[MUSIC] Today is May 9th, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazis, and this is T-minus. [MUSIC] At most, space cargo and ARX robotics to collaborate on integrating orbital reentry logistics with autonomous unmanned systems. >> Four. >> The European Space Agency in India's space research organization agreed to work together on human space exploration. >> Three. >> Empower technology secures $21 million in a Series B funding round. >> Two. >> Rocket Lab, MDA Space and Black Sky release financial updates. >> One. >> Rocket Lab has been awarded a contract by AFRL to launch the neutron for a rocket cargo mission that supports point to point cargo transportation. [MUSIC] And every Friday, our partners at nazaspacephlight.com bring us the Space Traffic Report, rounding up the news from the week that was, and previewing what's to come in the next seven days. So stick around for that after today's intelligence briefing. [MUSIC] Happy Friday, everybody. We're starting off with news from Rocket Lab and their medium lift vehicle, Neutron. Despite the fact that the reusable vehicle hasn't had its maiden flight just yet, the US Air Force Research Lab has contracted the neutron for a rocket cargo mission. The launch contract will see Neutron execute a rocket cargo survivability experiment under the AFRL rocket experimentation for global agile logistics solicitation, also known as Regal. It's part of an effort by the Department of Defense to create a rocket-based point-to-point transportation system to quickly and rapidly deliver cargo around the world with commercial launch providers. AFRL's experiment will be launched by Neutron and re-enter Earth's atmosphere in a demonstration of re-entry capability for future Regal missions. The mission itself is scheduled for a return to Earth neutron launch no earlier than 2026. And that information was shared with investors during Rocket Lab's Q1 financial update call. The launch company reported revenue between $130 million and $140 million for the first quarter, which is a 32% increase year on year compared to Q1 2024. Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said the company remains confident in our ability to execute and deliver on what's set to be another strong quarter with our Q2 2025 revenue guidance in the $130 to $140 million range, which would reflect the underlying strength of our increasingly diverse business within the current geopolitical climate. And that geopolitical climate was also in the mind of other companies reporting their financial updates. MDA Space assured investors that despite the proposed U.S. budget affecting some of the projects that they're working on, it is business as usual for the Canadian space company. MDA reported revenues of $351 million in Q1 2025, which is up 68% year over year. The company says it has a backlog of $4.8 billion at quarter end, providing good revenue visibility for 2025 and beyond. Earth Observation Company Black Sky also released their quarterly financial updates. The company reported revenue of $29.5 million, which is up 22% from the year quarter. They also say they have over $130 million in new contract bookings. You can read the full reports from all those companies by following the links in our show notes. Empower Technology has secured over $21 million in Series B funding. The Solar Power Solutions for Space company says it has a new business pipeline, along with over 12 years of combined on-orbit space heritage, which made it attractive to investors. Empower provides power solutions for space missions with customers that include Airbus, Blue Origin Honeybee, Firefly Aerospace, and many others. Empower says it will use the funding for the company's first high-volume automated manufacturing line, which is located at Empower's Contract Manufacturer, Universal Instruments Corporation in New York. High-volume operations commence next month and will produce solar modules for hundreds of spacecraft, including Empower's contract to supply more than 1.1 megawatts of solar modules for Airbus' MDA Aurora program. The European Space Agency and the Indian Space Research Organization have signed a joint statement of intent on cooperation for human space exploration, focusing on low-earth orbit and in a secondary stage on the moon. The partnership builds on previous agreements enabling the two agencies to advance sustainable and responsible exploration, and on recent experience working together on mission implementation for the Axiom-AX4 commercial mission. ESA and ESRO declared their intent to work together on the interoperability of rendezvous and docking systems to allow their respective spacecraft to work together in LEO. They will also examine further activities related to astronaut training, analog space missions, and parabolic flight activities. And staying in Europe for our last story, Germany's Atmos Space Cargo and ARX Robotics are partnering to integrate orbital reentry logistics with autonomous unmanned systems. The companies believe that the planned collaboration will enhance Europe's civil and defense logistical capabilities for rapid and targeted intervention in critical scenarios ranging from immediate disaster relief to complex and integrated defense operations. The integration of Phoenix, which is Atmos' orbital reentry capsule with modular unmanned systems by ARX Robotics, opens up new mission profiles. On the ground, ARX's Mithra OS coordinates the deployment and operation of these systems and connects them with unmanned assets in the sea and air domains. Phoenix will serve as an active orbital depot, and it'll be able to precisely deploy ARX's and its partner's autonomous systems within minutes and sharing quick response times anywhere on the planet. [Music] There's a lot to unpack with all of these stories, and this is where I bring in N2K Senior Producer Alice Carruth to tell us where we can find out more about any of the stories that we've mentioned on today's show. Alice? Thanks, Maria. Yes, we include links to all the original sources for further reading in our show notes. We also like to add a few additional stories for you to read up on. Today we've included a Reuters exclusive article on Japan's Axle Space, who say they're seeking a listing, and a Space Systems Command update on the Oracle M Hotfire Test. And remember that all of those links can also be found on our website, which you can find at space.n2k.com. Just click on today's episode title for more. Hey T-minus crew, tune in tomorrow for T-minus Deep Space, our show for extended interviews, special editions and deep dives with some of the most influential professionals in the space industry. And tomorrow we have Charles Slatkin talking about the legacy of visionary Dr. Robert H. Goddard. Check it out while you're enjoying the lovely Mother's Day weekend here in the United States, or calling your mom and wishing her a good one. This is your timely reminder, folks. You don't want to miss it. Our friends at NSF have