[MUSIC] When you are Intuitive Machines, the company that re-established an American presence on the moon after decades away, that does give you certain bragging rights. And it opens a lot of doors for new business. A new one announced today with a potential nearly $5 billion contract with NASA. That is quite a vote of confidence. But given Intuitive Machines' track record, it's not a stretch to understand why. [MUSIC] Today is September 18th, 2024. I'm Maria Varmasas, and this is T-minus. [MUSIC] Intuitive Machines awarded a Near Space Network contract. Lockheed Martin to develop a lightning mapping instrument for NOAA. York established optical communications in orbit with its Tronche Zero satellite. And T-minus producer Alice Carruth will be speaking to Maria Lannis, space for Art Foundation co-founder, on her work to inspire students to understand space through art. So stick around for the second part of the show for that chat. [MUSIC] It's Wednesday. Happy hump day, everyone. The week is flying by and the big headlines keep rolling in. At the end of the workday yesterday, NASA announced that it had awarded Intuitive Machines with a Near Space Network contract for communication and navigation services for missions in the Near Space region, which extends from Earth's space to beyond the moon. That is not an easy task, and we're pretty sure NASA kept that in mind when allocating funding for the system. The CIS Lunar Relay Services is a new firm fixed price multiple award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity task order contract. Oh, those IDIQs do run with a hefty max potential. And this contract has a base period of five years, with an additional five year option period with a maximum potential value of $4.82 billion to be precise. NASA says that lunar relays will play an essential role in the Artemis campaign to establish a long-term presence on the moon. The Lunar Relay Award also includes services to support position, navigation, and timing capabilities, which are crucial for ensuring the safety of navigation on and around the lunar surface. Under the contract, Intuitive Machines will also enable NASA to provide communication and navigation services to customer emissions in the near-space region. Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemis said in the press release announcing the award that this contract marks an inflection point in Intuitive Machines' leadership in space communications and navigation. We're pleased to partner with NASA as one team to support the Artemis campaign and endeavors to expand the lunar economy. And the contract period begins on October 1st this year, through September 30th of 2029, with the option period potentially extending the contract through September 30th, 2034. And staying with NASA Contract News, the US space agency on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which you might better know as NOAA, has selected Lockheed Martin to develop a lightning mapping instrument as part of NOAA's Geostationary Extended Observation Satellite Program, also known as GeoExo. Lockheed Martin has been awarded a cost plus award fee contract valued at approximately $298.1 million. It includes the development of two flight instruments, as well as options for two additional units. The anticipated period of performance for this contract includes support for 10 years of on-orbit operations and five years of on-orbit storage, for a total of 15 years for each flight model. NOAA and NASA oversee the development, launch testing and operation of all the satellites in the GeoExo program. York Space Systems has successfully established optical communications in orbit with its Tronch Zero satellites. The spacecraft are part of the space development agency's proliferated warfighter space architecture, and this successful demonstration makes York the second SDA provider to achieve this major milestone and the only provider to establish successfully both space to ground Link 16 and a laser communication link in orbit. Very cool. The Office of Strategic Capital has announced the $12.5 million joint investment contract in partnership with the U.S. Navy to mature Ursa Major's LINX solid rocket motor manufacturing process. Ursa Major will match the DOD investment, representing a $25 million expansion of the company's solid rocket motor capabilities. Ursa Major's investment will be used to complete an advanced manufacturing Pathfinder program for the design, manufacture and test of a Navy solid rocket motor prototype. Ursa Major is currently developing a second source Mark 104 dual thrust rocket motor for the Navy under a separate award. SpaceX launched two new European Galileo satellites into lower-thorough orbit overnight. The European Space Agency says the satellites have reached their holding point and are undergoing first basic health checks as planned. In the coming days, the satellites will be maneuvered to their target positions and all systems will be tested to confirm that they are fit for nominal operations. UTelsat has signed an agreement for multiple launches with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Under the terms of the agreement, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will provide multiple launches by an H3 launch vehicle from 2027. UTelsat works with launch providers to deliver its