Artemis II launch pushed to no earlier than March.

[MUSIC PLAYING] Today is February 3, 2026. I'm Maria Varmazis, and this is T-minus. [MUSIC PLAYING] T-minus. 22nd to LOS, T-dred. Open aboard. [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC PLAYING] [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] [INAUDIBLE] Five. IceSpace has signed an agreement with Robotics and Space Company Development Venture, Dimon. Four. Singapore plans to launch its own space agency on April 1. No fooling. Three. A SpaceX Falcon 9's second stage experienced an off-nominal condition during prep for the deorbit burn after launching Starlink satellites on Monday. Two. SpaceX has acquired XAI. One. NASA will now target March as the earliest possible launch opportunity for the Artemis II launch. [MUSIC PLAYING] [INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC PLAYING] Lift off. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Our guest today is Sarah Harris, Executive Director of the Midland Development Corporation. And I spoke to Sarah about the Midland Space Port and what the community was doing to attract new business to the region, as well as to repair its workforce for future job opportunities. Find out more after today's intelligence briefing. [MUSIC PLAYING] Thank you for joining me on this lovely Tuesday. Let's get into it. It's February. It's Artemis Month, or is it? Well, yesterday concluded a 49-hour countdown wet-dress rehearsal for the Artemis II mission. And unfortunately, the news is not what many were hoping for, but many of us also predicted. The wet-dress rehearsal was a pre-launch test to fuel the rocket, and it's designed to identify any issues and resolve them before attempting a launch. Hence, it's a dress rehearsal. NASA successfully loaded cryogenic propellant into the space launch system, better known as the SLS tanks, sending a team out to the launch pad to close out Orion and then safely draining the rocket. NASA released in a statement that, quote, "engineers pushed through several challenges during the two-day test and met many of the planned objectives. To allow teams to review data and conduct a second wet-dress rehearsal, NASA will now target March as the earliest possible launch opportunity for the flight test." So OK, what was the issue? Oh, it's pesky hydrogen, it seems. Oh, those tiny atoms. Anyone watching parts of the Epic livestream, thanks to NASA spaceflight, by the way, would have seen the issues. During tanking, engineers spent several hours troubleshooting a liquid hydrogen leak in an interface that was used to route the cryogenic propellant into the rocket's core stage, putting them behind in the countdown and attempts to resolve the issue involved stopping the flow of liquid hydrogen into the core stage, allowing the interface to warm up for the SEALs to recede and adjusting the flow of the propellant. And it seemed that all was well. Eventually teams successfully filled all tanks in both the core stage and interim cryogenic propulsion stage before a team of five was sent to the launch pad to finish Orion closeout operations. Unfortunately, this is where another issue arose. A valve associated with Orion crew module hatch pressurization, which was recently replaced, required re-torching. And closeout operations took longer than planned. As I always say, it's always a valve, or apparently it's always hydrogen, it's one of those two. In any case, it's always best to work through these kinks before launching humans, of course. So we will very patiently wait until March. So what does it mean for all of the crew in quarantine? Well, they are allowed out until two weeks out from the next launch window opportunity. So let's hope they can enjoy a few weeks with friends and family before they got to go through all of this all over again, but it'll be worth it. Moving on now, and the rumors are true. SpaceX has acquired XAI. It's all part of SpaceX's plans to launch space-based data centers, apparently. And they said in the press release announcing the acquisition that quote, "Space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale," end quote. "SpaceX plans to harness near constant solar power with little operating or maintenance costs for their satellites to transform their ability to scale compute. The plan, according to the press release, is to launch a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers." Yes, one million. I'm sure physics has a few things to say. In any case, the release went on to say that it, quote, "is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev to level civilization when that can harness the sun's full power while supporting AI-driven applications for billions of people today and ensuring humanity's multi-planetary future." And now, FII for people who don't know, are Kardashev type two civilization is a stellar level society capable of harnessing the total energy output of its parent star. Just gotta say it, that quote, and the entire press release really was attributed directly to Elon Musk, by the way, in case that wasn't already plainly obvious. So do take that for what you will. In any case, no doubt this move will boost the SpaceX IPO when it eventually comes to fruition. The new combined company is currently valued at, brace yourself, $1.25 trillion. Yeah, but it is not all good news for SpaceX. During yesterday's Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites, the second stage experienced an off-nominal condition during prep for the deorbit burn. The vehicle then performed as designed to successfully passivate the stage. The two MVAC burns were nominal and safely deployed all 25 Starlink satellites to their intended orbit. According to the announcement, SpaceX teams are reviewing data to determine root cause and corrective actions before returning to flight. Let's turn our attention now to news outside of the United States. Singapore plans to launch its own space agency on April 1st, no foolin'. The small nation hopes to quote, "Fully harness the value and opportunities of the growing global space industry." And that's according to an announcement from the country's trade ministry. Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry will run the new agency and plans to leverage the nation's strength in advanced manufacturing, aerospace, microelectronics, precision engineering and artificial intelligence to capture new opportunities in the space tech sector. The national space agency of Singapore will develop and operate the nation's space capabilities and develop legislation and regulations that support innovation and businesses among other functions. The ministry says that the country already hosts 70 space companies employing around 2000 professionals in diverse roles and activities across the value chain. And, iSpace has signed an agreement with robotics and space technology development venture, Dimon. The two companies plan to develop a lunar payload transportation box to deliver diverse payloads to the surface of the moon. The two companies expect to collaborate to solve the issues with developing deployment systems to release payloads on the lunar surface. The agreement calls for Dimon to develop the new universal transport box for mounting payloads on iSpace's lunar lander. iSpace will then conduct compatibility studies for the interfaces with the lander to ensure the safe transport of these payloads to the moon. And that wraps up today's top five stories. Head to the selected reading section of our show notes to read more about all of the stories that I've mentioned in today's show. Regular listeners know that every day at the end of each episode of T-minus, I read all the names of all of the people who work on this show. It is a big team effort to get this show published every day. And you, dear listener, play a very important role as well. That's because every time you share an episode of T-minus with your colleagues or on social media with your buddies, that not only helps us grow, but more importantly, it also shows us how our work is useful and interesting to you. So if you enjoy T-minus, please don't keep us hidden. Share our show in your social and professional networks because it helps us grow and it makes T-minus even better for you every day. And thank you for being a part of the T-minus crew. [Music] Our guest today is Sarah Harris, Executive Director of the Midland Development Corporation. I asked Sarah to tell us more about the organization and its work with the space industry. [Music] I am the Executive Director of the Midland Development Corporation. So my organization is tasked with strengthening and diversifying Midland's economy. And about 12 years ago, a bunch of very smart and far-sighted people made the decision to target aerospace and defense as a complementary industry sector for Midland. So whenever I go about my work attracting companies to Midland, that is one of my primary targets. That's fantastic. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for joining me today. And our chat is going to be basically all about all the things going on at Midland because you all have been very busy, which is always a wonderful thing to hear. So I feel like since I have never been to Midland, just could you paint me a picture a little bit? What is it like if I was going to the spaceport there? Can you tell me a bit about what I would see? Yes, Midland is very flat with very clear skies. We enjoy a lot of sunny days every year, which is awesome. Midland is the heart of the oil and gas industry, the Permian Basin, one of the most productive basins in the nation, if not the world. So that is really the driver for our economy. And the good news is that oil and gas industry is very complimentary to aerospace in terms of workforce and land use. So if you flew into Midland, you would see a lot of well sites. You would see a lot of flat open space. And you would see those beautiful clear skies that are really well suited for air use and launch. Fantastic. So tell me a bit more about the latest at Midland. So you've been mentioning a lot about the economic development. Tell me a bit about what's been going on. Well, we have a growing industry cluster of aerospace and defense companies that are here in Midland. The largest of those is AST Space Mobile. They're headquartered in Midland and they have about a thousand employees here now and they manufacture satellites and solar panels for their telecommunications array. They are in the midst now of a very aggressive launch schedule that I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with if you follow industry and launch. So we are celebrating their success with them. We also have Starfighter Space here. They are moving some of their assets to Midland, their F-104 planes to take advantage of a high speed airspace corridor that we are working to establish that would connect the spaceport at Midland with Spaceport America. That corridor could be utilized for supersonic flight for testing and possibly air launch down the road. But Starfighter has also enjoyed a lot of success recently. They just finished their initial public offering and are public now. So they're very successful as well. And then we've got some other companies in the aerospace and defense nexus as well that we've welcomed here to Midland. So we're very excited about that. Yeah. And one thing I've learned over the years, speaking with people who develop and enrich spaceports, is many spaceports sort of have not a special... maybe specialization is kind of the wrong term, but something that they're known for and that companies that are looking to be at the spaceport can sort of take advantage of, if I'm maybe using it correctly. What would Midland be sort of known for? And what kind of companies are you looking to attract? Midland's advantage among others is airspace. So we do have the advantage of having a lot of clear airspace, especially to the west toward white sands that is not utilized heavily by commercial flights. So that opens the opportunity for flights like Starfighters is going to have. And then West Texas is... it's beautiful, it's big, and it presents the opportunity for a potential inland orbital launch site as well, which is a project that Midland is working to initiate with the Texas Space Commission. In addition to that, there's plentiful land in Midland, very flat, doesn't need a lot of civil work if you're putting in a new facility. And Midland's workforce has a lot of technical skills, like engineering. Midland has twice the national average number of engineers per capita. So the existing workforce is easily introduced or reskilled for aerospace and defense. And that is something that companies that we welcome to here have taken advantage of. Extremely high density projects like research and development might not be the best fit for Midland. We understand that and we welcome them to other cities in Texas. But companies that need spaces to test, to manufacture and to fly are a great fit for Midland, and we can welcome them here and give them what they need to succeed. Fantastic. Thank you. So yeah, I'm going to put a pin and two really great points that you made. We'll go back to the workforce development point because that is so important. I know it's something that many spaceports are really passionate about and you made a great point. So we'll get back to that in a minute. But I wanted to talk a little bit about vertical launch. My understanding is last year you all were awarded a $5 million grant to support vertical launch at Midland. Can you tell me a bit more about that? Yes, this grant is in finalization with the Texas Space Commission to initiate a potential inland vertical or a buttle