India’s new funding for space startups.

[MUSIC] Today is February 20th, 2025. I'm Maria Varmasas and this is T-minus. [MUSIC] NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free has announced his retirement. [MUSIC] SuperSharp has selected Kongsburg NanoAvionics' micro-satellite platform for its thermal infrared mission called Blue Moon. [MUSIC] SAIC and AWS have been awarded contracts by NOAA to provide cloud hosting services for tracks. [MUSIC] The US Air Force has agreed to revoke a Space Development Agency award to Tyvek NanoSatellite Systems and reopen bidding. [MUSIC] The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center has launched a $57.58 million fund to support early-stage space technologies and reduce reliance on imports. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] And our guest today is the newly appointed Scottish Envoy to Space Daniel Smith. I caught up with Daniel at Spacecom to ask about his new role and why the space industry should look to Scotland for growth. Stick around for that chat after today's Intelligence Briefing. [MUSIC] And speaking of that briefing, let's dive in, shall we? And greetings from Zero Trust World 2025 in Orlando. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center, also known as InSpace, has launched a $57.58 million fund to support early-stage space technologies and reduce reliance on imports. According to the announcement, the technology adoption fund will also connect government bodies with the private sector, aiming to position India as a reliable partner in the increasingly competitive market. The chairman of InSpace says the fund will offer financial support of up to 60% of the project cost for startups and medium and small businesses, and 40% for larger industries, with a maximum funding cap of 250 million rupees, which is just about shy of $3 million per project. The fund is open to all, but InSpace has identified small satellite launches, small satellite manufacturing and design, ground stations and space applications, and data services as areas that India can capitalize on. And moving over to the United States now, and the U.S. Air Force has agreed to revoke a Space Development Agency award to Tyvek Nanosatellite Systems and Reopen Bidding. The move is in response to an ongoing bid protest by Viasat, and the award to Tyvek Nanosatellite Systems was worth $254 million for 10 experimental fire control satellites. SDA's companion contract to York Space Systems worth $170 million for 10 Tronge II transport-layer gamma variant prototype space vehicles, say that five times fast, will not be affected. Court filings do not provide a proposed schedule for the new bid process, but do reveal that it will be managed by officials who are not involved in overseeing the original contract awards. SAIC and AWS have been awarded contracts by NOAA to provide cloud hosting services for tracks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration placed an order valued at $4.8 million to service the traffic coordination system for space, also known as tracks. Under this order, SAIC and AWS will provide cloud hosting services for tracks from October 2025 to October 2026. The award made under a blanket purchase agreement does not affect the existing separate cloud services agreement with AWS, whose period of performance continues until October 2025. The UK's SuperSharp has selected Kongsberg NanoAvionics' micro-satellite platform for its thermal infrared mission called Blue Moon. And the mission will embark SuperSharp's flagship instrument, Hibiscus, on board NanoAvionics' MP42 satellite bus. Hibiscus can capture long-wave infrared imagery at a spatial resolution of three meters. The launch is scheduled for the second half of 2026 on board a SpaceX transporter ride-share service. And, going back to the US now, NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free has announced his retirement, effective this Saturday, February 22. Free has been the senior advisor to NASA Acting Administrator Janet Petro and leads NASA's 10 center directors, as well as the mission director at Associate Administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Free began his NASA career in 1990 as an engineer. During his more than three decades of service, he has held several leadership roles at the agency, and we wish him the best of luck in his next venture. And that concludes our briefing for today. And to UK Senior Producer Alice Karuth has more on the stories that didn't make the top five. Alice? Thanks, Maria. I only have one additional article for you today. It's on the success of SpaceX's first international booster landing after this week's Falcon 9 launch. SpaceX says the new landing collaboration with the Bahamas will enable Falcon 9 to launch to new orbital trajectories. And where can listeners read more about that? As always, we include links to further reading in our podcast show notes. And those notes can also be found on our website, space.intuk.com. Just click on this episode title. Thank you very much, Alice. Hey, Team Ice Crew, if your business is looking to grow your voice in the industry, expand the reach of your thought leadership or recruit talent, Team Minus can help. We'd like to hear from you. Just send us an email at space@intuk.com or send us a note through our website so we can connect about building a program to meet your goals. Our guest today is Scotland's envoy to space, Daniel Smith. Daniel has worked in the space industry for a number of years, launching startups and running a space marketing company. But I was particularly interested in his new role as envoy to the space industry and wanted to ask, quite simply, why Scotland? I'm from Scotland and basically been involved in the sector for around eight or nine years now. Set up a number of different space companies, been involved in five space companies. So far, and yeah, at the moment, I'm here to promote my own company, Astro Agency, which is a space marketing company, and doing some stuff with Fire Arrow, which is another business I'm a co-founder of, which is space board development. And a new role I got recently to be Scotland's space envoy, which is I'm very proud of. And so I'm trying to spread the word about what's good about Scotland. All right, let's get into that exactly. Because, OK, as I was saying earlier, I don't think I've met an envoy before. So this is really interesting that you're my first envoy. So please, I've had the pleasure of speaking to many folks from the space industry in Scotland. There are so much really fantastic activity going on. We've got