fleet into orbit and says this latest agreement brings additional diversity and additional opportunities to launch UTelsat's satellites in the coming years. Polaris Space Plans have received a new investment from investor Klaus Deans. The new capital brings the total amount of private funding to a total of 7.1 million euros and as part of his investment, Klaus Deans will also become a member of the advisory board at Polaris. Beyond his present investment, he will provide ongoing strategic and financial support. Polaris will use the funds for the development of the supersonic prototype NOVA and to execute on large customer contracts in advance of a larger funding round in 2025. French rocket company Sirius Space Services has signed an agreement with Equatoria Launch Australia to secure a launch facility at the company's Arnhem Space Center. The company will take up residence at Arnhem Space Center's Launch Complex No. 3 which has been renamed Le Monde as in the racetrack in France. Sirius Space says the flexibility to access a wide range of orbital inclinations was a crucial factor in its decision to select the Arnhem Space Center for the launch of its rockets. Construction of the Le Monde launch complex will begin in October 2024 with the company aiming to have the facility operational by the second half of 2025. Indian launch company Druva Space has announced a collaboration with Manastu Space which is a Mumbai based green propulsion systems startup. Manastu Space's propulsion tech will be qualified on Druva Space's LEAP3, boasted payload mission in late 2025. LEAP3 will be the third in Druva Space's renowned LEAP series which stands for launching expeditions for aspiring payloads I'm sure you were wondering which is aimed at both global and Indian markets. And that concludes our briefing for today. You can find more information on all of the stories mentioned by following the links in our show notes. We've also added one additional link from Aliria announcing a new COO. AT-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 we really appreciate your support. Our guest today is a fellow Maria this one named Maria Lannis Space for Art Foundation co-founder and this Maria works with astronaut Nicole Stott on art installations to inspire students to learn more about space. And she spoke to T-Minus producer Alice Caruth about how it all got started. Before Nicole I had my own initiative called Project Postcard. I was working with different schools from around the world and we had an exhibit in Dallas Airport called One World. So Nicole that day was coming back from Houston from working on her own project and she saw it and she tagged me. And that moment when I saw this you know tag on my Instagram account I was completely I was like what is this astronaut call thing you know and as soon as I click on the picture I see the astronaut and I'm like oh my god an astronaut likes my work. And my first thought was first of shock you know that somebody so big and important to me would be liking my work. And then the second idea was this is an opportunity for all the kids that I work with to learn about space. When I named a message I thank Nicole for tagging me and I asked her is it possible that you know my kids that kids that I work with exchanging artwork can they send postcards of space to the astronauts. And she replied yes. First we started our own postcards of space in 2018 and then Blue Origin they started their own project and we engaged with them and they invited us to participate with Club for the Future and we have been working with them sending postcards of space they give us the template and it's an amazing program because now we can broaden it up that we give the postcards to the kids they make their drawings and you know we send them to Club for the Future and whenever the next flight is they send them up to space and then the postcards are stamped you know and they're sent back to the kids so now they have something personal you know it's something it's meaningful to them you know that they got so far with you know with such a with their own personal touch so it's really nice. I love that be able to have a piece of space to hold on to to have as your own what an exceptional thing for these students around the world. It is you know before you know I used to think it looks beyond the horizon but now it really we have gone completely beyond the horizons and and their outlook on the future is so different and it's an added value to their education and you know experiences. Absolutely and you and Nicole collaborate on Space for Art Foundation. Yes we formed the Space for Art. Can you tell me a little bit about that foundation? Well after working on the Space Suit Art project we decided to create a foundation so we called it the Space for Art and we create a space in our projects for kids in hospitals in schools in refugee camps and we promote healing through art and hopefully you know you know when we get to work with these kids in the hospitals again it's another transforming idea because we're you know from the difficult moment in their lives they're going through we give them a time where hopefully they can forget about that and they can again look beyond. Yeah I love that and you guys have done a series of spacesuits with those students arts can you tell us a