Mountains are calling (8/1/23)

Good morning. Set a reminder now to go outside tonight and check out the supermoon. 🌕

In today's edition...
⛰️ Space Command to stay in CO
📦 Tilebox raises $1.7M pre-seed
🎙️ Pathfinder #0056
🔁 On the move

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Hope (Colorado) Springs Eternal

Space Command HQ will remain in Colorado Springs, CO, reversing a controversial Trump administration decision to move the combatant command to Huntsville, AL.

President Joe Biden notified the Defense Department of his decision on Monday, department spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement, noting that having the headquarters in Colorado will ensure "peak readiness in the space domain."

Rocky Mountain high: The Colorado delegation celebrated the announcement after a months-long campaign to tout the benefits of the Centennial State.

“Today’s decision restores integrity to the Pentagon’s basing process and sends a strong message that national security and the readiness of our armed forces drive our military decisions,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) said in a statement. “Colorado is the rightful home for US Space Command, and our state will continue to lead America in space for years to come.”

Sweet home Alabama? It seems, however, that the Alabama delegation won't go down without a fight. Rep. Dale Strong (R-AL) tweeted that "the fight for Space Command isn't over."

"The administration has refused to answer questions brought forth by the House Armed Service Committee's investigation of their actions in this process," Strong said in a statement. "If they think this will go away...they are wrong. I will ensure they have to explain their actions and answer our questions on the record."

Read our full dispatch on the decision.

Sponsored

Kepler Supports Out-Of-This-World Communications

Kepler is delivering on-orbit data at lightspeed with a constellation of optical satellites designed to act as internet exchange points for space-to-space data relay.

The internet-ready constellation will deliver data to and from spacecraft in real time, helping customers to get more from their data. The hybrid network will modernize on-orbit communications with a combination of SDA-standard optical technology, RF inter-satellite links, and a high-speed backhaul link to move space-generated data efficiently back to Earth.

Kepler’s services are solving the downlink bottleneck by providing real-time access to satellite data, optimized latency, and high-speed downlinking capabilities. Kepler offers customers a service-level agreement and turnkey solution to satisfy the complete communications requirements of a mission, including:

• Communications payloads for both optical and RF

• Spectrum licenses

• Security

• Ground infrastructure

• Edge computing

Kepler’s services will expand customer mission potential, solving the current and future gaps in global space communications.

Tilebox Raises $1.7M for Satellite Data Management

Tilebox, a startup building software to host and manage raw satellite data, raised $1.7M in a pre-seed round to build out its team and expand its product offering.

“We’re really excited about the space because we see the growth,” Tilebox cofounder Laura Costa told Payload. “The software part of the data management and processing is very underserved.”

Cocoa Ventures, Possible Ventures, and Remote First Capital all participated in the round.

Tilebox 101

Satellites collect hundreds of thousands of terabytes of data every day, a number that will only continue to grow as more birds enter orbit. Tilebox, which was founded last year, hopes to make all of that information easier to sort through and store.

The company’s software allows satellite operators to import raw data and manage it through a platform that acts as an intermediary, bridging the gap between upstream satellite data and downstream tools.

• TileBox alleviates the headache of maintaining an in-house system while curbing cloud expenses by minimizing unnecessary data transfers.

Going live: Tilebox is managing data from two customers: Airmo, a greenhouse gas monitoring startup, and Spire, which is operating a sat to study space debris.

Future capabilities: The company will use some of its pre-seed funds to explore integrating its software directly with customer onboard satellite computers, which would simplify workflow by processing data in orbit via a singular, unified system.

Getting to Mars and Pathfinder #0057 with Ellen Stofan

Commercial space is taking up NASA’s reins in LEO.

As the commercial space industry has figured out how to build—and turn a profit on—many of the old technologies that NASA once operated close to Earth, the agency has embraced partnerships with industry so that it can turn more of its attention outwards, to deep space.

Next stop, Mars.

A sneak peek…

This week’s Pathfinder episode features Ellen Stofan, former NASA chief scientist during the second Obama administration and under secretary for science and research at the Smithsonian. Ellen’s work has run the gamut from planetary science to human spaceflight to public education, and she’s got a lot to say about where we’ve been, where we’re going, and how we’re getting there (spoiler: public-private partnerships are going to have a lot to do with it).

Payload reporter and Parallax writer Rachael Zisk joined Mo and Ellen for the wide-ranging conversation.

Today, Mo, Rachael, and Ellen discuss:

• Ellen’s work at NASA and the Smithsonian

• NASA’s approach to collaboration with commercial space

• The privatization of the ISS

• NASA’s strategy around Mars and Starship

• Governance structure for off-planet habitation

• And much more…

Pathfinder #0057 is live now…

…check it out on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or desktop.

In Other News

• Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos has named Aug. 8 to 14 as the country’s first annual space week.

• NASA has temporarily lost communication with Voyager 2 after inadvertently pointing the spacecraft’s antenna in the wrong direction.

• Chandrayaan-3 has left Earth’s orbit and is now in translunar orbit on its way to the Moon, ISRO said.

• Planet ($PL) laid off ~10% of its workforce to focus on high priority growth initiatives and improve operational efficiency.

The View from Space

ESA’s Euclid space telescope sent back its first test images on Monday after launching last month.