Today is March 27, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazis and this is T-minus. The European Space Agency has powered down its Gaia spacecraft as the mission comes to an end. Telus Alenia Space has signed a contract with ESA to lead the SaveCrops4EU project. GravidX has been selected for a stratify by the USSF's Spaceworks. NASA's Starling spacecraft swarm has demonstrated maneuvers with SpaceX's Starlink constellation. USSF's Space Systems Command has certified ULA's Vulcan Launch System for National Security Space Launch Missions. Our guest today is Bogdan Gogulan, CEO and managing partner at New Space Capital. We discussed his portfolio and what investors are looking to support in the space market, so stay with us for that later in the show. Happy Thursday everybody! Let's get into today's Intel Briefing, shall we? The United States Space Forces Space Systems Command has certified United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Launch System for the National Security Space Launcher, NSSL Missions. NSSL is a rigorous process for launch service providers to demonstrate their ability to design, produce, and qualify a new launch system that will successfully deliver national security space satellites to orbit. ULA had to pass 52 certification criteria, including more than 180 discrete tasks, two certification flight demos, 60 payload interface requirement verifications, 18 subsystem design and test reviews, and 114 hardware and software audits, all to establish the technical baseline from which the Space Force will make future flight-worthiness determinations for launch. ULA is now one of two certified providers eligible to launch NSSL missions, and the other one is, you guessed it, SpaceX. NASA's Starling spacecraft swarm has demonstrated maneuvers with SpaceX's Starlink constellation, unveiling what NASA is calling a potential solution to enhance space traffic coordination. Starling originally set out to demonstrate autonomous planning and execution of orbital maneuvers with the missions for small spacecraft. After achieving its primary objectives, the Starlink mission expanded to become Starlink 1.5, an experiment to demonstrate maneuvers between the Starlink swarm and SpaceX's Starlink satellites, which also maneuver autonomously. SpaceX and NASA worked together to design a conjunction screening service, which SpaceX then implemented. Flight operators can submit trajectories and receive conjunction data quickly, then accept responsibility to maneuver away from a potential conjunction. Through NASA's Starlink 1.5 experiment, the agency helped validate SpaceX's Starlink screening service. Roger Hunter, program manager of the small spacecraft technology program, said in the news release that NASA looks forward to the sustained impact of the Starlink technologies as they continue demonstrating advancements in spacecraft coordination, cooperation, and autonomy. And speaking of on-orbit maneuverable space vehicles, Gravidx has been selected for a strategic funding increase, also known as a stratify, by the US Space Force's Spaceworks. The selection comes with a potential funding of up to $60 million between government funds, small business innovation research funds, and private funds to demonstrate and fly the orbital carrier, which is a Gravidx solution for tactically responsive space. The company's orbital carrier is designed to pre-position multiple maneuverable space vehicles that can deliver a rapid response to address threats on orbit. Gravidx says this selection will provide the company with the resources and support necessary to develop and demonstrate the orbital carrier platform, paving the way for its integration into the Space Force's future space architecture. Over to Europe now, and Tullis Alenia Space has signed a contract with the European Space Agency to lead the SaveCrops4EU program. And that program, SaveCrops4EU, will use Earth observation and advanced processing techniques to create tools that support an economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture sector. The project is part of ESA's Digital Twin Earth Program, aiming to use pre-operational digital twin components to enhance agriculture's resilience to climate change and support agricultural resource management. Tullis Alenia Space will lead the integration and overall architectural design of the digital twin component, combining the various scientific models with Earth observation data, and ensuring that the output data can be effectively used by end users. Tullis Alenia Space will lead a European consortium with the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology as the scientific lead, and the University of Valencia as remote sensing experts. It also includes specialists in bioscience and geoscience simulation from Forschung Zentrum Ulich and CROPOM, who are experts in agriculture from the Waloon Agricultural Research Center. And ESA has said farewell to its Gaia spacecraft. After more than a decade of gathering space data, the European Space Operations Center switched off the spacecraft's subsystems and sent it into a retirement orbit around the sun. Gaia has been mapping the positions, distances, motions, and properties of nearly two billion stars and other celestial objects since its launch in 2013. It has provided the largest, most precise multidimensional map of our galaxy ever created. The spacecraft far exceeded its planned lifetime of five years, and its fuel reserves are dwindling. They considered how best to dispose of the spacecraft in line with the space agency's efforts to responsibly dispose of its missions. And despite the spacecraft's mission coming to an end, Gaia's Data 4 release is not expected until next year, with the final complete catalog of data expected no earlier than 2030. . And that concludes today's Intel Briefing. N2K Senior Producer, Alice Cruz, is joining us now for more on the stories that didn't make the top five today. Alice? Thanks, Maria. At the time of recording yesterday's show, Rocket Lab successfully launched its latest mission for Germany-based global wildfire detection company Aurora Tech. New Shepard's crewed NS-31 mission