bit about the spacesuits that you guys make? Well each space suit is different and Nicole started you know the spacesuits with M.D. Anderson and our also co-founder Ian Zion and it started small you know with just kids you know with that same idea kids artwork put them in a space suit and luckily we they were able to send them to space so it's the same simple idea and to gather the artwork from different hospitals and just you know have ILC Dover create the spacesuits which even gives it a greater meaning because what they do is incredible and and when the kids learn that and when they see the final product is mind-blowing you know is to participate in something like that to give them a moment like that to give them a memory like that to make them part of history like that is um it has it's priceless and rewarding I'm sure. And rewarding you know for everybody who participates. Yeah and how many of them have been to space so far? Three so far. Incredible and how many of you made all together? About five. Wow and where can people find out about the spacesuits? We they can find out through our website the spaceforartfoundation.org and we also have the latest spacesuit well the latest person spaceuit is called Infinity but before that it was called Beyond and with our Beyond spacesuit we did it through during COVID time so we couldn't go into hospitals and work with the kids so that we made in a way virtual you know the kids just had just had to send us the pictures of the drawings and we were lucky enough well we worked hard we were able to capture a drawing from every country on the planet so everybody's represented there and we went a step beyond the spacesuit and we made a virtual spacesuit so everybody can you know go to our website and look at the spacesuit click on it where they will see the spacesuit and they can click on the each picture and see where the picture came from which country which organization and it's a way great it's a great way to learn about geography but also for the kids who participated to see wherever they are in the world their artwork. How have you found the students reacting having changed from being artwork focused on their earth-based neighborhoods to artwork that's going to space have you seen any sort of transition has that been more inspiring less inspiring more engaging you know kids love to tell their stories and it's a mix because some kids will send stories they continue telling their stories where they come from telling the stories to the astronauts right and they also have questions about space about aliens about what they eat so now it's gone you know to another layer right now they can talk about now the subject is space and what happens you know from aliens to how you live there. Yeah I mean what a great way to bring students in and getting them engaged in space if people want to find out more about all your projects where is it they can find all of your artwork on our website which is www.spaceforartfoundation.org and they can always come to our website and engage in our project and send postcards to space and be part of this great experience. [Music] We'll be right back. Welcome back and while its launch is still some years out we are today one step closer to super wide field views of space via NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman space telescope. Yesterday at NASA Goddard the spacecraft bus for roman was officially complete after eight years of construction installation and testing work. The Nancy Grace Roman space telescope is scheduled to launch in May 2027 and now that its bus is complete integration of its major components including the telescope itself can now begin. That is very exciting and I do ooh and ah at the fantastic data that we get from Chandra, Hubble and Web and I've got to tell you I am very eagerly awaiting when Roman joins their ranks. Web's daily data downlink sends about 50 to 60 gigs of information to Earth every day while Roman's going to be sending back much much more than that. Try 1.4 terabytes a day on for size. Roman's going to be a wide field telescope with a field of view 100 times greater than that of Hubble's infrared instrument. So while you might think of Web as being more of a zoomed in view of specific spots in space Roman's going to give us wide wide starfield views of huge swathes of space at a time. Roman's wide field instrument is expected to measure light from a billion galaxies or more during its five-year mission. Yes seriously that is not a Star Trek joke and like Web and actually yeah kind of like Star Trek 2 Roman will be looking for strange new worlds. And that is it for T-minus for September 18th 2024 brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. For additional resources from today's report check out our show notes at space.n2k.com and we'd love to know what you think of this podcast as always and you can email us at space@n2k.com or submit the survey in the show notes. Your feedback ensures we deliver the information that keeps you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. N2K's 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 Carp. Simone Petrella is our president Peter Kilby is our publisher and I am your host Maria Varmazes. Thanks for listening we'll see you tomorrow. 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