Saxavord. Obviously, that's huge. Lots of them. So I won't do your job for you. Tell me what's good in Scotland. Yeah, but I mean, I think the envoy role in itself is quite an interesting one, because the Scottish government have recognized the importance of space, not just as a sector on its own, but underpinning pretty much every sector we can imagine. So they're really behind it. And then we've obviously got UK wide support and UK space and saying that ESA support too. So I can see why things are moving so fast. We're around 150 to 180 space companies now. That is a lot more than I think people would realize. Yeah, it is. So I think that's really what the role is about, is getting out there, talking about that, letting people know what's going on. We've got this kind of full value chain we talk about. Europe leading small satellite manufacturing in Glasgow. And then we've got the launch that you've touched upon there with Saxavord and others. And launch vehicles, of course, a number of those as well. And then right at the other end, there's the downstream data applications, so more than 30 companies that are analyzing satellite information and turning those into insights that can be used to support a number of different, whether it's conservation, environmental, or industrial challenges. Yeah, so. I'm always curious how Scotland came to have such a strong position in the space industry. I think it's fascinating. It's a really good question. Yeah, we've been exploring that a lot. And it's just funny how it's kind of happened in different ways. So we've got really strong research and academic background. So obviously, Scotland played quite a big role in the James Webb Space Telescope with the Miri instrument. And yeah, there's a number of different missions. And a number of the Scottish companies is one called Stardun D. There was around three, but there were the first space company in Scotland. They made these space wire for big missions and that kind of thing. And then there was the small satellite side with Clyde Space and Spire and Albo Orbital. And it's led to more than 200 satellites being manufactured, designed and manufactured in Glasgow. So interesting with Glasgow is it used to be known for ship buildings. So now it's like from ships to spaceships is what we're trying to say. Something in that, right? That's the market thing. I like that. That is nice. You should definitely use that one. I like that. Yeah, so what do you anticipate? You've just been named as Envoy, right? Yeah. It's almost like being named the beauty queen. Are you going to be going on a tour? What are you going to be doing? I think it's because I travel so much. They thought this is going to be an easy one. Let's just give it to him. So yeah, in December I was out again with my own, from my own business side of things in Australia and in the Gulf region. But wherever I go, I'm trying to talk about Scotland. So again, thanks for having me on because it's a great chance to do that. And then you're out here in the US. I think the US is going to be more and more of a big market for us, obviously, for those reasons that we can all think of. And the number of Scottish companies I speak to now, they're saying the US, we want to do more in the US. But also, Scotland's a really interesting place in terms of accessing the European market and all that's going on. So we're quite keen to promote Scotland as a great place to set up a business as well and be part of that UK proposition. So hopefully some of your listeners might be thinking about how do I tap into the European and the wider world? And if they are looking to expand, then please consider Scotland. I was going to say, give me the pitch. Yeah. Go forward. Did I mention the Spaceship Center? I do love that one. That was pretty much it. I love that one. No, I think it comes back to the three levels of support, I think, having set up a few different companies in Scotland. It's about the Scottish government's support and the recognition that it has for space. The economic agencies like Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise and SDI, who are trade organizations in Scottish Development International. So we've got people from that organization that are space specialists in the US and in many different regions around the world. So there's a lot of support for companies. And then you add the UK level support from the Department of Resistance Trade, UK Space Agency, et cetera. And then, as I mentioned earlier, ESA on top of that too. I think it just makes it a nice place to set up a company. Yeah. Fantastic. Well, anything else you want to add before we close out today? No, I don't think so. I think we've covered everything. But yeah, just thanks a lot and hope to speak to you guys again. Yeah. Likewise. Thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciate it. No problem. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] We'll be right back. Welcome back. It is the 63rd anniversary today of the Friendship 7 mission, launched today, February 20th, in 1962. Friendship 7 marked the first American orbital flight, with John Glenn becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. The mission was part of NASA's project Mercury and was a crucial moment in the space race between the US and Soviet Union. After all, once the USSR had sent Yuri Gagarin into orbit in 1961, the United States needed a success to prove its own space capabilities. During Friendship 7, Glenn completed three orbits of Earth, lasting an all about five hours. During his second orbit of Earth, controllers saw a warning that the spacecraft's landing bag had deployed erroneously, possibly meaning that the capsule's heat shield was gone, which then would mean that the spacecraft would burn up during reentry. Thankfully, Glenn's spacecraft re-entered safely, and Friendship 7 demonstrated the reliability of American spacecraft and human endurance in space. Friendship 7 was significant for advancing space technology for future missions, including Apollo, of course. And it also allowed the United States to regain momentum in the space race, propelling American leadership in space exploration forward during the Cold War. John Glenn's flight most certainly inspired future generations of scientists and astronauts, and he left a lasting legacy in both space exploration and international cooperation. [MUSIC PLAYING] That's it for T-Minus for February 20, 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 Tre 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. We'll see you tomorrow. [MUSIC PLAYING] T-Minus. [THUNDER] [MUSIC]