Layoffs at Blue Origin.

Today is February 13th, 2025. I'm Maria Vermazus and this is T-minus. T-minus. Twenty seconds to alloy. T-minus. Twenty seconds to alloy. T-minus. Open aboard. Fly. Apex technology has been awarded a $45.9 million contract by the U.S. Air Force's Space Systems Command for multiple space vehicles. Four. The U.S. Space Development Agency studies the new administration's Iron Dome executive order. Three. Three. Black Sky is contracted to develop India's commercial Earth observation capabilities. Two. India expands its Gaganyan human spaceflight program and raises its budget to $2.32 billion. One. Blue Origin announces layoffs affecting roughly 10% of its workforce or around 1,400 employees. And today's guest is Paul Cremin, the commercial space flight regulation and policy lead at the UK's Department for Transport. And I spoke to Paul about the recent spaceport and launch licensing announcements in the UK and what we can expect for launch in the coming year. So stick around for more on that later in the show. We're kicking off this Thursday's Intel briefing with developments from Blue Origin. The launch company called an all-hands meeting earlier today where it announced that 10% of its workforce were being let go. Instantly our LinkedIn news feeds lit up with announcements by those affected. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp shared the news of the layoffs, which the company says are aimed at cutting costs and ramping up rocket launches. The layoffs affect roughly 1,400 of the company's nearly 14,000 employees, mostly concentrated in Florida, Texas and Washington. CEO Dave Limp told employees, "There's no question that we've had a lot of successes over the last few months, but that being said, when you look at the foundation of the company and what we need to get to over the next three to five years, we just came to the painful conclusion that we aren't set up for the kind of success that we really wanted to have." He told employees that the decision would help Blue Origin scale new Glenn manufacturing and increase the rocket's launch cadence. We wish those affected the best of luck as they find new roles. And we're heading over to India now with updates with both its human spaceflight program and Earth observation capabilities. Starting with Gaganyan, or India's human spaceflight program, it is expanding its scope. The Gaganyan program will now include building and operating a national space station, planning two crewed and six uncrewed missions by 2028. Deputy Minister Jitendra Singh told Parliament that the mission's budget had also risen to 201.93 billion rupees, which amounts to about 2.32 billion US dollars. Gaganyan had earlier received budget approval of about 1.1 billion dollars and was originally planned as a project with one crewed and two uncrewed missions. The plan for a national space station is less of new news, but re-emphasizes India's ambition to join the US, Russia, and China as an international space leader. India is aiming to have an operational Bataria-Antarik station by 2035 and is planning on sending an Indian crewed mission to the moon by 2040. And our next item is staying in India, and Black Sky has been awarded multi-year contracts to accelerate the development of India's commercial Earth observation capabilities. And the contracts include assured access to subscription-based imagery and AI-enabled analytics services. The deals also include the delivery of one high-resolution Earth observation satellite and launch support operations and on-orbit maintenance services. Black Sky says these contracts have a combined eight-figure value but did not share the exact amount. Heading over to the US now, and the US Space Development Agency is seeking executive summaries to prepare for 60-day studies on the Trump administration's executive order for a proposed Iron Dome for America. The SDA study will look at how its proliferated satellite constellation could support the proposed Iron Dome architecture and capability. And the order for the Defense Department to establish an Iron Dome for America was signed in late January. The proposed system would be designed to use space-based assets to counter a range of advanced missile threats, including hypersonic weapons, cruise missiles, and drones. The SDA shared that the agency is interested in industry's perspective on implementing the Iron Dome for America architecture, and is particularly interested in building and integrating proliferated warfighter space architecture, or PWSA's, current contributions to global kill chains and missile defense. More details on that can be found by following the link in our show notes. And finally, APEX technology has been awarded a $45.9 million contract by the US Air Force's Space Systems Command for multiple space vehicles. The contract provides the Space Force funds to advance the deployment of space vehicles that are capable of operating across various orbital regimes. APEX is expected to complete the spacecraft by 2032. And according to the contract announcement, fiscal year 2024 research and development funds in the amount of $22 million are being obligated at the time of award. . And that concludes today's Intel Briefing, but the news to knowledge content does not stop there. And this is where I bring in our producer Alice Kruse. Alice, what stories didn't make the top five today that we should be aware of? Thanks, Maria. We've included a draft solicitation from the US Space Force for Gears 3 GPS Sustainment Support, Iridium's 2024 financial report, and an