[MUSIC] This has been a long time coming. Terran Orbital has been in troubled waters. They sent up the rescue signals at the end of last year after considerable pressure from the New York Stock Exchange due to its low share price. This year hasn't been smooth sailing, in fact, far from it. And they needed a way out of the financial downward spiral. So here comes a big conglomerate to save the day. There's a buyer on the horizon for the satellite manufacturer, and it's a name we're all too familiar with. [MUSIC] Today is August 15th, 2024. I'm Maria Varmazes, and this is T-minus. [MUSIC] Lockheed Martin to acquire Terran Orbital. Redwire to acquire Hera Systems, SDA and York Space demonstrate the Link 16 connection from Leo. And today's guest is former NASA astronaut Dr. Anna Fisher. Dr. Fisher has joined the CalMorris Incorporated Board of Advisors and shares why she continues to find space debris, a pressing problem for the industry. [MUSIC] A very happy Thursday everybody. Let's dive into today's intelligence briefing. In order to live long and prosper, Terran Orbital has signed an acquisition agreement worth $450 million with Lockheed Martin. Lockheed will buy outstanding shares of Terran's outstanding stock at 25 cents a share, and also retire the company's existing debt. The two companies have worked together previously in the past, that's an understatement, with Lockheed being Terran's largest customer all in all. And for its part, Lockheed Martin says bringing Terran Orbital into the fold makes a lot of sense. Robert Lightfoot, the president of Lockheed Martin, added this. We've worked with Terran Orbital for more than seven years on a variety of successful missions. Their capabilities, talent and business momentum align with Lockheed Martin's space's strategic plans. And we're looking forward to welcoming them to our team. Our customers require advanced technology and even faster product development, and that's what we can achieve together. And Lockheed Martin isn't the only company making big purchase announcements today. Redwire Space has shared that they are acquiring Spacecraft developer, Hera Systems. Redwire says with the acquisition of Hera, they expect to strengthen their spacecraft portfolio and be well equipped to support specialized national security space missions in geostationary orbit. Hera Systems was contracted by Orion Space Solutions to develop three satellites for the US Space Force's Tetra 5 mission, which is an on-orbit servicing demonstration in Leo. Redwire has significantly increased its national security space business, recently announcing that it was awarded a prime contract to develop and demonstrate a very low-earth orbit, or V-Leo spacecraft, for DARPA's Otter program. No details were shared in the announcement about the purchase price. AST Space Mobile shared second quarter financial updates this week. The cellular broadband network provider is performing well after nearing its target to launch the first of its satellite constellation, which is expected to lift off in early September. The company boasts cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash of $287.6 million. They are expecting revenue dollars to roll in once the Bluebird satellites are in operation. The US Space Development Agency and commercial partners York Space successfully demonstrated a Link 16 network entry from Tronche Zero satellites in Leo to a US Navy ship in international waters. The demonstration marks a critical advancement in realizing SDA's proliferated warfighter space architecture, also known as PWSA. York developed, delivered, and successfully launched nine satellites for Tronche Zero. York Space says the successful execution of this test represents a significant step forward in enhancing real-time, all-domain communication capabilities, bringing the SDA and partners closer to making Link 16 an operational reality in space. York is also developing an additional 42 satellites for SDA's Tronche One of the PWSA, expected to launch in later this year, and an additional 12 experimental satellites as part of the Tronche One development and experimentation system program, which is scheduled for launch for next year, and 62 satellites for Tronche Two Alpha, which is scheduled for launch in 2026. NASA took to the social media platform X to share that the recently announced AXIEM Mission 4, also known as AX4, is now targeted to launch no earlier than Spring 2025. It's AXIEM's fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The AX4 crew members are pending approval to fly to the orbiting lab by the Multilateral Crew Operations Panel. NASA says the crew will continue to train with the US Space Agency, International Partners, AXIEM, and SpaceX ahead of their flight. Northrop Grumman has filed a worker adjustment and retraining notice with state and local government agencies in California, notifying employees of potential workforce reductions. It's reported that the company plans to lay off 550 full-time employees at its space business facilities in Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach, both in California, marking another round of job cuts in the space sector. Hong Kong's US Space Technology Group has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Egyptian Space Agency known as EJSA. US Space hopes this move will allow them to expand their business presence in the fast-growing African space market. US Space and EJSA intend to set up a joint venture in Cairo, which will be one of the first commercialized aerospace companies in Egypt, marking a significant milestone in the group's aerospace business development in the Africa region. US Space and EJSA plan to collaborate on centers for satellite manufacturing, payload design and manufacturing, and component and precision manufacturing at the Egyptian Space City in Cairo, Egypt. They will also establish an integrated satellite constellation for remote sensing and communication across the African continent, based at the Egyptian Space City, and a globally-oriented space laboratory in Cairo. [Music] And that concludes our briefing for today. As always, you'll find links in the selected reading section of our show notes to further reading on all of the stories that we've mentioned on today's show. And as always, we've included a few extra, and today we've got three for you, ones on a new satellite bus announcement from Apex, there's another one that's an award announcement for BAE, and a CEO transition for Spectrum Advanced Manufacturing. All those links and much more can be found on our website, space.ntuk.com, and just click on the T-minus episode title. 