Star Trek. And those science fiction shows, and it's like, those are reality. So in the next 20 to 50 years, just imagine where we're going to be with technology, and specifically in the realm of power and propulsion of spacecraft, being able to go further beyond the moon, beyond Mars, even to the next star. It's just exciting time to be alive, and because space is literally just, the space economy is growing like crazy. And so what we do then, after we get to hear about this amazing research, the educator and me is thinking, well, how can we get that in front of our future workforce? So my mind is like, okay, let's take solar sales. Those are so exciting. Those are an easier lift, so to speak. But no pun intended, but less mass. But taking those concepts and designing engineering design challenges and lesson plans, and teacher professional development to where you can inspire the teacher, who then inspire the students in their classrooms. But it's the classrooms year after year, if you have a middle school teacher teaching 100 kids every year, in 10 years you're going to reach 1,000 kids if they're still implementing those programs. So that's what I found so rewarding in the classroom was seeing how space, the kids just light up because of that awe and wonder and curiosity. That was my hope. That was how I got my students engaged in the real world application of math and the real world application of science. So that's what I'm trying to do through the Limitless Space Institute is make it engaging and exciting. Because you can say nuclear to electric and teachers are like, whoa, I'm not sitting out with a 10-foot pole. So then it's like, how do I make this fun? Especially since you mentioned middle school, I feel like those years are very crucial for those of us who end up really, really diving deep into a love of science and engineering and technology. And those are the years, like if you can really spark the imagination, it just carries you forward the rest of your life. And making it fun, because it is fun. Fundamentally, it is so fun. But I think we sometimes forget that. So I love hearing that that's also part of your mission. Absolutely. And it's not just teachers across the United States. We have cohorts of what we call limitless educators. So they apply for the program. We have access to monthly speakers from the space industry every month and curriculum every month. So we want to keep them engaged. So those monthly touch points. And then the exciting thing is we're bringing them all to Houston for an immersive five-day program. We're touring industry. We're bringing in experts in person. They're designing lesson plans. And we have our cohorts from Brazil, from Nigeria, teachers from Mexico, Philippines. I mean, it's super exciting. It's a global network coming together, because that's what space is all about. We have to work together. Not one country or person can do it alone. It's bringing people together for that common dream. I love that. That international focus is really wonderful. I feel weird asking, like, what inspired that, because it is so important, but not all efforts are global, as I agree with you. They really should be. So for you, why was that so important? I've been really fortunate to be able to travel through education, being a teacher. I got to do my student teaching in Australia and live there for a while, go to Sweden, Trinidad, and just seeing how other cultures view things with that different lens, that different perspective, different ideas. And just what I've been through in the classroom and with other teacher programs, it's when you bring all those minds together and perspectives, everyone has strengths and you build on each other's strengths and you find solutions. And that's really what embodies the International Space Station and going beyond to the moon and Mars. We're going to have to work together. And I think showing that to students is so critical, having that piece. But we start with it again with the teachers. If you have happy, excited, passionate teachers, you're going to have happy, passionate, excited kids. So that's what we're really focused on. Absolutely. Yeah, what have you been hearing from the teachers that you've been working with? Do they have any stories about how this is being received by their kids? I'd love to hear some about that. Oh, definitely. We have this amazing sponsored program by IHS Towers. It's a telecommunications company that focuses on Africa and South America. And so we've had these two cohorts of teachers starting in January and having classes with them monthly. And these are teachers that have not had a lot of exposure to space before. So it's really important for us to show the real world connection for them, why space is important in these countries to show their students why this is important. Otherwise, they don't hear about it in the news or in the curriculum. So being able to see these teachers that were a little intimidated by it, they're excited about the program because the opportunity, but not exactly knowing where to start and just seeing them blossom. And they're using our STEM kits and they're doing robotics activities with kids and water bottle rockets and that they're so excited to come to Houston. And then we are going to their countries. In August, we work with the Brazilian Space Agency. We have a partnership. We'll be going there for a week. And then we go to Lagos, Nigeria in September to do more outreach. And so just being able to work with these teachers and see them get so excited about space where they had no idea what to expect. That zero background. It's just been very rewarding as a teacher, as an executive director, and just as a human being to see that they see the relevance. And they're putting this in front of their kids and their kids are getting excited and totally engaged in the activities. So it's been amazing. That's awesome. Yeah. So you mentioned Houston. What's in store for all these