is targeting liftoff on April 14. And Skyloom has completed the delivery of SDA's Transport Layer Tranche 1 optical communication terminals for York Space. And remind us now where can we find out more about those stories, Alice? Links to those stories and further reading on all the other stories mentioned throughout today's episode can be found in the selected reading section of our show notes. And on our website, space.n2k.com, just 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 Bogdan Gogulan, CEO and managing partner at New Space Capital. I started by asking Bogdan about how he ended up as a VC with an interest in space specifically. I spent the first part of my career in finance and doing applied microeconomic research. And the second part of my career is spending in defense industry doing business development for ISA, Intelligence Development and Reconnaissance, working in the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. And that was really introduction into space industry because there is very close overlap between space and defense, specifically in the area of ISA. So Reconnaissance heavily relies on Earth observation data, increasingly so synthetic aperture radar like ISI. And then the tactical backbone communication uses satellite infrastructure. I was always working with companies like L3 and Harris. And so that was intro into this industry. And to my surprise, I didn't know anything about it. So there was this huge industry that I've never heard about that I thought is purely defense oriented. And when I found out that over 80% of space is commercial, I just got really interested in that. And this is how I started spending more time on this, looking at what's happening in this area that had been around for 65 years, that has very diversified supply chain, segmented market, different industry verticals that it serves to quite a complex infrastructure and operational layer. So it just got really interesting. And the more I was diving into it, the more I saw the impact that the space industry creates on the ground. And I always say that I didn't get interested in space because of the technology. I got interested in space because of the impact. And the impact not just in terms of the biodiversity and climate, but impact brought on the society, on the economy, bringing the efficiency and productivity into the corporations across the number of industries, enhancing the capabilities that we have. And when I saw this sort of disproportional impact that the space industry has, the space industry is still, I mean, even at 600 billion, it's not in trillions of dollars, right? At 600 billion, it's still a sort of more of a size industry. But in terms of the impact that it creates, it certainly punches above the weight. And I think for every person, it's sort of naturally interesting to be associated with something that is creating an outsized impact on the outside world. And so you might say that this is ego. So in this case, yeah, look, I got into the space industry through my outsized ego, but maybe it's just the desire to leave a mark. And so I've been joined by a fantastic team of space professionals and investment professionals. And so now we've been going for, yeah, for almost six years and built a portfolio of six companies and really proud of what those companies have achieved. Your portfolio is extremely impressive. And I can absolutely believe, I think your reasons are very valid, both for wanting to leave an impact on this world and being part of an exciting market. And I think ego is a very valid reason also. I think it's a very honest reason. Why not? I mean, we're human beings, right? My wife sometimes says that I always knew you would end up in space. I'm like, why? The Earth is just too small for you. It's a very honest answer, honestly. So when I look at New Space Capital's portfolio, I mean, ISI is a big, big name that you all identified early on. And that's a humongous success for you and for ISI, obviously. So can you tell me a bit about your relationship with them and sort of how you began working with them? Sure. So look, with all the companies that we invest, what we're looking for is for the companies that solved a fundamental technical challenge for a very large addressable market. And because they've done that, they created sort of high barriers for entry. They created unique position for themselves in the market, which allows them to set a price and really defend the market and then grow that market significantly. And I must say that, look, we talked about ego, right? But look, we're quite modest in our view that our companies, our portfolio companies will be successful with or without us. But with our involvement, we hope that they're going to be successful a little bit faster. So we are bringing that additional network, additional expertise in the market to help the companies, not just scale, but hyperscale. And there is a list of those technical challenges that we're looking to solve. And so SART was one of them. And so when we looked at different technologies, different companies that existed, what was very interesting about ISI is that at this point in time, they raised the list amount of money. And they had the most advanced technological platform. And they also had the most commercial traction, which showed how well they used the money that they raised, the focus that they had. And they had a world-class team already at this point in time. And so then we reached out, they were accidentally raising money at the same time, the C round. And so we joined the company and joined their journey. And just incredibly proud of what they have accomplished, incredibly proud of being associated with that journey. So that's the same with other portfolio companies, is that coming at the moment when these companies already developed their technology, developed their products, and are looking to internationalize their sales, go outside of their home market. And some of that, more successfully than others. And ISI, as you said, is definitely a massive success story. You mentioned you and your team, you bring a lot of experience in this industry to bear. And