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 like to hear from you. Just send us an email at space@ntuk.com or send us a note through our website so we can connect about building a program to meet your goals. [Music] Our guest today is former NASA astronaut Dr. Anna Fisher. Dr. Fisher was part of the crew of the second flight of the orbiter Discovery. The mission of STS-51A was to rendezvous with two satellites that had failed to make their designated orbits, then capture them, and then return them to Earth. It was known as the first space debris cleanup mission, and now Dr. Fisher has joined the board of advisors for CalMorris Incorporated, better known as KMI. She shared with us more about her mission and what drew her to KMI. In February of 1984, the two satellites that I'm going to talk about were deployed from an earlier shuttle mission, and they were supposed to have another rocket take them to de-synchronous orbit, which is a much higher orbit than where the shuttle flies. The two satellites had been deployed, and basically they were totally useless because they were in the wrong orbit because the rocket that was supposed to take them to a higher orbit failed. So that was February, and in November we flew a shuttle mission to deploy two satellites, and to also, for the first time in history, try to retrieve two satellites and bring them back to Earth so they could be refurbished and launched again. It was actually the insurance underwriters, Lloyds of London, and their subsidiaries that were the big drivers for the mission. Your mission often comes up when I talk to people about space debris nowadays of like, "We can't do that anymore." It seems amazing to almost put it in modern, like, if you think about it nowadays, the idea that we actually sent people to retrieve satellites nowadays, that would be, that blows people's minds, but it's just fascinating that we did that, that you did that. It's just incredible. Well, you know, it, this is a pretty amazing place to work. When challenged, they can often find a solution for most anything, but we were really excited to have that mission because it did a lot of things. It showed that we could retrieve these large objects, we could handle them, which I think laid some of the groundwork for building the space station later on. And it was just really neat because it was the only mission that brought satellites back to Earth. There were several shuttle missions where astronauts went outside and performed a procedure to take a satellite because there was some problem with it, but then deployed it from, on that same mission. So it was the first time that anyone had ever done anything like that. Tell me a bit about what it was like to catch those satellites because I've read about it many, many times, but I mean, I'm using catch very casually, obviously, but please tell me about it because I'm just so fascinated by this. There are two moments that, that really, really stick out. One is as we rendezvoused with the satellite. So now we're in position for me to go and grab the satellite. And the thing I remember most, the main difference from being in the simulator, one year waitlist, of course, but, but it was all the motion because, you know, the satellite was right next to the shuttle, right off the starboard side of the shuttle. The shuttle was maneuvering a little bit. The command, commander Rick Hough was, you know, maneuvering to station keep or flight formation with the satellite. And then the earth is turning, the clouds are moving, and I'm getting ready to move the arm. The overpowering memory that I had is all that motion. And I was really glad I was so well trained because you really had to block all of that out of your, out of your mind. And I just prepared to do your task. We did encounter some difficulties. So we wound up having to change our plan a little bit, which involved me putting my crewmate Joe Allen in some foot restraints on the end of the arm. And then he wound up having to hold the satellite manually, which, you know, probably weighs like a ton or so here on the ground about the size of one of those like small school buses. So then I had to maneuver him holding the satellite down into the payload bay. So it was just so exciting because not only were we doing something for the first time, but we did have a problem that we encountered that we overcame, which is one of the reasons why having humans in space is so important. Because if it had just been planned, you know, with a robot or something, perhaps that wouldn't have been as successful at that time. Ma'am, that's amazing. That's absolutely incredible. I feel odd sort of transitioning into the CalMorris KMI news from this, but to me it feels like a sort of natural segue. Because as I said, when KMI told me that you were on their advisory board, it just makes so much sense. Can you walk me through maybe how this all transpired because it must be an interesting story. Oh, yes, it is actually an interesting story. I speak at the Kennedy Space Center usually about twice a year or so. So I had a PowerPoint presentation that I was showing and talked about the retrieval and all of that and just what it's like to be in space. So after that, we go to one of the gift shops at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center and sign autographs and take pictures with folks and who should come up. But Adam called and he comes up and said he was heard in my talk and they informed a company to try to look at the issue of space debris and how to tackle it. And could he give me a call and that perhaps what I consider being a part of KMI. And so I said, well, I'll certainly listen to what you have to say. And so we scheduled a meeting and we talked about it and it sounded like a good fit to be a part of their board of advisors. And I was very impressed with their dedication and their interest and how they had come to who found their company. So I said, yes, I think I would like to try that. And I think I could perhaps help you out. Yeah, that is really fascinating. That's such a great way of meeting. I'm sort of trying to imagine what kind of conversations, like how you're guiding them. I mean, you have sort of the original perspective on space debris in a way. So I imagine you must have some really fascinating perspective as they are developing what they're working on. Well, it's very interesting because the board of advisors