educators when they get here? I imagine lots of cool things in Houston. Oh my gosh, it's Space City. So it is the Mecca kind of the space industry. And it's really exciting to where we're bringing a big thing for this, that we're funded by donations and sponsors because our big passion is to remove the financial barriers for these teachers to have these experiences because teachers don't get paid enough. There's always so much going on in the classrooms as I can speak from experience. But they will be immersed. We have speakers every day from different industries. We'll be going on tours of different industries. Venus Aerospace, they're working on Hypersonic Flight, which is super exciting. We're going to be able to go to Axiom Space, which is really exciting. We'll have a panel of women in STEM. They are going to be working together to make new fresh lesson plans that have never been created before based on the topics they've been learning about. So it's just, it's going to be go, go, go. But again, we're going to have almost 40 teachers from all over the world coming together. So they're going to share their cultures and their stories. And they're just going to make memories that are going to last a lifetime. And they're going to take that energy and bring it back to their kids once they get back in the classroom. Oh yeah, 100%. I'm feeling that enthusiasm from you. I'm ready to go. So when they're, when your teachers are talking to all these incredible companies, I mean, what are you hoping that the companies sort of take back in terms of how they think about that mission of educating the educators and reaching the next generation? Well, Venus Aerospace, I'll use them as an example. We went there last year as well because we try to show not only the lens of NASA, when we reached out for tours again this year, they were the first ones were like, yes, we cannot wait. We love the teachers last year. We love their questions because our teachers see their staff as inspiration. It doesn't matter if you are the head honcho or you are doing something on the floor that seems very trivial, simple. It's like, well, how, what's your background? What, what's, what's your degree in if you didn't have a degree? If it's technical, because we want to show kids and teachers all these different pathways. You don't have to be the astronaut or engineer. There's a need for everybody and all different skill sets, especially in STEM, the workforce. We are desperate for people that can go in and fill those jobs. And so they without hesitation welcome us back with open arms because they see it as value to their staff to see how important it is, what the work that they're doing and to inspire the teachers who are taking it back to the classroom. So that's what we hope that all of them, you know, if we see different ones every year that they take that back that there is value. We see value in them, but we do hope they see value in the teachers because they are leading our next generation. Oh, 100%. I would hope everyone would value teachers. We couldn't, we couldn't do any of this without you teachers. Casey, I just love your mission. I think this is just wonderfully important as a family member of many teachers also like I know how important this stuff is. So thank you for doing it. Before we wrap up, is there anything you want to leave our audience with? You know, again, we are funded through donations and sponsorships, and that's what helps these teachers have these experiences. And, you know, we're looking to 2025 now and we will be opening up applications for teachers for next year. So we would love to be able to have more opportunities for more teachers. So, but we can only do that through generosity of others, whether it's individuals or organizations. We're just very grateful because it is impacting these amazing educators and our future workforce. We'll be right back. Welcome back. And oh man, here are some words in combination that make a lot of us instantly happy. Legos in space. Not Legos or minifigs going to space. Not Lego sets about space. Making actual things in space built out of Legos with the cooperation of the legitimate Lego company. Yes, ESA is exploring how we might build structures on the moon. And like most of us nerds of all ages, they thought of Legos. Of course they did. Legos just make a lot of sense to use to build stuff. But instead of bright primary colored plastic for a moon base, although that would honestly be really adorable, wouldn't it? How about a structure in a cool space gray with 3D printed Legos made from lunar regolith? ESA and Lego have actually made space bricks as a proof of concept. Not from lunar regolith though, as that's kind of a rare commodity still, but from dust from actual ground up meteorites. And they definitely look 3D printed, lots of ridges and rough edges. But despite that, like actual Legos, they actually do click and snap together. Very buildable these space bricks. And here's the best news for kids of all ages. If you are near a Lego store, there's a chance you can see these ESA space bricks in person. They are going on a world tour! So North America, the UK, Europe and Australia, from now through September 20th, there's a good chance that a Lego store near you has some of these space bricks on display. There's a link in the show notes for you with the full listing for all those brick heads listening. You've got your weekend plans sorted. You're welcome. [Music] That's it for T-minus for June 28th, 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. Also, please fill out the survey in the show notes or send an email to space@n2k.com. We are 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 Caruth. 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 Karpf. Simone Petrella is our president. Peter Kilpe is our publisher. And I'm your host, Maria Varmazes. Thank you for listening. Have a wonderful weekend. [Music] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]