- Payload
- Posts
- Resilient (8/30/22)
Resilient (8/30/22)
Ryan Duffy & Rachael Zisk
August 30, 2022
Good morning. Anyone else still thinking about Engine #3???
In today's newsletter:🎧 Pathfinder #0014🌎 EO grant 🔁 On the move
Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.
Pathfinder #0014, featuring Barry Matsumori
Courtnie Lewis
The Pathfinder guarantee is to bring you conversations you won’t find anywhere else. Today’s episode delivers on that guarantee in spades, taking us from the cost-per-kilogram of covered wagons to in-space delivery logistics to Mars highways.
Our guest is Barry Matsumori, a space industry veteran who’s held exec roles at SpaceX, Virgin Orbit, and most recently, was CEO of BridgeComm. Barry’s now the COO of Impulse Space, which was started by SpaceX founding team member Tom Mueller.
Impulse is just a year old and it has only ~40 employees, making it all the more surprising when Impulse and Relativity said they’d partner to launch the first commercial Mars mission in the next available window (late 2024). We grill Barry on the specifics of the mission, and though it feels highly ambitious, it’s safe to say that you don’t want to bet against these teams.
Today’s episode is brought to you by our friends at SpiderOak Mission Systems, an industry leader in cybersecurity.
What else did we talk about?
Semiconductor manufacturing
Historical consolidation and newfound competition in the space industry
Everyone’s favorite phrase (“vertical integration”)
How is planning coming along for Impulse and Relativity’s Mars mission?
Beyond Mars…what’s Impulse’s vision for last-mile space transport?
Why is it important that Impulse is one of the few “trying to develop geostationary orbit?”
Our favorite quote: “The cost per kilogram in our covered wagon is atrociously high.”
What are the strongest space regions across the US?
…and more. We ask Barry to weigh in on the Star Wars vs. Star Trek debate, get his take on whether we’re alone in the universe, and hear whether he plans on going to space. For anyone interested in Mars or nimble, fast-moving space startups, you won’t want to miss today’s episode.
Where to get Pathfinder #0014
    |
EO for sub-Saharan Africa
The Rockefeller Foundation announced a $5.5M initiative that will use our eyes in space— EO satellites—to track the effects of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa.
The project: The Electricity Growth and Use in Developing Economies (e-GUIDE) Initiative and Atlas AI, a company that aims to help maximize the impact of infrastructure changes, are collaborating on the project with the Rockefeller Foundation. They plan to leverage this collaboration to help make vulnerable regions in sub-Saharan Africa more climate resilient and spur economic growth.
To start, the project will focus on areas of Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda.
The companies also partnered with the Kigali Collaborative Research Center (KCRC), a Rwandan research hub.
"We want to develop tools to measure how infrastructural developments such as roads, electricity systems, and agriculture lead to economic development," said Jay Taneja, principal investigator on the project, in a press release. "We want to understand which combinations result in the most extensive and fastest economic development, primarily in countries in sub-Saharan Africa."
Bang for your buck: The initiative aims to produce a digital data platform that can provide policy recommendations on climate change mitigation measures that will yield the most positive change for the smallest investment.
Share this story with a space-for-Earth evangelist:
| |
Sponsored
CesiumAstro's Answer To Your Space Comms Needs
CesiumAstro builds high-throughput, software-defined phased array communications payloads for airborne and space platforms—including satellites, missiles, UAVs, and more.
Their full-stack, multi-mission hardware and software products enable a full range of commercial, government, and defense applications.
Ideal for satellite and airborne systems when a rugged, reliable, and low-profile solution calls, active phased arrays provide a compelling alternative to mechanically gimbaled or fixed-beam options.
Their natural resilience to jamming, lower probability of intercept, and having no moving parts enable a wide range of unique missions and operations.
& Houston, they're hiring!
CesiumAstro is also looking for experienced engineers and program managers to add to its team.
Webinar Tomorrow!
The Payload team is hosting a webinar on "Picking a PR Agency for Space Companies" tomorrow! In this conversation, we will be talking about how to choose and best interact with a PR agency for optimal success.
What we'll cover:
PR overview in the space industry
How to shop around for and choose the best PR agency for your strategic needs
How to work with the agency to maximize your ROI
Best practices on crafting press releases and working with journalists
In Other News
NASA’s Mike Sarafin assigned a “nonzero chance” to a Friday Artemis I launch. The agency stood down yesterday due to an engine bleed issue.
Maxar satellite images show damage to the roof of a building near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility in Ukraine.
Planet imagery, meanwhile, shows eight destroyed Russian fighter jets at the Saki airfield in Crimea. Ukrainian forces struck the base earlier this month.
ABL is targeting September for the first flight of RS1 from Alaska.
On the Move
Y Combinator named investor Garry Tan as its next president. Tan’s current VC firm, Initialized Capital, has backed Albedo, AstroForge, and Kayhan Space.
Eutelsat appointed Richard Mortellaro, former SVP of several business development areas at EchoStar, as its new CEO and president.
Mojave Air and Space Port’s CEO Todd Lindner resigned from his position. The board appointed Tim Reid, the spaceport’s director of operations, as interim CEO.
E-Space appointed Gunjan Murarka as CFO and Dalibor Djuran as chief satellite systems engineer. Murarka was previously CFO of LeoStella, and Djuran previously led the software development, avionics, and robotics teams at Volansi.
Airbus US Space & Defense named Morgan Keese as its new chief of staff.
ATLAS Space Operations hired T.I. Weintraub as chief growth officer.
Orbex is launching a major recruitment drive, aiming to add 50 new employees over the next six months. (Via Payload.)
The View from Space
Image: Planet
Planet before-and-after images show the impacts of heavy rainfall and widespread flooding in Pakistan. The country's climate minister said that one-third of the country is submerged. At least 1,136 people have died since monsoon season started in June.
Reply