Debris debrief (9/21/23)

Good morning. The Payload team is together in person on the Jersey Shore planning out all the big things we have in store for you (and taking in the stunning beach views in our spare time). We may be slower to respond to emails until Friday!

Today’s newsletter:
💃 Space Tango Q&A
🚮 FAA debris rule
📝 The contract report

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A Q+A with Sita Sonty, Space Tango CEO

Sita Sonty has only been CEO of Space Tango for a couple weeks, but she already has big plans for the company, including opening a new fundraising round and growing the startup’s global client base.

“Details are in the works. It is a private, friends and family round,” she told Payload. “A big part of the interest that I’m hearing from the capital markets is focused around customer heritage and scalability with a very lean and mean—in a good way—team. We will be kicking that off formally at some point soon.”

Space Tango 101: The Lexington, KY-based startup, which was founded in 2014, focuses on manufacturing and R&D in orbit, including for biotech missions such as building artificial retinas in zero gravity. The company’s CubeLab platform facilitates research projects on the ISS’ National Lab.

The company counts Mount Sinai, Cedar Sinai, UC San Diego, Florida Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan among its customers, and Sonty is planning to leverage those existing relationships to grow new ones.

“They’re going to go on the road with us to help us deepen our mission set, and what that hopefully will transform into is hopefully a more global platform of revenue,” she said.

Sonty, who had previous stints at SpaceX and Boston Consulting Group, also talked about her to-do list in her new role, how non-space companies are using LEO, and what responsibility commercial entities have in space diplomacy.

Read the full Q&A here.

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FAA Proposes Rocket Disposal Rule

The FAA is trying to hold commercial launchers in the US to a higher standard to prevent debris creation. Yesterday, the agency proposed a new rule that, if approved, would require launch companies to dispose of spent upper stages.

The debris problem: US regulatory agencies have been taking steps recently to address the growing debris problem and reduce the risk of collision in orbit, including an FCC rule last fall that satellites must be deorbited within five years.

Launchers have gotten better over time at responsibly disposing of upper stages once they’ve done their duty and deployed their payloads to orbit.

• ESA’s latest annual Space Environment Report found that up to 90% of rocket bodies expended in LEO this decade attempt to comply with orbital debris mitigation guidelines, while up to 80% have been successful—up from 20% in 2000.

• Still, a 2021 assessment of the most potentially hazardous objects in orbit showed that the top 20 are spent upper stages.

The FAA’s proposed solution: In its proposed rule, the FAA would require commercial launchers to select one of five options for disposal before they launch. Those five options:

1. Controlled reentry

2. Move to a higher graveyard orbit

3. Send on an Earth-escape trajectory

4. Retrieve through active debris removal within five years

5. Uncontrolled atmospheric disposal (i.e., let it burn up upon reentry)

US government-affiliated missions already require that upper stages are responsibly discarded, the agency noted in a release, and this rule would align commercial requirements with those higher standards already generally observed in the domestic launch market.

The rule has not yet been entered into the Federal Register, and once it is, there will be a 90-day public comment period on the proposed regulation.

See You Next Month!

Join Payload and Linde at Lil' Simmzy's for an evening of networking on Oct. 10th. Food and drinks will be provided. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with space industry professionals!

In Other News

• Sierra Space completed a burst pressure test on its inflatable LIFE LEO habitat.

• Space-based solar power could hold a lot of potential for powering life on Earth.

• NASA is seeking proposals for a vehicle to help deorbit the ISS.

• Maxar is splitting up into two separate businesses, Maxar Space Infrastructure and Maxar Intelligence, and making some cuts.

The View from Florida