Today is July 9th, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazis, and this is T-minus. [MUSIC] >> T-minus, 20 seconds to L-O-N, T-dris. >> Open the floor. >> Right side. >> [INAUDIBLE] >> [INAUDIBLE] >> Five. >> NDA Space says it has digitally formed and steered multiple beams with its K-A band, direct radiating array, or DRA, using direct sampling. >> Four. >> Black Sky Technology has signed a Gen 3 Early Access Agreement with a current international customer in support of Ukraine. >> Three. >> Germany's Exel Launch has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Japan's interstellar technologies. >> Two. >> Redwire has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan's space data to explore future collaboration opportunities. >> One. >> The United States Space Force has released its inaugural international partnership strategy. [MUSIC] >> We're running with an international collaboration theme for today's show, and let's be honest, as the US Chief of Space Operations General Chance Saltzman was recently quoted as saying, "Space power is the ultimate team sport." So let's kick off with a story that involves General Saltzman, shall we? First up, the US Space Force has released its inaugural international partnership strategy. The document outlines a comprehensive vision for deepening collaboration with allies and partners to ensure a secure, stable, and sustainable space domain. The strategy emphasizes how critical international cooperation is an increasingly complex and contested space environment. The US Space Force says it's committed to fostering robust partnerships but leverage the combined strengths of like-minded nations. They recognize that no single nation can manage the vastness of space alone. In fact, General Saltzman added to the press release that, "Space is simply too complex, too vast, and too risky for any single power to control." The new strategy builds on the military branch's commercial space strategy, which was released last year. It focuses on three enduring goals to maintain space superiority and deter conflict through strengthened alliances and partnerships, and those goals are to secure collective national interests in from and to space by empowering allies and partners to be combat multipliers, to communicate to ensure interoperable data, capabilities, and activities while maximizing information sharing across all classification levels, and to integrate with allies and partners across the full spectrum of force design, force development, and force employment. And to achieve these goals, the Space Force has outlined three more key lines of efforts, and that would be, number one, to create the conditions for allies and partners to be integrated into USSF force design, number two, to integrate allies and partners into force development activities, and number three, to operate seamlessly as a coalition by maximizing opportunities for allies and partners to participate in force employment. The Space Force has appointed Air Marshal Paul Godfrey as the Assistant Chief of Space Operations for Future Concepts and Partnerships to spearhead the new strategy. Redwire has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japanese startup Space Data to explore future collaboration opportunities. The MOU expands Redwire's international collaboration into the Japanese tech sector, and Redwire plans to leverage Space Data's artificial intelligence for space and robotics capabilities. And through this agreement, Redwire and Space Data will look to identify opportunities to integrate Space Data into Redwire's digital ecosystem to support current and future missions to the International Space Station. They'll also explore combined solutions to pursue opportunities to support NASA, commercial low-earth orbit destination utilization components, systems, and software. The companies say that they will also look into possible future collaborations for CIS Lunar, Lunar, and Deep Space missions and services. Germany's EXO launch has signed a strategic partnership agreement with Japan's interstellar technologies. The companies say that this partnership marks a significant step forward in enhancing ride share launch capabilities for small satellites across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. EXO launch has been designated as interstellar's preferred provider of satellite separation systems for the zero launch vehicle. In addition, EXO launch will receive priority for signing multi-launch agreements and access to available launch capacity on interstellar's missions, enabling more efficient launches and greater access to orbit for small satellite operators. BlackSky Technology has signed a Gen 3 early access agreement with a current international customer in support of Ukraine. The renewal contract adds Gen 3 very high-resolution imagery to the customer's active Gen 2 low-latency high-cadence monitoring services. BlackSky says that the Gen 3 satellites generate 35-centimeter imagery that enables automated identification and classification of a wider library of vehicles, aircraft, vessels, and other objects of military interest, enhancing the value of BlackSky's current Gen 2 monitoring services. And for its part, BlackSky says that it is on track for a 6-satellite Gen 3 constellation this year. And for our only non-international partnership story today, MDA Space says that it has achieved an industry first. The satellite systems company says that it has digitally formed and steered multiple beams with its Ka-band direct radiating array, or DRA, using direct sampling. Beamforming and steering with Ka-band DRAs has typically relied on intermediate frequency conversion whereas MDA Space says its use of direct sampling results in a more efficient and effective approach, allowing customers to save on satellite costs, mass, and power consumption. The validation testing marks a breakthrough in satellite communications systems that support broadband connectivity and 5G networks. MDA Space says it also marks a key milestone in the development of the digital payload technology for the company's Aurora software-defined product line for next-generation satellite constellations. And that's it for today's Intel Reefing, but stay with me for more on international collaboration this time in China, coming up shortly. But before I get into that, N2K's senior producer Alice Garouth has some of the other stories that didn't make today's Top 5. What do you have, Alice? While Maria, we've added four additional stories to the selected reading section of our show notes today. They cover ESA's space-rider drop test, China's Tianzhu 8 spacecraft re-entering Earth's atmosphere, and Planet Lab's new partnership with FarmDAR to enhance global agriculture AI analysis. And Redwire has completed the integration of the Hammerhead spacecraft ahead of the European Tech Demonstration mission. And as a reminder, everybody, links to all of the original sources of the stories that we've mentioned throughout the show today can also be found on our website, which is space.n2k.com. Just click on the episode title. My 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 our show and join the T-minus crew. Thank you so much, everybody. We really appreciate it. We'll be right back. Welcome back. China continues to make incredible achievements in space science and exploration, so it makes sense that it is also now making more of a point to open up its space capabilities to partner nations. And in that light, according to a new story on CGTN, China has just inaugurated its first meeting of the International Deep Space Exploration Association, or IDSEA. This new organization has the goal of helping more developing nations break into high barrier space missions. Based in Hufi, which is the capital of East China's Anhui province, IDSEA is China's first international academic space organization and will focus on space beyond Earth orbit, looking to the moon, Mars, asteroids, and beyond. Its founders say that the aim in the next decade is to get 500 international research members and 100,000 individual scientist members to join IDSEA. And the idea is to open up what has long been a bit of a walled garden for technologies that enable deep space exploration. IDSEA's mission is to bring more nations into the fold, starting with what they call small but impactful deep space missions, especially with those nations that have historically been left out of deep space exploration entirely. And honestly, that is a long list of nations. Founding members from Italy and Turkey say that IDSEA is about connecting specialized capabilities across borders. In China, it says that this is part of a broader push for scientific collaboration. And that includes, from China's point of view, loaning out the Chang'e 5 moon samples and inviting international partners to join in on Mars' sample return missions that are planned for 2028. And, yeah, it's often said that space is hard, and it's a field and an industry often defined by competition and exclusivity. Think about it, it's often shorthanded as RU Team Artemis or RU Team ILRS. Yeah, technically one can be both, but the thinking is really you gotta pick one, right? So it is noteworthy to see that a major space player like China is also making another big pitch for international inclusion. It will be interesting to see what opportunities arise from this in the future. And that is T-Minus, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. We'd love to know what you think of our podcast. We are conducting our annual audience survey to learn more about our listeners. We're collecting your insights until August 31, 2025. There's a link for you in our show notes. Your feedback does ensure that we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in our rapidly changing space industry. We're 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, the technology, and the 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 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. We'll see you tomorrow. . [BLANK_AUDIO]
