Take a (price) hike (3/1/23)

Good morning and happy March. It's an exciting day at Payload HQ. Today is edition #333 of the daily newsletter...here's to 667 more! Also, as mentioned yesterday, we wanted to answer a couple questions from y'all. Here are two we picked out of the grab bag. 

Q: What's the most exciting thing you've done in your career?Via Payload's Brian D'Erario..."I presented a very large campaign to a Fortune 500 CMO. It was my first year in an advertising partnership role supporting one of our most tenured sales execs. She gave me the opportunity to pitch a renewal to her client. After perfecting the pitch over a few days, we nailed it and won their continued business."

Q: What will the next space law/policy hot-button issue be in the coming 18-24 months?Via Payload's Rachael Zisk..."I expect to see a lot more progress toward creating regulations for mitigating orbital debris. As more companies launch servicing vehicles and space tugs, I also think we'll start to see the development of best practices for docking with and servicing satellites on orbit." 

In today's edition...👩🏼‍🚀 CMSA + JAXA crew updates⬆️ Transporter price hikes 💸 The term sheet 

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JAXA and CNSA Train New Astronauts

Across the Pacific, two cadres of spacefaring hopefuls are getting the chance to train for extended stays off Earth. This week, China and Japan both announced plans to train new astronauts to support their respective human spaceflight programs.

Japan’s astronaut corps

Two candidates have joined Japan’s astronaut corps. Yesterday, JAXA announced the new recruits—the first since 2009—in a televised ceremony:

1. Makoto Suwa, a 46-year-old disaster risk management specialist at World Bank

2. Ayu Yoneda, a 28-year-old surgeon at the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center. If she completes training, Ayu would be the youngest current Japanese astronaut as well as the third ever female astronaut from the country.

This brings the total of JAXA astronauts to 13, provided both candidates successfully make it through the astronaut training process.

Once fully trained, Suwa and Yoneda will be eligible for ISS tours as well as future Artemis missions. JAXA and NASA inked a deal in November that includes a provision to send a Japanese astronaut to the planned Lunar Gateway station.

Astronauts for Tiangong

China’s space agency, CNSA, completed the Tiangong space station last year and more recently rotated crews, marking a new era of two continuously occupied orbital outposts. Now, CNSA plans to train foreign astronauts to live and work on Tiangong.

CNSA has been tight-lipped on the astronauts’ identities, nationalities, and training. Tiangong program official Chen Shanguang told state media Saturday that several countries have expressed interest in collaborating with China at the station.

“We will soon begin to select candidates from those nations for joint flights to our space station, and they will be able to work with our astronauts to carry out scientific tasks in space,” Chen said.

Count Europe out: Foreign astronauts may one day visit Tiangong, but European-trained space cadets won’t be among them. ESA had previously entertained the possibility of a Tiangong collaboration, but ultimately ruled it out. “We have neither the budgetary nor the political, let’s say, greenlight or intention to engage in a second space station—that is, participating in the Chinese space station," Aschbacher said.

SpaceX Increases Rideshare Prices  

For the second time in less than a year, SpaceX has adjusted pricing on rideshare launches and Starlink. 

Rideshare: The price tag of a Falcon 9 Transporter launch increased by 18%, from $5,500 per kg to $6,500 per kg (h/t Euroconsult’s Alexandre Najjar for the find). The hike comes after a 10% increase the previous year.

Starlink: In an email to customers, Starlink announced it was moving to a tiered pricing system, where monthly fees will vary by geographic coverage capacity. 

• “Limited Capacity” areas will see prices increase by $10 a month to $120. 

• “Excess Capacity” regions saw prices decrease by $20 a month to $90. 

Inflation and pricing power: While SpaceX pegged its 2022 price hikes to inflation, the company declined to offer a public justification for its Transporter price increases. 

The reason is likely part inflation, part pricing power. SpaceX has an opportunity to improve margins amid high demand for its Transporter rideshare services. Spacecraft operators are currently facing a two-year wait to fly economy on a Falcon 9. And despite the price increase, the $6,500 per kg rideshare price remains significantly cheaper than alternative options.

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Meet Millennium 

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The company is a prime contractor known for designing and building high-performance small satellites in incredibly fast timelines. Its small satellite constellations work across orbits on national security, science and other missions.

In Other News

• Amazon appears to be designing its own laser links for Kuiper, per a job posting flagged by the @megaconstellati Twitter account. 

• ispace’s Hakuto-R lander is tracking for a late April lunar touchdown. 

• Israel’s comptroller says the nation is falling behind in space due to underinvestment.

• YC W16—the Y Combinator batch that includes Relativity, Astranis, and Boom Supersonic—has the most 2023 “top private YC companies” of any batch by percentage. 

• Relativity, which is tracking for its first launch next week, finished at #19 on the list. 

• Well played…bluorigin.com redirects to SpaceX’s website (H/T @bentossell on Twitter).

The View from Space 😍