Today is July 2nd, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazis, and this is T-minus. [MUSIC PLAYING] T-minus. 20 seconds to L-O-N, T-dris. Open aboard. [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] Five. MDA Space has completed the previously announced acquisition of SATEX-FI. Four. The University of Colorado Boulder has established the Colorado Space Policy Center. Three. Redwire completes the first deployment test for one of its rollout solar arrays for the Lunar Gateway's power and propulsion element. Two. Europe's MTG-S1 satellite with the first instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission launched to Geo. One. Planet Labs Germany has been awarded a multi-year, 240 million euro contract, funded by the German government in support of European peace and security. [MUSIC PLAYING] Happy Wednesday, everybody. We're kicking off our Intel briefing today with some big contract news for Earth Observation company, Planet Labs. Now, Planet Labs has recently announced four major awards for its new AI-enabled solutions with customers in the defense and intelligence sector. Planet says these contracts support enhanced situational awareness and informed decision-making for government customers in the United States and internationally. The Earth Observation and Intelligence Company says that they underscore the growing demand for Planet's approach to national security, leveraging its proprietary satellite data and advanced artificial intelligence capabilities. Among the awards they've recently announced, Planet Labs Germany has been awarded a multi-year, 240 million euro contract, which is funded by the German government in support of European peace and security. Through this agreement, Planet will provide dedicated capacity and direct downlink services on Pelican satellites over specific European regions. This deal also includes access to Planet's scope and SkySat data, along with AI-enabled solutions for enhanced situational awareness and maritime domain awareness. This new agreement builds on Planet's recent agreement with NATO to deliver advanced daily monitoring and intelligence capabilities across the Alliance's strategic areas of interest. Will Marshall, who is the CEO and co-founder of Planet Labs, said in the press release that with the changing geopolitical landscape, the demand for sovereign access to geospatial intelligence is more urgent than ever before. Moving on to our next story, but staying with Europe, SpaceX launched the second of the Mediosat third generation or MTG satellite with the first instrument for the Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission aboard. Both MTG and Copernicus Sentinel-4 are Earth observation missions developed by the European Space Agency with European partners to address scientific and societal challenges. The MTG-S1 satellite has been designed to generate a completely new type of data product, which is especially suited to now casting rapidly evolving storms with three-dimensional views of the atmosphere. Its infrared sounder will be the first European hyperspectral sounding instrument in geostationary orbit, allowing it to hover over Europe. Copernicus Sentinel-4, which consists of an instrument mounted on the MTG-S1 satellite, will be the first mission to monitor European air quality from geostationary orbit. Its fixed position over the equator enables it to keep its ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared imaging spectrometer focused on Europe and Northern Africa. The satellite is now on its way to monitor Earth's atmosphere from an altitude of 36,000 kilometers. Redwire has successfully completed the first deployment test for one of its rollout solar arrays, known as ROSA, for the Lunar Gateway's Power and Propulsion Element, or PPE. The Gateway ROSAS will generate an unprecedented 60 kilowatts, making these the most powerful ROSAS ever built. With this supply of power, Gateway will offer extensive capabilities for sustained exploration and research in deep space. Redwire was contracted by Maxar, the prime contractor for PPE, to develop two ROSA wings. And the pair of PPE ROSAS will undergo additional testing in the coming months, as Redwire prepares to deliver the ROSA wings to Maxar in the fourth quarter of 2025. The University of Colorado Boulder has established the Colorado Space Policy Center. And this new center is designed for original research, discussion, and debate on space policy issues, and educational programming. The work plans to address advances in space science and technology, the role of government, the growth of commercial space, increases in global entrance, and civilian military interactions within the space sphere. And the new center will seek to tie together entities within the university that involve space science, engineering, exploration, law, and business in the aerospace context. And MDA Space has completed the previously announced acquisition of SATEX-FI. Now, SATEX-FI's operations and full technology portfolio will be integrated into the satellite system's business area of MDA space. Mike Greenlee, who is the CEO of MDA Space, said in the press release that with the successful completion of the acquisition, our combined team will continue to deliver differentiated technology to further reinforce our satellite system strategy and competitive advantage as demand for software-defined digital satellite solutions continues to grow. We wish them all the best of luck. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] And that wraps up today's top five stories. And I'm going to be tackling methane SATS demise and the new interstellar object heading towards our sun shortly. But before then, our very own T-minus producer, Alice Karuth, is joining us for some other stories that piqued our interest this morning. Alice, what have you got? Oh, you know the usual suspects, launches, and schedule slips. We've had three additional links to the selected reading section of our show notes for you today. One on Gilmore Space delaying the launch of their rocket. Again, the FAA says they've set a new record with 21 commercial launches in June. Great news for the sector. And our friends at the ISS National Lab are teaming up with AIAA to expand their annual conference. That is a great partnership for them for sure. Thank you, Alice. And a reminder that you'll also find those links on the episode page on our website, which is over at space.ntuk.com. Hey, T-minus crew, if you find our podcast useful, please do us a favor and share a five star rating and short review in your favorite podcast app. It'll help other space professionals like you to find the show and join the T-minus crew. Thank you. We really appreciate it. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [SCREAMING] We will be right back. [MUSIC PLAYING] [WHOOSH] Welcome back. Two little short stories to complete our show for today. It's a bit of a bad news, good news situation, or maybe bad news, cool news. Well, yeah, let's get the bad news over with first. Unfortunately, one of my favorite Earth observation missions in recent years has had some sad news to share. The team at MethaneSat say that they lost contact with their satellite on June 20. And after many attempts to restore comms, they say that the spacecraft is not recoverable. Now, MethaneSat was launched last year and collected methane emissions data from all over the world. You may have seen its images of methane plumes that it could see with its advanced spectroscopy. And this is one of those missions that I have loved telling people about. It's a great example of space making life better for all of us here on Earth, because reducing methane gas emissions is about as high a priority as it gets when it comes to human survivability and climate change. The MethaneSat team says that they are not done with their mission though. So expect to hear more from them in the coming months as they continue to process the data that they have already collected. Now, onto the second item, which is not so much necessarily good news as it is really cool news. Astronomers using data from the deep random survey in Chile say they may have identified the third ever interstellar object passing through our solar system. Now, it's not confirmed yet, so it's just an interstellar object candidate. But A11PL3Z, that is its name, has a unique trajectory that indicates that it may have come from somewhere outside of our solar system entirely. That's what interstellar means. Now, it's about 20 kilometers in diameter and heading towards our sun. And its orbit is also super interesting. Quick review now that an object with a perfectly circular orbit is said to have an orbital eccentricity of zero, meaning no eccentricity at all. And then an orbital eccentricity is somewhere between zero and one if that orbit is elliptical, just a little eccentric. And an orbit is hyperbolic if its eccentricity is over 1.3. Okay, so this new object, A11PL3Z, apparently has an orbital eccentricity of over 10. So that is downright orbital wackiness. We only discovered our first interstellar object in 2017 and that would be Umumuamua if you know the name. So if you have some astronomy buddies, they are probably pretty jazzed about A11PL3Z. Here's hoping it gets a cooler name. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) And that is T-minus brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. We'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures that we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like our show, please share a reading interview in your podcast app. You can also fill out the survey in the show notes or even just send us an email. It's a space at N2K.com. We'd love to hear from you. We are proud 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 helps space and cybersecurity professionals grow, learn and stay informed. As the nexus for discovery and connection, we bring you the people, technology and ideas shaping the future of secure innovation. Learn how at N2K.com. 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. - T minus. (dramatic music) (water splashing) [BLANK_AUDIO]
