It has been a year since launch company PLD Space of Spain celebrated the successful flight of its suborbital Miura 1, and the company celebrated this milestone by unveiling the work that they've been doing in the last year as well as their big vision for the future, which takes them way beyond orbital. They are looking to the moon and to Mars. Today is October 8th, 2024. I'm Maria Varmausis, and this is T-Minus. PLD shares plans for the future of space access. SpaceX's Starship could fly as early as Sunday. BlackSky awarded a seven-figure contract. And our guest today is Carson Kitchen. She was the youngest woman ever to travel to space. Actually, she went on a Blue Origin flight just a little over a month ago. And Carson will be sharing her experience with us. You don't want to miss it. It's Tuesday, let's get into it! And at an event on the one-year anniversary of the success of the suborbital Miura 1, PLD Space of Spain said it's jumping ahead a few numbers in line and working on the development of the Miura 5 orbital launch vehicle. Raul Verdu, co-founder and chief business development officer of PLD, said the Miura 5's first commercial flights are scheduled for 2026, and the company already has 596 million euros in commercial interest. At the same time, PLD Space also announced that it's working on a family of large reusable launchers called the Miura Next, as well as Europe's first private manned capsule, the linse or the lynx, as we might say in English. The Miura Next family of large launchers includes Miura Next, Miura Next Heavy, and Miura Next Super Heavy, with the first flight in this range expected in 2030. PLD's CEO and co-founder Raul Torres said Miura Next Super Heavy will be one of the most powerful rockets in the world, capable of delivering more than 16 tons to the moon and 13 tons to Mars in its expendable version, and 3.6 tons to the moon and 2.4 tons to Mars in its recoverable version. SpaceX's Falcon 9 might be grounded due to a combination of an investigation into an anomaly from the crew 9 mission and, oh yeah, a hurricane, but the company is still looking to launch. They've announced that the fifth test of the Starship is eminent. Europe's fifth flight test could launch as soon as this Sunday, October 13th, pending regulatory approval, of course. The primary objectives of the fifth test flight will be attempting the first-ever return to launch site and catch of the Super Heavy booster on those chopsticks, and another Starship re-entry and landing burn, aiming for an on-target splashdown of Starship in the Indian Ocean. Earth Observation Company Black Sky has been awarded a contract to deliver non-Earth imaging services to support an unnamed customer's space domain awareness capabilities. Although the contract value was not released, Black Sky says it's worth seven figures. As part of the contract, Black Sky will integrate Gen 2 satellite imagery of on-orbit spacecraft into the customer's collection of SDA assets. Millennium Space Systems has completed the Fire Control on-orbit support to the Warfighter or Foo Fighter for a preliminary design review, or PDR. The company is on contract to deliver a constellation of eight satellites with a ground system and to perform mission operations. Foo Fighter will demonstrate advanced missile defense capability by incorporating fire control quality sensors into a prototype constellation. The company is now working towards critical design review in early 2025. Non-Aerospace has demonstrated same-day reusability of their rocket-powered aircraft, the Mk.2 Aurora, with two flights within eight hours. The flights took place from Glen Tanner Aerodrome on the South Island of New Zealand, both reaching speeds of Mach .9 or 950 km/h and an altitude of 63,000 feet. These were the eighth and ninth flights of the Mk.2 Aurora under rocket power. These flights are part of the Vehicle Envelope Expansion Program, which is intended to identify vehicle dynamics in the transonic regime as Dawn works towards breaking the sound barrier so close. Demonstrating same-day reusability was a secondary goal, and in the two previous test campaigns, Dawn demonstrated three flights in three days. The Dominican Republic has signed the Artemis Accords and joins 43 other countries in a commitment to advancing principles for the safe, transparent and responsible exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond with NASA. The island nation will also participate in a high-level meeting of Artemis Accord's signatories, which is taking place on Monday, October 14th, during the International Astronomical Congress in Milan, Italy, where furthering implementation of the principles will be discussed. Yesterday we announced the delay of the return of the NASA and SpaceX Crew 8 mission from the International Space Station, and today we've learned that the delay is now pushed to no earlier than Sunday, October 13th, due to the expected impact of Hurricane Milton on Florida. And speaking of crew changeovers, the China Manned Space Agency has announced plans to launch the Shenzhou-19 crewed spacecraft and facilitate the return of the Shenzhou-18 crewed Earth in late October. In recent footage shared by the China Media Group, the trio currently onboard the Tiangong Station expressed their excitement for the upcoming reunion. They said they would clean up the rooms, prepare reunion meals, and make sure that the newcomers feel right at home. Nice. Planet has signed a contract with American Crystal Sugar Company through partner Sat Agro, a precision agriculture company. Leveraging Planet satellite data, American Crystal Sugar aims to advance their sugar beat monitoring work in the northern United States. American Crystal Sugar is now able to process and analyze Planet Scope satellite data within Sat Agro's tailor-made interface, providing the company near-daily insights about harvest progression, yield formation speed, and yield forecast, all in order to support informed decisions