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- Training range (6/20/23)
Good morning. We hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend, and found some way to celebrate Sally’s Night on Saturday, which marked 40 years since Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. The Washington Nationals gave space-themed baseball hats to a section of the ballpark on Sunday in honor of the anniversary (we’re not not salty that we weren’t in that section.) Reply to this email and let us know what events or commemorations you spotted!
In today's edition...
🏫 True Anomaly’s new ranges
🎙️ Pathfinder #0052
🗓️ The week ahead
🔁 On the move
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True Anomaly Unveils Two Training Products
Image: True Anomaly
Space security startup True Anomaly debuted its on-orbit and digital range services today, offering customers new options for testing and training.
These applications are designed to provide DoD with a controlled training environment for detecting threats, practicing new tactics in orbit, and test space security missions.
“Each military service needs a dedicated test and training range to prepare for real-world scenarios,” True Anomaly chief Even Rogers said in a statement.
True Anomaly 101: True Anomaly came out of stealth in April, announcing it had raised a total of $30M in funding. The Colorado-based startup develops spacecraft and situational awareness software to protect space assets.
Testing range: The defense-tech startup plans to launch its first two autonomous orbital vehicles (nicknamed Jackal) in February aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-10, which will enable its two new testing platforms.
On-orbit range: Users will use Jackal to support on-orbit range training solutions.
Digital range: Operators can engage with simulated assets, exercises, and scenarios in a virtual Jackal environment.
Bottom line: The rising volume of national security payloads and the emergence of space as a strategic national interest domain—especially given the rapid ascent of China’s space capabilities and a growing space program in North Korea—has triggered demand for space asset protection.
What it's not: True Anomaly is not deploying weapons in space. The products are for recon and training purposes.
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Sponsored
Meet Millennium
Millennium Space Systems is 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.
Securing Industrial Operations and Pathfinder #0052 with Josh Steinman
While warfare used to mean dropping bombs and shooting bullets, modern conflict is increasingly seeing actors targeting an adversaries’ critical infrastructure with cyberattacks.
The number of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure perpetrated or sponsored by nation-states doubled from 20% to 40% between July 2021 and June 2022, according to Microsoft. The US is particularly vulnerable since the vast majority of critical infrastructure is owned by private entities, which are not subject to the same cybersecurity regulations imposed on the federal government. This makes the implementation of safety standards challenging and complicates the government's task of monitoring and guarding against threats.
Enter Galvanick: The LA-based startup, which just announced a $10M seed round, is building cybersecurity solutions to protect industrial infrastructure.
Galvanick's first product is an industrial-based XDR platform. Think of it as a system that collects data from different industrial machines and locations to keep an eye out for any potential threats. This allows the operations and computer security teams to understand what’s normal behavior—and what isn’t—and to quickly see if something is out of whack.
First customer? The company’s initial target market is the aerospace and defense industry, where cyber threats are particularly acute due to national security interests.
A sneak peek…
On today’s podcast, we interview Josh Steinman, cofounder and CEO of Galvanick. Josh founded the company in 2021 after witnessing the extent of the issue as a former senior director for cyber at the National Security Council. We discuss:
Galvanick’s origin story and vision
The importance of the National Security Council
Asymmetric attacks and the extent of the cyber problem
What separates successful defense startups
The top three threats to America
And much more…
Pathfinder #0052 is live now…
Do You Want To Be In Payload?
The Payload team is excited to be hosting a webinar on June 29 on "How to Pitch Journalists." In this conversation, we will be talking about how space companies can pitch their stories to journalists.
Topics include:
What journalists are looking for in a story
Do I need to write a press release?
Embargoed vs. exclusive stories
In Other News
The Luxembourg Space Agency wants to create a bridge between China and US space agencies.
Astroscale announced it’s opening a new office in France and working with CNES.
The Czech Republic received an offer to send its first astronaut to space on the next Axiom mission in 2024.
China announced a group of international partners for its moon base.
PLD Space, a Spanish rocket startup, aborted its maiden launch at T-0.
SpaceX hired a 14-year-old college graduate prodigy to work as a software engineer at Starlink. His mom will drive him to work every day.
BepiColombo flew within 150 miles of Mercury on its third flyby.
The Week Ahead
All times in Eastern.
Tuesday, June 20: The week-long Paris Air Show will host its second day of events. The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold two closed subcommittee markup sessions of the FY2024 NDAA.
Wednesday, June 21: At 3:29am, ULA will launch a classified NRO mission on a Delta IV Heavy rocket. At 9am, NASA will hold a ribbon cutting for the Earth Information Center at its DC HQ. At 10am, the space agency’s Planetary Science Advisory Committee will meet in DC for three days of discussions. At 12pm, Space & Satellite Professionals International and New York Space Business Roundtable will host a seminar on space regulation. Also at 12pm, the National Space Council hosts an event to commemorate Black Space Week.
On Capitol Hill, the House Armed Services Committee’s markup of the FY2024 NDAA begins at 10am and is expected to stretch late into the night. The Senate defense subcommittees also hold five markup sessions in the morning, before the full committee begins its multi-day markup of the bill at 2:30pm in a closed session.
Thursday, June 22: At 3:17am, SpaceX will launch a batch of Starlink v1.5 satellites out of Vandenberg. NOAA hosts an event beginning at 8:30am on space weather.
Saturday, June 24: At 9:30am, SpaceX will launch its Starlink v1.5 satellites out of Cape Canaveral.
On the Move
ispace tapped former NASA astronaut Ronald Garan as CEO of its US subsidiary.
Terran Orbital ($LLAP) named Tony Gingiss as COO. Gingiss previously served as COO at Virgin Orbit.
The Aerospace Corporation named Tanya Pemberton as EVP. Pemberton has been SVP at the company since 2019.
The government-backed nonprofit also elected Randall Walden, former director of the Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office, to its board of trustees.
Curt Blake, the former SpaceFlight Inc. CEO, joined law firm Wilson Sonsini as senior counsel in the Seattle office. The firm also announced it is launching a NewSpace industry group.
ABL promoted Eva Abramson to director of strategic development. Abramson has worked at ABL for over four years.
Edgybees brought on Ken Campbell, a former Maxar director, as president.
The View from Space
Image: NASA
Rocket Lab ($RKLB) launched its first suborbital Electron testbed mission for an undisclosed customer from Wallops Island, VA.
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