You know, I'm from the United States northeast, so honestly, saying y'all feels way out of my lane, but today it's really merited. Y'all, I'm not even going to pretend today's top story about SpaceX moving its headquarters from California to Texas isn't a hot potato on so many levels, economically, socially, politically. Our show is about the space industry, of course, so this move is definitely going to affect a lot of people. Opportunities for some, upheavals for others, plenty of confusion in the meantime. The chips, as they say, for this SpaceX move will take a while to fall where they may. Today is July 17th, 2024. I'm Maria Varmausis and this is T-minus. SpaceX to move its California headquarters to Texas. The U.S. and KSA strengthen their space partnership. LeoLabs to support the UK's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance constellation. And our guest today is Dan Dombocker, CEO of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, also known as AIAA. We'll be discussing the upcoming Ascend Conference in Las Vegas, so stay with us for more details on that. It is Wednesday everybody, let's get into it. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has announced that the company will be moving its headquarters from California to Texas. We are not going to comment or speculate on the reason stated or otherwise for this move. It is way outside our scope here at T-minus, so please do your own due diligence there. Regarding the HQ move logistically, SpaceX had already announced a 100 million five-story office to be built at its Boca Chica Starbase earlier this year. Construction for that office has already started and is set to be completed by 2025. SpaceX also has facilities in Bastrop, where Musk is building the Hyperloop Plaza, which he imagines as a work-live community for his employees. He already moved his Tesla operations to the state of Texas and plans to move his social media company X there as well. It is unclear right now how many people this move will affect. Public filings show that SpaceX employs around 13,000 people across the country. Hawthorne, California city officials have yet to comment about the company's decision to relocate or answer questions about how the change could impact the local job market. Public filings made with the Texas Secretary of State Office in February showed Musk's interest in moving SpaceX to Texas as the company requested to change its incorporation location to that state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott shared on Musk's social media platform X that the move "semends Texas as the leader in space exploration." This news comes as SpaceX continues its investigation into a mishap with a recent Falcon 9 launch causing scheduling issues for many space companies. The Falcon 9 is grounded while SpaceX works with the FAA to investigate the cause of a failure with the rocket's second stage, which occurred late in a launch on July 11. SpaceX has submitted a request with the FAA to fly the Falcon 9 while the investigation continues. The FAA for its part says it is reviewing that request. The United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have signed a strategic cooperation agreement on civil space research and exploration. The two nations plan to increase joint investment in various commercial activities and establish a comprehensive legal framework that facilitates cooperation between them for the exchange of expertise and the development of joint programs. The agreement also noted the importance of the Artemis Accords, signed by Saudi Arabia in 2022. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson signed the agreement representing the United States while Saudi Arabia Space Agency CEO Mohammed bin Saud al-Tamimi signed on behalf of the Kingdom. LeoLabs has been selected to support the launch and operations of the UK Space Command's project Taiki by delivering space tracking and monitoring and collision avoidance services. Taiki is scheduled to launch this summer and is being built under the Istari program. This project aims to test and demonstrate technologies that will form the UK Space Command's first Istari multi-satellite intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance constellation in low Earth orbit. In addition to providing space situational awareness services for Taiki, LeoLabs will also provide the UK Space Command with space domain awareness services, including persistent monitoring of selected high-interest objects. Currently Space Company Ramone Space has launched a new subsidiary, Ramone Space UK. This move establishes the company's first European office. Ramone Space UK will serve as a key engineering hub, both within the UK and globally. The company will be based at Surrey Research Park, operated by the University of Surrey, which will provide Ramone Space with access to a community of space innovators and researchers. Ramone Space UK is embarking on significant hiring initiatives to attract local talent. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center, known as InSpace, has granted authorization to Dhruva Space to provide ground stations as a service. The Hyderabad-based Space Company says the authorization allows Dhruva to commercially support a wide range of space missions efficiently and effectively. Dhruva Space has designed and developed six ground stations in VHF and UHF bands, and two ground stations in S and/or X bands. The company's established its S and X ground station at IIT Hyderabad in 2021, which is now a cornerstone of the company's ground segment solutions. This facility will play a pivotal role in supporting Dhruva Space's upcoming LEAP-1 hosted payload mission, which is scheduled for later this year. The Space Launch System's rocket core stage for the Artemis-2 test flight is on its way to Florida. Engineers maneuvered the giant core stage from inside NASA's Mishu assembly facility in New Orleans to the agency's Pegasus barge. The barge will ferry the stage more