on crop management. Amentum has been awarded the fully integrated Lifecycle Mission Support Services II contract by NASA with a maximum value of $256 million. Under the terms of the contract, Amentum will spearhead cutting-edge technologies and manage groundbreaking science projects in support of NASA's exploration and aeronautics objectives at the Ames Research Center. Through the partnership, Amentum will also introduce advanced project management tools that will enhance NASA's capabilities in space science and exploration. And that's it for our briefing for today. You can find out more about all the stories that I've mentioned and more by following the links in the selected reading section of our show notes. You will also find there a forb story on how data from space is transforming mobility services. Those links and more, as always, can be found on our website, space.ntuk.com. Just click on this episode title. Hi T-minus crew, if you are just joining us, welcome! And be sure to follow T-minus space daily in your favorite podcast app. Also, if you could do us a favor, share the intel with your friends and coworkers. Here's a little weekly challenge for you by Friday. Please show three friends or coworkers this podcast. That's because a growing audience is the most important thing for us, and honestly, we would love your help as part of the T-minus crew. So if you find T-minus useful, please share the show so other professionals just like you can find it. Thank you so much for your support, everybody. It means a lot to all of us here at T-minus. [Music] Today's guest is Carson Kitchen, the youngest woman to travel to space. We'll be diving into how she came into this position and what she plans to do in the future in our deep space chat this weekend. But for now, I'll let Carson explain what the experience of going to space was like for her. [Music] I experienced every single human emotion, literally every single human emotion, and with a span of like 15 minutes, which is so insane. Like that rocket, that rocket took off and the fire that comes like the dragon's breath, it was literally like sitting on top of a dragon because it kind of like awakes. It starts, you hear this like beating heart of that rocket and the fire just completely encapsulates the totality of the cabin and your push rock of this earth with such an immaculate speed that it seriously takes your breath away. And it's like, everyone knows the feeling of being on a roller coaster and dropping and your stomach kind of drops, but it was honestly, it was the opposite kind of reaction. I felt like my stomach was being pushed out. And I remember like we were going so fast, we're going 2300 miles an hour. And I'm like, we are going so fast because it was a lot faster than I thought it was going to be. And honestly, I was like, I'm so excited. I'm so happy and I'm like so lucky to be doing this, but I'm also like kind of freaking out. And that is the most honest reaction I've ever heard. Oh my God. Bless you for saying that. I'm just like, how could you not be freaking out? Anyway, I remember when we went past like the clouds, I was like, okay, I'm really doing this. Like then really like this is actually happening. Like I'm literally leaving the earth atmosphere right now. Like this is loco. Like this is literally crazy loco. What's happening right now? Is this really like the plan of action I wanted to take in my life? Like I couldn't pick something like maybe like a little less crazy to be my area of interest. But I'm like, wow, of course I have this for the stars. You're halfway up and you're like, I haven't some second thoughts. Well, I'm so excited and I had no negative emotion. I was just like, I was honestly laughing at myself because I'm like, of course, like I chose the craziest like life. But I remember like, I remember when we went past the clouds and the sky starts to get darker. Everything becomes to kind of get quieter and quieter and then Meeko and separation happen and you're free falling and everything just in an instant just like stops. It's the quietest life has ever been. And you just, it literally is like time stops. And I remember looking out of my window and seeing like this incredibly bright blue fluorescent beating heart of an Earth. And I was like, that thing is alive. Like that thing is like that thing can feel and that thing has is a lot powerful than we think it is. And it's so beautiful. And the wist of the atmosphere in this little bubble that like that takes care of us and loves us and nourishes us and gives us everything we need. And you can see the texture of the mountains and the beautiful like beauty marks that Earth has. And it's a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but it's so bright. And I think that's what really took my breath away and to look down at that planet and be like, that's my home. That is where everything that has ever existed has lived and how incredibly powerful that is and how that everything I've ever loved and I ever will love is on this beautiful planet and it is my duty to take care of it. And it is my duty to enjoy my life because that thing has been there for 4.5 billion years. And we're only humans have only been alive for like 300,000 and how good things take time. And you know, how lucky I am to be able to be alive in this moment in time to be able to experience this, to be able to experience everything that life has to offer me to be able to go on a walk through my neighborhood, to be able to laugh with my friends, to be able to see like to that we all gather together at the end of the day to watch our sun go down is so beautiful. And it's just how lucky I am to be able to feel the wind against my face and you know, to swim in our beautiful ocean. I think it was just made me really lucky. It made me feel really lucky and really grateful and to just be able to be alive. And then you look out at this black contrast, vastness, this black void, devoid, drought