The Space Resource Newsletter - February 2021
NASA Perseverance being lowered towards the Martian surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Welcome to The Space Resource monthly newsletter for February 2021. Three successful Martian spacecraft arrive, Artemis will continue with the new Administration, SpaceX gobbling up launches, and nearly $1 billion in funding into space firms.
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Asteroids
OSIRIS-REx preparing for final farewell to asteroid Bennu. After spending over two years at Bennu, OSIRIS-REx will make a final close flyby over the sample collection site Nightingale before returning to Earth. Samples were collected at Nightingale in October last year, where the spacecraft performed a quick touch and go procedure to collect surface samples. This final flyby will image this sample site, looking for changes in the surface caused by the collection event. OSIRIS-REx will finally depart for Earth on May 20th, where it will begin a two year journey back to Earth.
CISLUNAR
NASA selected SpaceX to launch the first Lunar Gateway modules. Using the Falcon Heavy, the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) modules will be launched into a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon. The contract is valued at roughly $332 million, which includes a new extended payload fairing to fit the Gateway modules. Previously, NASA was going to launch both modules separately aboard the SLS, however, this was deemed more complicated, risky, and expensive compared to a single Falcon Heavy launch.
Mars
Humanity’s Mars fleet arrives at the red planet. The United Arab Emirates’ Al-Amal orbiter was the first to enter Mars’ orbit on February 9th, with China’s Tianwen-1 entering Martian orbit a day later. NASA’s Perseverance rover arrived and landed on February 18th. Images and data have already started to trickle in from all spacecraft.
The UAE Al-Amal orbiter entered a stable Martian orbit. Al-Amal, Arabic for “Hope”, is the UAE’s first interplanetary spacecraft. Al-Amal is a car-sized spacecraft that will spend the next few years studying Mars’ weather and surface features. This is the springboard for the UAE’s future Martian ambitions, with an ultimate goal of building a human settlement on Mars within 100 years.
The Chinese Tianwen-1 spacecraft is in a stable parking orbit until landing later this year. This is China’s first Martian spacecraft to have made it to Mars, after a failed Russian collaboration in 2011. China is planning a landing attempt in a few months, where the golf cart sized rover will land on the plains of Utopia Planitia. This is the same general area where NASA’s Viking 2 lander touched down in 1976. The solar powered rover is designed to operate for about three months after touchdown, with the orbiter operating for around two years. Until the landing attempt, Tianwen-1 will be studying the surface and landing location.
NASA Perseverance completes ambitious “sky-crane” landing. The NASA rover Perseverance touched down successfully on February 18th. This was the second time NASA has successfully used the ‘sky-crane’ system to land a large rover on Mars and the fifth rover NASA has landed on Mars. Perseverance is unique because it has one of the first ISRU instruments on board, called MOXIE, which will convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into oxygen. Additionally, Perseverance is carrying a small helicopter that will soon perform the first powered flight in the Martian atmosphere.
Conference paper at 51st LPSC reveals SpaceX Starship Mars landing site options. At the 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference a paper was published that detailed how SpaceX has down-selected from many options of places to land Starships on Mars to just four for further study. The paper details the selection process and criteria that involves not just a safe landing area, but access to water ice for the necessary utilization of space resources to produce methalox to fuel the Starship’s for their return to Earth. Link.
Moon
White House and Senate support Artemis. When the US government’s FY 2021 budget was released by Congress with only partial funding for the Artemis program in December 2020, great concern over the future of the program was justified. While those funding levels will still lead to two to four years of delay, a recent statement by President Biden confirmed that the program at least has continued support from the new administration.
Firefly Aerospace selected to deliver lunar payloads. Firefly is the third company given a lunar delivery award under the CLPS program, with Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines being the other two. Firefly is being paid to deliver ten payloads, massing 94 kilograms, to Mare Crisium in 2023. The award is for $93.3 million. Link.
NASA delays down selection of Human Landing Systems by 60 Days. In 2020 NASA began a 10 month evaluation period for three prospective commercially produced human lunar landers; one from a collaboration led by Blue Origin, a second by Dynetics, and a third by SpaceX. Just before that deadline, NASA has decided to extend the evaluation period by 60 days. This delay could serve many purposes, but will give some time for the new administration to decide their official approach to space for the next four years.
Terrestrial
Entrepreneur pays for all civilian space flight using SpaceX. Jared Isaacman, a tech billionaire, will fly aboard a SpaceX Crewed Dragon capsule on a multi-day mission to orbit. Three other civilians will join Isaacman, including Hayley Arceneaux, a bone cancer survivor and physician assistant from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a user from Isaacman’s company, and a raffle winner from the general public. Isaacman will serve as the spacecraft commander, unlike the Axiom flight where a former NASA astronaut will accompany three businessmen. Space tourism may finally be kicking off!
Axiom Space raised $130 million, allowing push for private space station. The Series B funding will mainly cover expansion of talent and assets, along with payments to Thales Alenia Space for the module being built. Ultimately, the commercial station would likely cost a few billion dollars. One potential funding path proposed is through a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), enabling the company to become publicly traded (something many other space firms are also pursuing).
Launch provider Astra going public with SPAC at $2 billion valuation. While Astra has yet to reach orbit, their December 2020 test demonstrated their launch capabilities when they nearly reached orbit. Astra aims to raise $489 million when they are acquired by Holicity, where they will then become publicly traded. Astra projects an extremely ambitious launch cadence of 300 launches just in 2025. Asta is competing with other small launch providers, including Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit, both of whom have already achieved orbit. As some industry experts have mentioned, the small satellite demand may not be large enough to supply the proliferation of small launch providers. Link.
Blue Origin delays New Glenn to 2022. After failing to be selected for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 Launch Services Procurement, Blue missed out on potential revenues of up to $3 billion over the next six years. The lack of funding will slow New Glenn’s development.
SpaceX raised $850 million in their latest funding round. Investors were driven by the desire to get exposure to Starlink and Starship. This round values the company at around $74 billion. If SpaceX can get Starlink profitable, it represents a massive cash flow stream. Musk has indicated that Starlink may be spun out into an individual IPO.
Redwire acquires Deployable Space Systems (DSS). DSS manufactures roll out solar arrays, often used for large solar array systems, like those seen on the International Space Station. This is the seventh acquisition by Redwire, with prior companies including Made In Space, Roccor, Deep Space Systems, and Adcole Space, among others. Redwire is building an integrated space logistics company, and DSS aids that goal nicely.
