Rev your engines (4/19/23)

Good morning. You’ve got two opportunities to see the Payload team in action today at Space Symposium. Jacqueline is moderating a panel on climate change at 11am, and is also recording a live episode of the Off Nominal podcast at 3:30pm at the Redwire booth. Please say hi if you attend!

In today's edition...💰 VC investment down🏁 Leidos and NASCAR team up💸 The term sheet

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VC Investment in the Space Industry Sees Lowest Numbers Since 2021

VCs invested $310.7M in the US space industry during the first quarter of 2023, according to new Pitchbook data. It’s the lowest amount since Q3 of 2021, but the 24 deals closed in the quarter is comparable to last quarter. 

The biggest deals ranged across different segments of the industry from launch to manufacturing. These include: 

• Voyager Space ($80.2M)

• Capella Space ($60M) 

• Firefly Aerospace ($30.2M)

• Varda Space Industries ($30M)

• Spartan Radar ($17M)

• Atomos (Aerospace and Defense) ($16.2M)

• Axiom Space ($15.2M)

• Starfish Space ($13.4M)

• Frontier Aerospace ($10M)

• K2 Space ($8.5M) 

Pitchbook reports two exits this past quarter totalling $245M. 

Payload analysis: While transaction volume has remained the same, total funding is lower on more conservative valuation as VC firms better position themselves in the capital structure. Lower investment can be tied to higher interest rates as investors are more reticent to fund unprofitable space businesses. 

Without the availability of inexpensive capital pools, deep tech space startups with decades long R&D schedules and high cash burn are increasingly at risk of consolidation or bankruptcy. This was evident in the recent Virgin Orbit insolvency.

Sponsored

Meet Millennium 

Millennium Space Systems are an end-to-end small satellite prime contractor, delivering full mission solutions to customers. From design, build, integration and test to mission operations and training, the team enables customers’ missions. The in-house ground software enables system operations, and the autonomy they have developed allows for near lights-out operations.

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.

Leidos, NASCAR Head to the Moon

Leidos ($LDOS) announced Tuesday that it is partnering with NASCAR on its lunar rover, which it dramatically unveiled at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. 

Rover 101: Even though NASCAR is collaborating on the rover, astronauts won’t be whipping around the Moon at breakneck speed under checkered flags. The solar-powered Lunar Terrain Vehicle is expected to travel about 9 mph. And unlike the lunar vehicles used during the Apollo program, the rover was designed to carry men and women of varying heights and weights, reflecting the call for diversity in the astronaut corps. 

What NASA wants: In the agency’s RFP for the lunar rover, NASA stressed the importance of astronauts being able to perform maintenance on the vehicle quickly and easily if something breaks on the lunar surface. The space agency actually asked companies to design a vehicle that suited astronauts can work on “with ‘race car pit stop’ type speed.’”

What NASCAR can teach: Race car experts can offer perspective on some concrete things, like the “fast and agile maintenance” seen at a pit stop, Jonathan Pettus, SVP of aerospace, defense, and civil ops at Leidos subsidiary Dynetics, told Payload. But it also has more abstract lessons to offer on solutions to challenges NASCAR faces that are similar to NASA, including sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and STEM, Pettus said. 

NASCAR is also a master at branding, Pettus said. “Typically a NASCAR car would have lots of sponsors,” he said. “When we drive this the first time on the Moon, there will be countless eyeballs…It’s a real opportunity I think from a commercial perspective.”

So should we expect to see the rover covered with sponsors’ logos on the moon? “I won’t go that far, but potentially,” Pettus said. 

What’s next: Leidos will show off the rover on Sunday during the NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, Pettus said.   

In Other News

• Lockheed successfully maneuvered two recently launched satellites closer together, testing future on-orbit servicing capabilities. 

• The EU will look to negotiate an ad-hoc agreement with the US to buy Falcon 9 rides for Galileo satellites.

• Axiom announced the formation of the Axiom Space Access Program, which will offer nations various tiers of access to the ISS. 

• NASA released the first results from the architecture concept review for the Moon-to-Mars program.

• Umbra’s 6th satellite snapped its first image within 48 hours of launch.

• Starlink cut subscription prices by 20-30% across many European countries.

The View from Space

Starship has a nice ocean view as it waits on the launch pad for SpaceX’s next flight attempt.