of space. And it is so black. It is so black. And my crewmate said it perfectly. He said that it sucks your brain out of your head, which is kind of true. It really does. It's just like, oh my gosh, that's the blackest black I've ever seen. And it's it's a really interesting contrast because while it is the blackest black you've ever seen, it also has depth and it has dimension to it. And you can see that it has space. And then to look back and to see this flourishing, breathing, beating planet, you're like, oh my gosh, out of nothing, out of literally nothing, we are here flourishing. We are sending people back into space. We are here living. And that is the greatest gift that any of us have ever been given to just be able to be alive and to exist here. And I feel like my entire life just changed in an instant. And I can see how it's changed in my life. My life feels quieter. It's less noisy. I feel grateful. I'm able to bright side things on my life more. I'm able to just take a breath and like it's crazy even going on a walk. Like I just feel so lucky to be alive and to just like have this incredible perspective. And I was so emotional on that entire like because I don't know much about life. I don't. I'm young and I only have, we only have what 80, if you're lucky, like 80 years on this planet. And that is literally like, not even a blink and the entire lapse of this entire history of everything. And so it is my duty to do what the hell I want to do. But also to follow what, like follow my dreams and to just love me and like do what's best for me because at the end of the day, you come out of this world the same way that you leave by yourself and alone. And that's not supposed to be like a sorrowful statement, but it's just learning how to vote. It's just learning how to rely on yourself. And it just changed my mind on my perspective on entire, the entirety of life and how lucky we are to, you know, I've always said that, you know, the greatest gift that life has given us is our ability to feel and our ability to experience emotions and connections with living things. I have to say, so I've asked many astronauts about their experience. Yours is one of the best descriptions I've ever heard. Several things struck me as you were describing it. So I wanted to share with you, I've spoken to a lot of folks who've been to space, many of them, especially folks who've done things like, like a Blue Origin flight, for example, many of them have been much, much older. And for them, I feel like their flight was sort of like the reward of a long career or sort of like as they're coming towards the sunset of their life or like their Apollo childhood dreams, like all that kind of narrative. What I love is that you are, you're right, you are starting, you're just at the very beginning of your grand adventure. There is going to be so much in your life as you continue. I look forward to hearing how this experience is going to inform that in ways that I'm sure you could never expect because it's going to, but you have such a unique perspective that is, I can tell you already have it, but it is going to be such a gift throughout your life. You're going to have experiences that will top this. I can guarantee you that. I don't want. Oh, you don't want it to? Because other things in life will be cool to, you think it's not neat? I just want to go back to space. Honestly, I don't think that I've been looking forward to having kids, to getting married, to having a long and fulfilled life. And I don't know, that is just, like, I don't think people really understand like the gravity of what space means to me. If someone told me, if someone told me, pack your bags, we're sending you to space tomorrow and you'll never come back down to earth. I'd be like, okay, I miss my family and I miss my friends, but I do it in an instant, not even a second thought. We'll be right back. Welcome back. Today, we wanted to highlight a great article exclusively on space.com by reporter Elizabeth Howell about how space is helping with archaeology. I know, right? Cool. The article details a recent NASA conference where scientists emphasized the need to blend both new and old space missions to protect ancient archaeological sites. There's one example in there and it's the upcoming 2025 synthetic aperture radar mission, which will help map Earth's surface changes and provide critical insights for archaeology. That said, older data like that from retired spacecraft and even a past space shuttle mission's radar mapper can still offer valuable information for ongoing research. For example, satellite programs like Landsat, which you might know started back in 1972, has played a crucial role in archaeology by helping archaeologists to monitor land use over time. Landsat data has been vital in tracking changes in places like China's Yangtzee River as well as urban expansion areas in Cyprus, where modern development threatens ancient sites. Satellite technology helps not just in spotting exposed ruins, but also in identifying hidden archaeological remains that are buried underground. Remote sensing, for example, using satellite LiDAR in Guatemala, made headlines recently by uncovering previously hidden Mayan sites and involving local communities in the process of finding them. It ends up that collaborating with indigenous communities in space archaeology has been crucial in finding long lost sites, which honestly is a really wonderful example of how space technology, combined with on-the-ground knowledge, can help preserve culture and boost our knowledge of places long thought lost to time. . And that's it for T-Minus for October 8th, 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 to 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 Karpf. Simone Petrella is our president, Peter Kilpie is our publisher, and I'm your host, Maria Varmazes. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow. T-Minus. T-Minus. T-Minus. T-Minus. [BLANK_AUDIO]
