Sea debris (11/22/22)

Good morning. It’s a bittersweet day in the annals of space history. JFK was assassinated on this day in 1963. It’s also Guion Bluford’s 80th birthday. Bluford is an aerospace engineer, former Air Force flyboy, ex-NASA astronaut, and the first African American to travel to space. Happy bday, Guion.

In today's newsletter:🖨️ Rosotics raises pre-seed🌊 Debris at sea mishap🔁 On the move

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Rosotics Raises $750K

3D metal printing is getting a makeover. Rosotics, a Mesa, AZ-based startup designing a more efficient, large-scale 3D printer optimized for the needs of the aerospace industry, announced this morning the closing of a $750,000 pre-seed round.

The round was led by Draper Associates with participation from Correlation Ventures, Vibe Capital, and Sequoia Capital. That’s the second space-focused deal in the last two weeks we’ve seen from Draper, a storied Silicon Valley VC firm, but who’s counting…

3D printing’s pain points: Machines on the market today are inefficient, dangerous to operate, and can’t produce big enough structures for many applications, Christian LaRosa, Rosotics’ founder and CEO, told Payload. 

“Traditionally, the way a very large metal structure is created…is you apply heat externally by using a laser, and that heat is used to liquefy a wire into a metal fluid, which then solidifies,” LaRosa said. “The problem is lasers are a very inefficient way to deliver heat and to deliver energy.”

Size is also an issue. The aerospace, marine, and energy industries all require very large components that can’t be built in one piece using additive manufacturing as it exists today.

Rosotics’ solution: To solve the problems associated with traditional 3D printing techniques, LaRosa and his team have invented a new way to print metals called “rapid induction printing.” 

Essentially, the technique takes advantage of the conductive property of metal to generate heat from within the feedstock. “What that does, at the end of the day, is you're able to create hardware that is a lot more efficient and simple and less dangerous for the people who operate it,” LaRosa said.

The Rosotics team of 10 has been working out of a pair of airplane hangars at the Mesa airport. There, they’ve designed and started to build a prototype printer. Mantis, as the prototype is called, is designed to fold up into a small, transportable package, then unfold when needed to 3D print structures between 1.5 and 8 m across and 9 m high in aerospace-grade steel and aluminum.

What’s next? With the closing of its pre-seed, Rosotics is focused on bringing its product to the aerospace market. That includes delivering the first Mantis prototype to an unnamed customer in Q1 2023 and starting to build out a future sales pipeline.

Share this with someone who thinks bigger is better:

Space Debris x South China Sea… 

…aka the crossover nobody asked for. 

On Monday, a Philippine military commander accused China of forcibly seizing a big piece of metal—most likely space debris—that the former nation’s navy was towing through the South China Sea. The course of events, per Philippine Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos’s telling: 

• Filipino sailors on Thitu island spotted floating debris and set out in a rubber boat to tow it back to the shores. Thitu island is one of many parcels of contested territory in the South China Sea.

• While towing the metal back to Thitu island, a Chinese coast guard vessel pulled up and blocked the Filipino ship. 

• Chinese sailors then mobilized in an inflatable ship, approached the Filipino boat, cut the towing line, and whisked away the debris. 

Beijing’s take: China’s foreign ministry denied that any forcible seizure took place and that the debris was returned after a “friendly consultation.” 

Definitively debris? China confirmed that the debris was from a launch, but didn’t say which. Three weeks ago, the country launched the final module to complete its space station on a Long March 5B. On Nov. 9, the Philippine Space Agency said it “would like to reiterate its sustained efforts to promote and encourage accountability among nations for objects launched into space,” after debris from 5B was thought to have fallen near its waters. 

As the waves subside, let’s dust off our international space law and treaty handbooks, shall we? Informally known as the “Rescue Agreement,” a 1968 UN resolution states that if a space object lands in the territory of another state party, that state is obliged to recover and retrieve the object at the request of the launching authority. The launching state would then pay the affected state for costs associated with retrieval and return of the object. 

Wider geopolitical context: The incident occurred hours before US Vice President (and National Space Council Chair) Kamala Harris touched down in Manila for a tête-à-tête with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In a statement, Harris reiterated Washington’s “unwavering commitment” to the Philippines shortly before her meeting with Marcos.

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In Other News

• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) conducted its final launch rehearsal ahead of “Virginia Is For Launch Lovers,” its first launch from US soil (no earlier than Dec. 7). 

• Stells, a Canadian startup, announced plans to build a lunar rover that can deliver power to other craft on the Moon’s surface.

• Aerojet Rocketdyne ($AJRD) announced it has acquired a 379,000 sq ft facility in Huntsville, AL.

• SpaceX stood down from last night’s Eutelsat 10B mission for “additional pre-flight checkouts.” The launcher’s new target is tonight at 9:57pm ET, but weather is only 20% favorable. 

• Space Systems Command established the Commercial Services Office to procure space-as-a-service technology.

• CAPSTONE has completed its final lunar orbit injection maneuvers, and is now in its target orbit around the Moon.

• Starlink is now available in all of Alaska and Canada. The service has also launched in Finland and expanded to cover all of Sweden and Norway. Those Group 3 polar launches are beginning to pay dividends…

The View from Space

Better yet, why don’t we show two views from space (courtesy of Orion). The Moon: 

And Earth:

If that doesn't cut it for you, check out this footage from Orion that NASA released last night.