Opposite day (10/18/22)

Happy Tuesday, Payload nation. We’ve got a full slate of content for you this morning, so let’s dive right in.

In today's newsletter:🔊 Pathfinder #0021🔥 Launcher E-2 test💸 Orbex Series C 🔁 On the move

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.

Pathfinder #0021, featuring Ryan Duffy

Today is Opposite Day at Pathfinder. Rather than interview someone, Ryan himself is sitting down in the hot seat to take an hour’s worth of questions. Our guest host is cofounder Mo Islam. Though he’s Ryan’s coworker, he’s also his boss and a fair, unsparing interviewer.

Pathfinder #0021 is brought to you by Spaced Ventures, the planet’s first space investment portal. Spaced Ventures recently launched an effort to open an investment round into SpaceX, and as of this writing, has received $36.6M+ in pledges from more than 2,050 investors.

Okay, here we go…Today’s guest is Ryan Duffy, the managing editor of Payload and host of Pathfinder. Our discussion with Ryan peels back the curtain to offer an inside look into how the ever-growing Payload newsroom operates.

What we cover: a sneak peek

• Launching the daily Payload newsletter and what we’ve learned one year in

• Ryan’s experience creating Morning Brew’s second product

• Digital media startups and newsletter-first distribution models

• Evolving from curation to original reporting and analysis

• Popular narratives vs. what’s actually happening in the space industry

• Who we write for at Payload and how we see our audience

• Ryan launders the best insights and talking points from previous Pathfinder alumni

• Hype cycles in space and other emerging technology-dominant industries

• What’s next for Payload 👀👀👀

…there’s plenty of range in this conversation, from running a mile every day for 1,000+ days in a row, to getting hit by a car, to wanting to be a garbage man rather than an astronaut as a child (hence the thumbnail). We hope you enjoy the convo and learn something new about Payload.

Where to get Pathfinder #0021

📹 Watch on YouTube 🎧 Listen on Spotify 🍎 Tune in via Apple

Launcher Notches Successful Engine Test

Launcher added a new accolade to its resume this week: a successful test of the highest-performing kerosene rocket engine turbopump ever made in the USA.

The two-minute test, which you can see for yourself on Youtube, happened last month at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. The results, which met or exceeded all goals over the course of 11 tests, were formally approved by the Space Force, the company announced Monday.

The Space Force awarded the small launch startup a $1.7M contract in May to work on its 3D-printed E-2 engine, which is expected to power the company’s Launcher Light rocket on its first flight in 2024.

It’s the first test of the flight-ready complete turbopump system. Launcher Founder and CEO Max Haot told Payload the test went “flawlessly,” and that “it proves that we have the technology in the turbopump for this engine that we are developing.”

Other DoD contracts: The California-based company, which was founded in 2017, also announced a partnership with SpaceWERX last month to study how its Orbiter vehicle could help the Pentagon with in-space servicing or orbital debris removal.

What’s next? The company will conduct pre-burner component testing next month for the Space Force, followed by a long-duration test of the full E-2 engine in early 2023.

Orbex Banks £40M

Orbex announced earlier today that it had successfully closed a £40.4M ($46.3M) Series C funding round. This latest round of funding pushes the company’s total funding to date past $100 million, making it one of the most well-funded launch startups in Europe.

Road to $100+ million

• July 2018: £30M (approximately $33.8M) funding round that included the UK Space Agency, Sunstone Technology Ventures, HTGF, and other venture funds

• Dec. 2020: $24M funding round led by investment company BGF and venture capital fund Octopus Ventures

• March 2021: €7.45M (~$7.3M) from the ESA Boost! Programme, which aims to nurture sovereign European launch capabilities

• October 2022: £40.4M in Series C funding, led by The Scottish National Investment Bank, which invested £17.8M of the total amount.

According to Orbex, the new funding will be used to “scale up its resources” as it prepares for the debut of its Prime launch vehicle.

Prime is a two-stage rocket designed to be capable of delivering 180-kg payloads to LEO. The rocket is powered by six engines aboard the first stage and a single vacuum-optimized engine on the second. The engines burn a biofuel that, according to Orbex, reduces Prime’s carbon footprint by up to 96% compared with similarly sized launch vehicles.

The new funding will also support “future projects," though the exact nature of these future projects is currently not known.

Inching closer to the launchpad

In May, Orbex unveiled the first fully stacked prototype of its Prime launcher at its test facility in Kinloss, Scotland. This prototype is currently undergoing integration testing that puts the rocket’s main propellant tanks and engines through their paces. Orbex is also using Prime to fine-tune launch procedures like rollout, strongback erection, and fuelling.

What’s next? The maiden flight of Prime is slated for 2023 from Scotland’s Space Hub Sutherland. The launch will carry an “experimental payload” developed by UK-based satellite builder Surrey Satellite Technology.

Sponsored

2 Pléiades Neo Satellites Already in Operation – 2 More Launching Soon!

With the launch of the final two Pléiades Neo satellites scheduled for November this year, Airbus is completing the Pléiades Neo family and creating an unrivalled constellation of very-high resolution optical satellites, able to capture imagery at 30cm resolution and with the ability to revisit any point of the globe at least twice a day.

Pléiades Neo reactive tasking capabilities will enable customers to respond to the most critical situations in near real-time, with acquisitions in as little as 25 minutes following a request.

In Other News

• Astra ($ASTR) has received 200 orders for its spacecraft engines, the company announced this morning.

• Relativity announced a 150+ acre expansion at its NASA Stennis facilities, where the launcher will test the Aeon R engine and Terran R rocket.

• The NSC announced two virtual listening sessions next month on in-space authorization and supervision policy, plus novel space tech like in-orbit servicing.

• Freeze-dried coffee typically consumed around the campfire is being enjoyed on the ISS.

• The Space Coast is gearing up for a busy couple of weeks: a Falcon Heavy launch on Oct. 28, ispace’s moon launch (Nov. 9–15), and Artemis 1 on Nov. 14.

• One lawmaker in New Zealand is threatening Rocket Lab’s launches for the Pentagon and intel community, saying that they could weaponize space or help launch nukes.

• Jim McDivitt, a former NASA astronaut who led Gemini and Apollo missions, died at the age of 93.

The View from the High Seas