announcement on York Space Systems on a new offering. And where can we find those stories? Links to all the stories mentioned throughout the show can always be found in the show notes and at our website, space.n2k.com. Simply click on this 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 love to hear from you. Just send us an email at space@n2k.com or send us a note through our website so we can connect about building a program to meet your goals. Today's guest is Paul Kremmen, the Commercial Space Flight Regulation and Policy Lead at the UK's Department for Transport. And I started by asking Paul about his role and how he got involved in launch site and vendor licensing. In 2014, the UK Space Agency came to me and said, "We want to do launch in the UK. How do we do that?" And of course, you go through the process of trying to understand what other countries are doing. So, the obvious place to go was the US to see what the US were doing at the time. And of course, your own industry here is phenomenal and going on in leaps and bounds. But the problem with the US system compared with what we wanted in the UK was that we wanted to take a wholly commercial approach. And US regulations and environment, of course, were grown out of a state-sponsored launch program. We wanted to take the best of what you did that go much further. So, wholly commercial, that's an interesting approach. Why commercial first? Or wholly commercial? Partly because the UK government doesn't spend the same sort of money on spaces as the US does. It can't compete. So, obviously, we're looking for people that would like the opportunity to invest, grow and thrive. Absolutely. Building on from that, we had to develop a legal and regulatory framework. So, in fact, my team were responsible with that, working with the UK Space Agency and Civil Aviation Authority at the time, to work out how we would do that in the UK. And then, of course, not only did we have to create a legal and regulatory framework, but we had to create a new regulator for space. And there were multiple options to consider. But ultimately, we chose the Civil Aviation Authority because they're a world-respected regulator. They took across a number of people from the UK Space Agency, so they brought some skills in. And since then, they've been developing those skills. And of course, they're now issuing orbital licenses, spaceport licenses, and launch-operated licenses. And, of course, in the UK, we now have two spaceports with licenses. We have spaceport Cornwall, who was the first in the UK to get a spaceport license. And more recently, last year, Saks of Oud spaceport. And the difference is, Nuki or spaceport Cornwall is a horizontal launch spaceport. And Saks of Oud spaceport, which is right in the north, the furthest north you can get in the UK, is a vertical launch spaceport. And so we're very excited to see operations start. Yeah, and having sovereign launch access is paramount for domestic launch and rocket makers and all these different industries that crop up around that. And there's been a lot of funding news about that recently. Actually, I think we just reported on some of that just recently. Orbex, a big funding infusion there. And then RFA as well with launch licensing. So I mean, that's fantastic developments there. It is. And, you know, these companies need a boost to get to make sure that they are sustainable and that they can get to where they want to get to. So both the Scottish government and UK government are helping those launch companies with a bit of seed funding and to get where they are. So when I talk about holy commercial funding, you know, it's fair to say we do give a little bit of funding, but it's not on the same scale as what we're seeing in the US. But those spaceports need to be sustainable. They need to attract business partners and of course, little job raters to make them work. And one could argue with it being a holy commercial enterprise and you have really viable businesses as opposed to being propped up by government funding. Yeah. And it's hard for any startup. You know, there's a lot of investment that goes in and those investors want to see a quick return on those investments. Yeah. And of course, you know, the regulatory process, the licensing process are long leading times and that costs money. And so they have to be able to demonstrate that they have those skills, that they have the right aptitude to be able to do the things that they want to do. Shifting focus a little bit. Something that I remember we've been looking at in the last year or so were sort of the space clusters that were developed and announced a lot last year. And it sounds like maybe the cluster model is being deprecated slightly, if I understand it a bit. I'm not sure that's true. I think space ports need multiple businesses to make it sustainable and work. It's fair to say you don't make money purely from launch and you need to diversify activities to draw in revenues that support those launch. So you know, I'm a big fan of seeing clusters develop around the space business. Yeah. So it's been really fascinating here that different clusters have certain areas of expertise. I'm curious if there are any that you're specifically maybe keeping an eye on that you have favourites. Well, you know, the UK is very lucky in the sense that it has the second largest manufacturer of CubeSats outside of California. Yeah. Yes. And I don't think a lot of people know that. They do not. Globally, equally, the UK has, it did maybe until recently, the second, maybe the third