June 24, 2018

Why Catapult Ventures Invested in SpinLaunch (Source: LinkedIn)
Watching a carbon-composite aeroshell fly at Mach 3 after spinning up in an evacuated centrifuge is nothing short of phenomenal. Even more impressive is that Jonathan and his team at SpinLaunch built the scaled prototype with less than four million dollars. By building up kinetic energy on Earth in a huge centrifuge and then slinging a much smaller, cheaper, and simpler rocket into the sky to finish the job, SpinLaunch will send a small satellite into orbit for less than $500K — a small fraction of the cost of traditional rocket launches.

Not only is it cheaper, but a single SpinLaunch system can be reset in less than two hours, enabling deployment of large constellations of small satellites in a matter of days, with each individually inserted into its desired orbit. SpinLaunch is building a disruptive launch technology starting from first principles that will be a key enabling ingredient to this future reality. But why should we care? What's so special about flexible, low-cost access to space?

More than 200 different satellite constellations have been proposed per this FCC Fact Sheet on small satellite licensing, and we believe SpinLaunch is well positioned to lead the charge on many of these use cases. Jonathan Yaney founded SpinLaunch in 2014 and is no stranger to difficult aerospace problems given his background working on long-endurance solar UAVs at Titan Aerospace. Catapult Ventures is proud to be an investor in SpinLaunch's journey to invent the ultimate space catapult. (6/21)

S7 Space Mulls Restoring Production of Heavy-Lift Soviet Rocket Engines in Russia (Source: Sputnik)
Russia's S7 Space, part of the S7 Group, plans to build a plant in Samara to produce Soviet-designed NK-33 and NK-43 rocket engines for super heavy-lift launch vehicles and intends to purchase production capacities from the state-owned United Engine Corporation (UEC) for this purpose, S7 Space General Director Sergey Sopov said in an interview.

In April, S7 Space closed a deal to purchase the Sea Launch maritime space launch platform complex in Long Beach, California. It is used to launch Zenit carrier rockets, and in the future, a new Russian Soyuz-5 rocket. The company has repeatedly criticized the Soyuz-5 project for the use of outdated technologies and insisted on the need to develop a reusable carrier. In the next 15 years, S7 Space aims to conduct some 70 launches. (6/19)

It is Time for Trump to Start Selling Space Exploration (Source: The Hill)
The Pew Research organization recently released a poll that revealed Americans’ attitudes toward NASA, the emerging commercial space sector and space exploration in general. While the study contained a lot of interesting information, much of the media focused on the fact that more people believe that studying climate (63%) and mitigating against asteroid impacts (62%) should be a top priority than those who believe in going to Mars (18%) or back to the moon (13%).

The more important fact that the Pew study revealed comes at the end. Just 7% of Americans have “heard a lot” about NASA and the activities of private space companies in the past year, while 20% have heard nothing of these subjects. The rest of Americans fall somewhere between these two extremes. The figures are particularly shocking considering the potential of both NASA and commercial space activities to change human civilization in the coming years.

Clearly, NASA has some work to do. A number of constituencies need to be convinced of the necessity of returning to the moon, including Congress, the public, and the media. Bridenstine is doing his part, informed no doubt by his experience as a politician. He has an active Twitter feed and has made himself available to the media more frequently than many of his predecessors. However, it should be noticed that the author of the return to the moon program, President Trump, has been low key about one of his signature initiatives. (6/23)

This Floating Robotic Factory Will Build Satellites and Spaceships in Orbit (Source: CNBC)
The founders of Made in Space say 3-D printing is the key to colonizing space. That's why they are developing the Archinaut, a floating factory to manufacture heavy equipment, even full satellites, in orbit.

The Archinaut is comprised of an industrial sized 3-D printer, cartridges full of plastics and alloys, and robotic arms programmed to assemble the big items extruded by the printer without any human supervision. All of the Archinaut's components are rugged enough to survive in microgravity and harsh conditions like lunar dust storms and extreme temperatures. (6/23)

Space Force: Go Slow, Learn From Army Air Corps (Source: Breaking Defense)
All four services will contribute to a Space Force and they won’t be alone. The National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, and elements of others such as NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who are in the business of maintaining space situational awareness and space traffic management functions may all come together.

For lessons in how to avoid creating a service that just ends up being a stovepipe, consider the Air Force’s experience when it became a service in 1947. Even though this occurred over three quarters of a century ago, the broader evaluation points are still valid. The successful establishment of the U.S. Air Force in 1947 validated five conditions necessary to justify a new armed service. Click here. (6/22)

Morgan Stanley Sees 'a Pattern Forming' of the Space Industry Developing Like Self-Driving Cars (Source: CNBC)
The space industry is valued at over $350 billion but Morgan Stanley is telling its clients to pay attention to a market that could grow very quickly, as the firm said it expects "significant development" from space ventures. "Some investors struggle to understand the investment significance of space," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note Friday. The firm noted that, since it predicted last October the space industry will triple in size in the coming years, investors showed "a limited degree of interest" in the more than 90 space companies Morgan Stanley is tracking.

"This relative lack of interest reminded us of our early discussions on autonomous vehicles in 2013 and 2014," Morgan Stanley said. "We see a similar pattern forming today with space." Almost every major automaker in the world – as well as tech giants and ride hailing companies – is now spending billions of dollars to develop vehicles which can drive without a human behind the wheel. But a decade ago, only a handful of early investors were getting behind the autonomous driving movement.

As the cost of access to space plummets, Morgan Stanley anticipates the industry to follow in the steps of self-driving cars. Autonomous technology moved "from complete obscurity and skepticism to a dominant investor theme," the firm said in its October report. Four key issues are driving this development, according to the firm: Reusable rocket technology, an increase in wireless data demand, heavy backing from angel investors and venture capital and a need to build space-based military capabilities. (6/22)