than 900 miles to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will be prepared in the vehicle assembly building for attachment to other rocket and Orion spacecraft elements. Space for Humanity has selected Science Communicator and Star of Emily's Wonder Lab, Emily Kellandrelly, for their Citizen Astronaut Program. The nonprofit organization operates the Citizen Astronaut Program to send individuals of any walk of life to space to experience the so-called "overview effect." Space for Humanity provides its Citizen Astronauts specialized training so that upon their return to Earth they can serve as leaders and global ambassadors for the industry. Emily will be flying with Blue Origin on a future New Shepard launch. And my 7-year-old when she heard this news absolutely lost her mind. Congratulations, Emily! That concludes our briefing for today. We added three additional stories for you to enjoy in the selected reading section of our show notes. One's on the inaugural president of the African Space Council, another exploring different reasons for going back to the Moon, and a final piece from Wired on the race for space-based solar power. Hey T-Minus Crew, if you find this podcast useful, please do us a favor and share a five-star rating and short review in your favorite podcast app. That will help other space professionals like you to find the show and join the T-Minus Crew. Thank you so much for your support, everybody. We really appreciate it. [Music] Our guest today is Dan Dumbacher, CEO of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, also known as AIAA. Dan, it's a pleasure having you back on T-Minus again. Thank you as always for taking the time to speak with me. I'm really pleased that we had a chance to connect before Ascend. So, Ascend is coming up really soon. So you've got to be, I mean, extraordinarily busy right now, but after a lot of planning and a lot of work, what's in store at Ascend? Well, we're going to have lots of good stuff at Ascend and bigger and better than in the past. This year, NASA's participating pretty big. Vanessa Weiss is there. AC Terania, the Chief Technology Officer will be there with all of the Chief Technology Officers across the agency. Jim Freak, Carla Jackson Smith. This year, we're continuing to work on the National Security Space side. So Chris Gilles, the Director of the NRO, will be there for a fireside chat. And one of the cool things we're doing that we've been working on is bringing in those adjacent communities, those adjacent technologies, and Borye Young, a pharmaceutical company in Korea with their Humans in Space initiative will be a big participant. So we've got the diverse dozen like we've had before and with the Europa Clipper mission going on and latest from OSIRIS-REx and all the National Security Spacework. It sounds like a packed agenda. It is a packed agenda. That is exactly right. And also, in addition to all those great things, there's also sort of the, it's almost kind of a combination event with aviation too. So it looks like there's a lot of, at least looking at the program agendas. Am I understanding that correctly? Or is there a little bit of a crossover there? Well, there's a little bit of crossover. We've co-located aviation in a send and we did it for multiple reasons to help make things a little bit more efficient for our members. Something like a good way to have a six month content kind of thing flow from SciTech. So a good opportunity and as you look at it, the lines between space and aeronautics are blurring, particularly when you start to talk about hypersonics and point to point kind of things. So we'll see how this, this is an experiment. We're going to see how it works. And if it works, great. If it doesn't, well, we'll adjust. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I imagine it's hard to sort of pick a favorite, but is there something you're especially looking forward to at a send this year? Yeah, it is really hard to pick a favorite. I think what I'm always looking forward to with all of our forums, frankly, is AIAA continuing to get the community together so that we can work on the challenges and help make progress for the industry and help make progress for the space ecosystem, the aeronautical ecosystem, and then all of it together. So when you stand back and you walk around and you visit with people and catch up with what's going on, what is really, what I personally really like to see is how people come up to you and say, "Hey, this is great. I'm able to talk to the people I need to talk to. I need to, I'm able to work on the problems I want to work on. This is, we're getting real stuff out of this." And that's good because what that means is, is in the end, AIAA is doing a, is serving its needed function to help the, to help the aerospace ecosystem grow and be successful. And that's what we're here to do. And when you get the feedback that says you're doing it, it's all good. Yeah. And the, I'm looking at the program session topics and it just, it absolutely covers all the really key areas. It's a really robust program. I mean, I'm seeing space economy, space exploration and infrastructure, space security and protection, space and society, education and workforce. That's a huge one too. Space and sustainability and then space traffic management. I mean, boom, boom, boom. It's all right there. Well, and that's, that's what AIAA is supposed to be doing is bringing forward the priorities and helping address those issues that, that need to be addressed for, for the industry. So, you know, that's, and, and we purposely set up a send and, and aviation is starting to go a little bit like this too, where you want the technical foundation that AIAA is famous for along with the, the business side that's, that's more and more prevalent because of the commercial nature of things, both, both on the aeronautics and the space side. And you want to bring the policy people together to help make this, have the policy be supportive