now, largest number of satellites orbiting outside of, I think China has only just clipped the UK. Yeah. But of course, you know, one web in a UK company means that we have a lot of small satellites operating in constellations up in space. Absolutely. So when you look at the growth in the UK space sector in general, what personally is of interest to you right now? Well, the area that I work in is launch. So I, you know, I'm very focused. I'm very focused on what we need to deliver, which is one, making sure that UK regulatory and legal framework remains effective, remains competitive internationally with the innovation that's going on around the world. So, you know, we often, we're continually assessing what we need to do to make sure that we're accommodating the industry's needs. And that's a challenge because often industry are way ahead of where the regulations often need to be. And there is a bit of a catch up that we need to do, but... What are you hearing from industry if you don't mind asking me asking? I think we get a mixed reaction from industry. Obviously, industry, you know, I often think that regulations and the regulator are an easy target sometimes for industry. You know, there are things that we can always do for better, that's for sure. But I do feel that sometimes the criticism levels at the regulator and regulations is a bit unfair. Sometimes it's a lack of education. Yeah. Yeah, I think... I think particularly the new startups, I think understanding, you know, a new startups, you know, they often come from an engineering pool or a university. And you know, for them, obviously, they're very immersed in what they do. Right, the technical solution. Yes. But actually, to step out and then understand the legal and regulatory framework, they are then operating in, is sometimes a challenge for them. Sounds like there's definitely some work to be done, at least within the industry for better educating and enabling that access. And for us too. Yeah. You know, we need to make sure that our guidance is clear, that people understand it. I think getting a balance between those companies that want a really prescriptive approach to regulation and some do, compared with others that want scope to be innovative and grow, is getting a challenge. And we kind of have to hit both. And that's not always easy. No, I imagine that is extraordinarily difficult, in fact. Exactly. Well, it is fascinating to be watching all the incredible developments happening in the UK. For our industry partners and people who are listening in, who want to work more closely doing launch in the UK, what would be your advice for them? So first of all, UK is a very exciting place to come at the moment. We've got one spaceport online now that's talking to multiple customers. We're expecting our first vertical launch later this year, and potentially the second one not far after. We have other options for spaceports that will be coming online in the next two or three years. I think the UK is a great place to come and work. You know, we have great access to polar orbits. We have great access to the European market, which is on our doorstep, as well as the UK market. I think we have some of the most innovative universities in the world, Oxford, Cambridge, to name but a couple. And the government is really invested in that growth. I think there are some challenges, the environment in which we operate is very different to the US. It's much more complex, but we are working with our partners to smooth those out. We'll be right back. Welcome back. Dear listeners, cast your minds back to January 15th of this year. It was the day of the long anticipated launch of not one, but two lunar landers. We at T-minus are super pumped about the missions and cannot wait for next month's anticipated touchdowns, so we figured it was time to check in with how those missions are doing. So mission number one with Firefly Aerospace, well, they've done a stellar job, pun intended, haha, of keeping us updated with the latest on their BlueGhost mission. And yesterday they shared some glorious images of our blue planet and even one of our moon. Their blog post titled "Goodbye Earth, Hello Moon" shared the images with information that they captured following BlueGhost's transliner injection. And Firefly says that they're now four weeks into the mission and BlueGhost has downlinked more than 15 gigs of data, including NASA science data from record-breaking GNSS signals to magnetic field measurements. And Firefly say that the data is already unlocking insights for the future of space exploration. So go and check out the images by following the link in the show notes. It is seriously giving us all Earthrise vibes. It's amazing imagery. And the other mission is iSpace's Hakuto R mission 2. An iSpace confirmed on January 22 that the National Central University of Taiwan's payload, the Deep Space Radiation Prove, is receiving telemetry and collecting radiation data as it travels through space. No further updates have been shared on their website since then, and unfortunately there have been no shared images so far, but we continue to wish them well on their mission to the moon. And that's it for T-minus for February 13th, 2025, 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. N2K's senior producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester, with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Eiben. Peter Kilpe is our publisher, and I am your host, Maria Varmazis. Thanks for listening. See you tomorrow! T-minus. T-minus. T-minus. [BLANK_AUDIO]