launch range west of Midland, which would offer the opportunity to be the first commercial inland launch range. It could offer redundancy for a launch site that is not located on the coast, and it could also offer that commercial use case for companies that need launch that are facing long wait times at existing launch locations. So is this site in development or sorry, you said it's sort of like in the works or where are we on the timeline for that or is it still too early? It is very early. Moving toward finalization of the grant agreement with the Texas Space Commission right now. Understood. So let's move over to workforce development. You made a really interesting point about how the local workforce has a huge concentration of engineers who can be reskilled. And I know many spaceports are also hugely instrumental in supporting local economies and also upskilling the local workforce if needed. Tell me a bit about Midland's role in not just the local economy, but also growing the space pipeline. We work very closely with our higher educational partners. The University of Texas Permian Baytion is in Midland. Their College of Engineering is in Midland. They also have a campus in our neighboring city Odessa. So they are invaluable partners when it comes to not only the engineering degrees that they offer, but also the manufacturing tracks that they have that can directly impact people who are interested in working in aerospace. There are multiple students right now who are taking advantage of this manufacturing track at University of Texas Permian Baytion in partnership with TMAC to get the skills that they need to be hired by companies like AST, and their assembly lines. So that's very exciting. We also partner closely with Midland College, our local community college. They have an airframe and power plant program. So Starfighters is utilizing that program for workers to work on their engines, the jet engines that they use and the F-104s. And then of course we have partnerships with Midland Independent School District because the pipeline of younger kids who are interested in a career in aerospace or defense has to be cultivated early, you know, let eighth graders know that that's a potential career for them. We work with higher orbits and organization that brings aerospace STEM programming into schools, and that has been a really fantastic program to introduce students in our school district to the potential of working in aerospace. And we've loved that partnership. And they're a great organization too for sure. And I feel like I'd be amiss if I didn't mention the International Rocket Engineering Competition. Yes. Yeah. Tell me a bit about that. The International Rocket Engineering Competition was held outside in Midland and to the west of Midland last year. That was a fantastic event. It welcomed thousands of students from all over the world for a chance to launch rockets at a site west of Midland. It was very successful and so amazing to see all of these young people who are excited about creating and actuating their dreams out here. And it's going to be back in 2026 too. That is correct. That is great. We'll be back in June. That's amazing. That's so great. Well, Sarah, thank you so much for walking me through sort of the latest at Midland Spaceport. And I'd love to get sort of some wrap up thoughts from you about what you see for the vision for the next five, 10 years and what you're looking forward to. The vision is to, you know, economic development perspective is always to increase jobs. So we love that. But we also love the opportunity to help the aerospace and defense industries grow here. The support from the state and the Texas Space Commission has been invaluable. The impetus to really make Texas a leader in aerospace and the vision that we are seeing from the leaders at the state level is a huge, huge help to us. Because, you know, 12 years ago Midland's got its spaceport license and it was a dream. So to see how far we've progressed is inspiring thanks to the work of state leaders and local leaders I've had the opportunity to work with. But we have a lot farther to go. So we look forward to working in collaboration with other parts of the state, with other organizations to bring this kind of collaborative Texas network of offerings together to advance the industry across the state. We will be right back. Welcome back. I need exactly zero excuses to talk about America's AstroChimp ham. But why not? The 31st of January was actually the anniversary of his flight into space in 1961. He flew 157 miles into space and no, he was not the first primate in space, but the second as his flight was just a month after Yuri Gagarin's. And one of my favorite places, the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo just had a 2026 ham day for the kids where they got to learn about the many ways that chimpanzees truly paved the way for human space exploration. Now, ham, the AstroChimp was trained by Edward C. Dittmer, Sr. who actually was from Alamogordo and ham himself is also actually buried in a lovely memorial right out front in front of the museum. And his grave site has this lovely epitaph, ham proved mankind could live and work in space. So as always, thank you ham and thank you to the New Mexico Museum of Space History for keeping his story alive for the next generation. And speaking of keeping stories alive for the next generation, a salute of thanks and a job well done to he who has made science alive for so many of us. Okay, let me see that better. Who made science alive for so many of us? Consider the following. Bill Nye, the science guy is stepping down from his role as CEO of the Planetary Society after 15 years of truly tireless scientific advocacy. He's going to be moving into a newly created role as chief ambassador for planetary and planetary societies. C. O. O. Jennifer Vaughn, who has been in that role for over two decades, by the way, will now become the new CEO. So a big thanks again to Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill and a huge congratulations to Jen on her promotion to the big chair. And that's T-minus brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. We'd love to know what you think of our podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like our show, please share a rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey and the show notes or send an email to space@n2k.com. 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 next is 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 Senior Producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliott Peltzman and Tre Hester with original music by Elliott Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Eiben. Peter Kilpe is our publisher and I am your host, Maria Varmazis. Thank you for listening. See you tomorrow. T-minus. T-minus. [BLANK_AUDIO]