at this point is pretty much made up of people with financial backgrounds and venture capitals, the kind of things that you need when you're starting a new company. What I was told, they started KMI in 2019. And so they had not yet really found the right person to perhaps give them the more technical side of things and working with NASA and that sort of thing. So I think that's where I will be able to be very helpful, both in what it's like to be up in space and how easy is it to do the things that they want to do. And then also just for the other day, for example, they have a prototype of their, I'll call it an end effector that they're going to use to capture debris that's going to apply on the ISS, the International Space Station. And it's launching pretty soon in September of this year. And so we reviewed the procedures and, you know, I worked on Space Station was a capcom for ISS. So I'm quite familiar looking at their procedures. I helped develop the standards for how we do the procedures and things in my job as the lead of the Space Station branch and the astronaut office. So there's lots of different ways, plus, you know, just giving them advice on, you know, people to contact, things like that. So just the kind of things that you would do as on a board of advisors. And I was just very impressed with all the people I've met so far. Their technical expertise, their enthusiasm, how they've gotten as far as they've gotten because space debris is a really, really big problem. And it's gets bigger. Just as time goes by, the space debris is growing exponentially. And it's a it's something that we have discussed in our meetings. We have the Association of Space Explorers that meets once a year. And I would say at about the last four of our meetings, there's always been a lot of talk around the problem of space debris. And we're trying to figure out, you know, how we can can solve that. And so it's something that I was interested in me before Adam contacted me. And so it's just, you know, just like a perfect fit to something that I really believe in. And I get to help them solve a very big problem that we're going to have to deal with in the future. Absolutely. KMI is a fantastic company. I've had the privilege of speaking with them several times. And what they're doing is truly impressive. And certainly there are also, there are many companies and organizations, I should say, trying from many different angles and approaches to tackle the space debris problem because it is very multifaceted. I'm curious, as you look at sort of the field of, you know, all these organizations trying to mitigate space debris, what fascinates you and like what excites you about what people are developing right now? It's just exciting to see young people who just graduated and they decided they wanted to get involved in space. So they researched it and came to the same conclusion that many of the astronauts have come to that space degree is a growing problem and a problem that's growing exponentially. I don't know what all other areas they looked at, but I think they picked one that is really important and one that we're very concerned about. We're trying to tackle it a little differently from the Association of Space Explorers. We really feel that we need to create an international organization, something like the FAA, but for space. And right now, anyone can launch into space at any time and there are no rules or regulations. And so there's nobody to say, okay, if you're going to launch the satellite, what is your plan for its end of life? And, you know, there are many ways they could try to handle that, but at the moment, there's no requirement for them to even have to do that. So from our association point of view, we're trying to tackle that, try to get the United Nations to get a regulatory body. And then we also think it would be worthwhile to have an international astronaut office for all the astronauts around the world. And so that's another area that we're tackling. But in the meantime, it's really a pleasure to see that a group of very bright, talented engineers recognize this as a problem and are trying to find a solution at the same time, finding, creating a company of their own. So it's really, I'm very fortunate that Adam just happened to hear my talk that day. And by the way, we will be hearing more from Dr. Fisher about her amazing trajectory into becoming an astronaut and being the first mother in space on this weekend's episode of Deep Space. That will be Saturday. Don't miss it. We'll be right back. Welcome back. You know, I was scrolling on social media as I am want to do and recently a post from the ISS stopped me in my tracks more so than usual. NASA astronaut Matthew Dominic has been busy with his camera up there and the new lens he recently got up to the station on a recent Cygnus cargo mission. Well, the results are incredible. It's not the equipment, but how you use it. And with camera work, it's really both. And boy, does Matthew know how to capture fantastic imagery on a level that we haven't really seen much of before. He made a time lapse from the ISS as it zooms over fantastic aurora borealis just waving and crusting over the surface of our planet with parts of the ISS, including a Soyuz capsule just hanging there in the frame. What a contrast between the mechanical and nature, but both so beautiful in their respective ways. And for my fellow camera geeks, the new glass on the ISS is an Ari Zeiss 15 millimeter T1.8. And I for one will never get my hands on one because they currently retail at nearly 40 grand a piece. But hey, worth every penny, honestly. And it's an absolutely good hands as he also shot a 0.8 second exposure at ISO 25,600, which is such a high ISO that not that long ago it would have resulted in a totally unusably grainy image. But the image he shot of just the ISS hanging out over the earth shows the lights from earth below with a full star field above along with the Milky Way. All of it in sharp detail. And no, it's not a composite. It's fantastic. And you really need to see it as camera technology advances. We here on earth get a better and better sense of what the view must truly be like for the astronauts. All we needed was a high end lens, the price of a car. But hey, we finally got there. That's it for T-minus for August 15, 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 Kilby is our publisher, and I am your host, Maria Varmausus. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow. T-minus. Bye guys.