I'd love to hear about when you work with your portfolio companies, and presumably when you're bringing new companies as well, sort of what you bring to them and what you expect them to bring to you, what that relationship looks like. We're trying to develop a partnership first and foremost. I always tell the companies, when we start the discussion with them, I always tell them, "Guys, look, we are here as an investor, yes, but really think about New Space Capital as the world's best business development agency." So our job is to help them, not just with introductions, but with getting to the companies that definitely have the challenge that needs to be solved, understand that, have the budget, have the executive sponsorship, have the right subject matter experts at the table. So it's not just window shopping, but it's a specific project that we're working on together so that there is no waste in time on both sides. So that's sort of a primary value that we're bringing to the table. In addition to understanding the engineering, the product development, helping with building up the executive C-suite, reaching out to other investors, we also bring in together with us some marketing and public relations expertise. So actually our PI agency, Sonder, is working with five out of six of our portfolio companies. We're helping with access to our industry advisory board, which includes absolutely incredible leaders. So this unbelievable pool of additional expertise, both technical expertise and also network understanding of the government and commercial side of the space business. So we're bringing this additional network to the companies with the view that helps the companies to scale faster. Can you tell me a bit about the verticals that you're interested in? I know we've talked, you've mentioned a lot about SAR, Earth Observation obviously, but there is a lot out there in what we broadly call the space industry and I'm curious what you're focusing on. So we're going through that list of the fundamental challenges that we drawn out, well, six years ago and we update in that every year in discussions with our advisory board, with our portfolio companies. So it's a little bit like, you know, FBI most wanted list, right? And so at the time we took something off of the list, right? So on our list from the beginning was SAR, was laser communication, was on board program, was processing and was ground infrastructure software, so it's a federated network. So those are the four challenges that have been solved in the existing portfolio now, right? ISI, we've SAR, CHILABS, with laser communications, CMARRA, SANS, with onboard processing capabilities and then ATLAS space with the ground infrastructure. Then later on we added materials and that was the fiber code with the electromagnetic shielding possibilities and Kairas with the artificial intelligence interpretation of the Earth observation data. Now the things that are still on the list and we're still actively looking for the companies that solved this is one onboard processing units in terms of the hardware capabilities or CPUs, GPUs. Then phase array antennas and then we started looking at the situation of space situational awareness capabilities and we continue looking at flat panel antennas. So those, I would say, that's sort of the top of our mind for the time being and it's interesting to see that as I mentioned that a lot of the challenges that we set out to solve five years ago now sort of have been solved and I think it just shows how quickly the space industry is maturing. It's very interesting and if you compare with how other industries over the last 10, 15 years have been maturing, I think space really shows that how it can bring in advantages from other industries, be it artificial intelligence, be it development of new materials, be it new processing capabilities and incorporating that into the satellite infrastructure and ground infrastructure of the space industry to make it more accessible, cheaper, more flexible. So it's really exciting to be part of that industry right now. We'll be right back. Welcome back. We have our own set of little colloquialisms in space, don't we? It's not rocket science until it is. Space is what? Yeah, space is hard. And here's a new one we might need to add. Mars Dust is toxic. A new study published in GeoHealth Journal says it's not just lunar regolith that's going to present a dusty problem to future off-world explorers. Martian Dust 2 looks like it's going to be far more than just a nuisance. It's fine as in it is small so it'll be more readily absorbed into lungs and human blood streams. And it's filled with perchlorates, nanophase, iron, oxides, and gypsum, as well as other carcinogens like silica, and suspected more than trace amounts of toxic metals too, like chromium, beryllium, arsenic, and cadmium. These are all things that we know from here on Earth that are very much hazardous to human health, especially after long-term exposure, which any mission to Mars would presumably entail. It's not enough that the long trip to Mars would be psychologically difficult, not to mention physically taxing, and potentially also hazardous to human health from long-term effects of microgravity and exposure to cosmic radiation. Add in that when you get to Mars, that the dust that you know is just going to get in a lot of the equipment is potentially full of things that could really mess up your pulmonary system permanently if not give you full-on cancer. Wait, now, is this toxic dust an insurmountable problem? No, of course not. But it's just another ramp-up of the difficulty setting on the Red Planet that, quite honestly, makes you appreciate all the more how downright hospitable our Blue Planet really is. And that's it for T-minus from March 27, 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 Senior Producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliot Peltman and Tre Hester, with original music by Elliot Peltman. Our Executive Producer is Jennifer Eiben. Peter Kilpe is our publisher, and I am your host, Marie Varmazis. Thanks for listening. We will see you tomorrow. T-minus. T-minus. [BLANK_AUDIO]