of what the industry is trying to accomplish. So, you know, and you can't work on these problems in your stovepipes. You have to be able to bring the people together, have the conversations, get the different perspectives in the room and, and have the debates, have the debates on stage or have the debates in the hallway, whatever it is. And what that really ends up doing is, is helping facilitate the, the industry making the progress on the challenges it needs to address. Absolutely. And then Dan, I know this is, I consider this like a victory lap as send for you. Maybe I'm not using a great term, but so you have some news and we've talked about it a little bit, but you know, maybe I don't want to steal your, your spotlight here. So what is your news when it comes to you and AIAA? Well, you're, you're alluding to the idea that this is my last set of forums. It's well known that Dan stepping down at the end of September, we will have a, an excellent replacement in place by then. All announcements TBD are to, to be coming. It's probably a better way to put it. But it's interesting you use victory lap for a kid that grew up in Indianapolis around the speedway. I don't really look at it that way. I really look at it as we're all on a, on a long journey and it's now my time to hand, hand the baton off to the next, to the next group, next person, the next group, bring in those fresh ideas, take AIAA to the next level. You know, the, my predecessor, Sandy Magnus and others, you know, they, they were great stewards of the Institute. Hopefully that's the way it's viewed with my, my time here. And now it's time for the next person to, to, to take the stewardship and, and take the Institute to the next level. So, you know, you, it's a, it's a never ending quest because the industry is always moving, changing and, and growing and AIAA is here to help that happen. And it's our mission and we will keep working at it. Yeah. I, I, I imagine you're still going to be around and involved in AIAA in some way after you step down. So, I mean, people should definitely shake your hand when they see you at a send, but it's not like it's their last shot. No, it's, no, the running joke in Dan's family is that Dan does not know how to, does not know how to stop. There's, there's a, there's a fair amount of truth to that. Now I, I will, I will still be around in some shape or form. Don't know what that'll be yet. Don't know what that'll look like, but looking forward to a little bit of change and probably a little bit more time to go hang out with the grandkids, grandchildren in the DC area and in the Minnesota area, you know, you want to be able to, you want to be able to get around and, and see the grandkids and see the family and, and do some of those things that my wife and I have always wanted to do and hopefully find a little bit more time to do. Oh, well you deserve it, Dan. I hope you do get to do all of those things and more. In the meantime, I hope everybody gets a chance to say hi and shake your hand at a send and thank you for all the work that you have done. And a send is July 30th to August 1st this year in Vegas. I'm sure people already know that because they're going. Just saying that just in case. But in the meantime, Dan, thanks again for speaking with me and congratulations and thank you for all that you've done. Well, my pleasure and thank you for this opportunity. All the work you see, the team has done an absolutely fantastic job and the AIAA team continues to knock it out of the park, both on the volunteer as well as the staff team. And you know, I'd love to say hello to everybody that's there. Please feel free to stop by and, and know that we're going to, we're going to keep after this. [MUSIC] We'll be right back. Welcome back. Who's guilty of booking a trip online and heading straight to the reviews? What are the rooms like? Does it have a pool or gym? How do I get there? All valid questions when you're looking to visit a location for the first time, right? Well, imagine if that location is space. Doesn't that need a review as well? Hmm. Dr. Sian Proctor, a member of the Inspiration for Mission crew and the first African-American woman to pilot a spaceship has provided us with just that. From sleep quality to ambience to location and amenities, Dr. Proctor reviewed her experience on TripAdvisor as she would a hotel. The digital site, which was built in collaboration with AIAA, includes Dr. Proctor's humorous, yet accurate reviews of space in her own words, videos, photos, and more. Take her remarks on location. She rated space as a five out of five stars, saying, and I quote, "The atmosphere was out of this world. We were 585 kilometers above the Earth's surface, higher than the International Space Station, so we could see a large section of the planet surrounded by the darkness of space." When talking about sleep quality, she noted that she quote, "Never once thought about needing a pillow." That sounds awfully nice. Her final thoughts on the review said, "I highly recommend everyone go to space. There's nothing more magical or awe-inspiring than floating in space while being bathed in Earthlight. When you do go, request a minimum of five days. Three days is just too short." We'll figure us Americans, we never get enough time on vacation. That's it for T-minus for July 17th, 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. You can email us at space@n2k.com or submit the survey and the show notes. Your feedback ensures we deliver the information that keeps you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. N2K Strategic Workforce Intelligence optimizes the value of your biggest investment, your people. We make you smarter about your team while making your team smarter. 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 Kilby is our publisher, and I'm your host, Maria Varmausus. Thanks for listening, we will see you tomorrow. T-minus. T-minus. T-minus. 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