the Weekly Space Traffic Report for you now. I'm Alicia Siegel for NSF, and this is your Weekly Space Traffic Report for T-minus Space. This was a really rare week with only two launches, both of them being Starlink missions by SpaceX. The first one lifted off on May 4th at 8.54 UTC from Launch Complex 39A in Florida, carrying 29 Starlink V2 mini satellites into low Earth orbit. That was a record number of Starlink V2 mini satellites launched in a single Falcon 9 mission, mostly thanks to upgrades to the satellites to reduce their mass while maintaining or improving their capabilities. According to SpaceX, these so-called "optimized" V2 mini satellites would have a mass of approximately 575 kg. This means that with 29 of them on board, the total payload mass was shy of 17 metric tons for this mission. While that's a lot of mass, it's still not the most mass that Falcon 9 has launched in a single flight. That record currently sits at about 17.4 metric tons. So, who knows? Perhaps future small tweaks may allow SpaceX to even fit in an extra satellite or two. The first stage for this mission, B-1078, was flying for 20th time, becoming the 11th booster to reach 20 flights. It then successfully landed on SpaceX's drone ship, a shortfall of Gravitas, to be reused on a later mission. The other launch of the week was from Space Launch Complex 40 on May 7th at 117 UTC, carrying 28 Starlink V2 mini satellites into low Earth orbit. The first stage for this mission was flying for a 7th time, and it successfully landed on SpaceX's drone ship just read the instructions. Those two launches add 57 new Starlink satellites to the total launched by SpaceX, which is now at 8,488. Of those, 1,112 have re-entered, and 6,616 have moved into their operational orbit. Going into next week, we may see a lot more action with SpaceX planning up to five Starlink launches, and one of them might even be happening as this episode is being edited. There are also two potential launches from China as well, and although this past week we had hoped to see the second flight of the Changjiang-12, it looks as though that's been delayed for the moment. At the end of next week, we may also see Gilmore Space try to launch its ARIS rocket from Australia. The company finally had its launch license approved by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority, and is awaiting final approval from the Australian Space Agency. Pending that final sign-off, Gilmore is targeting the first launch attempt of ARIS no earlier than May 15th. So we'll keep a close eye on that for next week's episode. Next week, we may also have an unusual return to Earth. All the way back in March of 1972, the Soviet Union launched the Venera 8 mission to the planet Venus. Just a few days after that launch, the country launched another mission, which is believed to have been another Venera probe. However, the upper stage that should have sent the probe to Venus shut down early during the burn to escape Earth's gravity and left the spacecraft in a highly elliptical orbit around the Earth. Over time, due to atmospheric drag when flying closer to Earth, that orbit has been degrading, and that means that this probe may come back down sometime next week. Right now, based on the latest estimations and tracking of the object's trajectory, it appears that it may re-enter sometime in the morning of May 10th, knowing exactly when it might finally re-enter is hard to predict, because it depends on the exact mass and size of the spacecraft, the drag that it creates, and even the orientation of the spacecraft. It's very common that as uncontrolled objects encounter slightly thicker air, they may start to tumble, which changes the amount of area presented to the atmosphere, and therefore the amount of drag, which then in turn changes how much it slows down, and therefore when it might re-enter. So it's not a surprise that, for now, many of these predictions have really long time windows, even one very close to that re-entry. That also means that we won't know the exact re-entry location until it actually happens. The probe includes a descent capsule that was meant to land on Venus, so there's a good chance that it might survive re-entry, but without a parachute, it may also impact the ground at terminal velocity, and we certainly don't want to be underneath that. I'm Alicia Siegel for NSF, and that's your weekly Space Traffic Report. Now back to T-Minus Space. [Music] We'll be right back. Welcome back! A quick update from ESA now on the re-entry of the Cosmos 482, a 53-year-old piece of space deray launched by the USSR that was originally Venus-bound and didn't really make it far past launch. We are now in the window of time where Cosmos is due to make its return home, shall we say, and lots of people have been trying to track where and when exactly that might be happening, as the uncertainty of a aforementioned event decreases the closer to the actual event that we get. And ESA says we now have a concrete window. As of time of this recording, the latest estimate is May 10th, 626 UTC, plus or minus 4.35 hours. So if you're listening to this show right after it drops Friday evening, it may be happening imminently, and if you're listening Saturday or later, no judgment. It has already happened. As for where it's going to happen or happened, between 52 degrees north and south of the equator is the current prediction, which is just about the entire inhabited section of our planet, so not a lot to go on there. Chances are always statistically that it will re-enter over water. For example, if it happens to come back to Earth exactly at 626 UTC, it will land in the Bay of Bengal, a smidge closer to India's southeastern coast. Now, given rising geopolitical tensions in that region right now, let's hope if a flaming fireball of space debris does appear, it doesn't cause any undue alarm. It just gives us some spectacular photos and videos to peacefully enjoy. Nonetheless, if you are curious to track Cosmos 482 on its fiery return home, in your tracker of choice, use NORAD ID 6073. [music] That's it for T-Mines for May 9th, 2025, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes at space.n2k.com. We'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in this rapidly changing space industry of ours. If you like the show, please share a rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the show note or send an email to space@n2k.com. We're privileged that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine 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 makes it easy for companies to optimize your biggest investment, your people. We make you smarter about your teams while making your teams smarter. Learn how at N2K.com. N2K's senior producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We are 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. Have a wonderful weekend and a wonderful Mother's Day. [Music] [Music] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
