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BUSINESS | POLITICS | PERSPECTIVE FEBRUARY 15, 2021

TALENT CRUNCH Building a 21st Century Space Workforce

INSIDE

n ’s 100-year plan n China ban could cost Mars InSight n Is Bezos about to kick-start ?

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DEPARTMENTS 3 QUICK TAKES TALENT CRUNCH 5 NEWS WELL Building a 21st Century Space Workforce

26 COMMENTARY Milton “Skip” Smith Startups Representing the 11 facing hiring private challenges 28 COMMENTARY Shelli Brunswick Schools Space initiatives in 13 strive to stay Africa offer a canvas of hands-on in virtual opportunities environment 30 NATIONAL SECURITY Recruiting Biden’s declaration of 15 talent in support puts Space trying times Force on firmer ground

32 FOUST FORWARD Spaceforce Will Jeff Bezos kick- 16 wants digitally start Blue Origin? Does minded troops he need to? Security 20 Clearance backlog remains NEXT ISSUES Our next three issues will stumbling block for be published March 15, employers April 19 and May 17.

5 Mars interference China’s first 21 Book attempt to land on Mars could provide Excerpt NASA scientists with unprecedented seismic data but political barriers may Liftoff prevent the necessary coordination. and the Desperate Early 7 Astra's 100-year plan The once- Days that Launched stealthy launch startup is about to go public via SpaceX by Eric a SPAC. Astra CEO Chris Kemp discusses the Berger merger, plans for ramping up launch activity and how it will compete against both small and large launch providers.

COVER AND ABOVE: A sampling of several of the hundreds of thousands of people who work in the global . Photos courtesty of NASA, the Euro- pean Space Agency and the United Arab Emirates' Space Agency.

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2 | SPACENEWS 02.15.21 QUICK TAKES

SIGNIFICANT DIGITS

$42MThe sum Isotropic Systems recently raised to continue development of broadband terminals foforr use bbyy a wide range ooff systems in a round led bbyy satellite operatoroperator SES. Isotropic aims to have its first commercial system readyready next year. THALES ALENIA SPACE TO BUILD TELESAT LEO CONSTELLATION Telesat has selected Thales Alenia Space to build its low constellation. Telesat said that the 298-satellite system, which it now calls Lightspeed, will begin providing broadband connectivity services in 2023. Telesat chose Thales Alenia for the $3 billion project based on Thales Alenia’s work on the Iridium Next constellation and the original O3b satellite for SES. The Lightspeed HoHow$60Mw much Omnispace raised to fund satellites will include laser intersatellite links to minimize the number of ground stations required. development ooff a hybrid space and Telesat plans to focus on business-to-business services, rather that customer broadband. terrestrial network to provide 5G and internet ooff things services. Virginia- based Omnispace is focused on enterprise market segments, including agriculture, mining and energy, and shipping and logistics. Omnispace has not disclosed hohoww much funding it has raised to date but business information website Crunchbase lists it as $106.8 million.

Ball Aerospace won a NASA contract for a space science mission. Ball won the contract 81The numbernumber ooff mini satellites Swarm FOR WIN LUNAR Feb. 9 to build the Global Lyman-alpha Imager has in orbit, allowing the internet of of the Dynamic Exosphere, or GLIDE, satellite things startup to declare the start ooff its that will launch in 2025. The $75 million mission commercial data service. GATEWAY LAUNCH CONTRACT will observe the uppermost region of the Earth’s NASA awarded a $331.8 million contract to atmosphere, the exosphere, studying how it SpaceX Feb. 9 for the launch of the first two responds to solar activity. elements of its on a Falcon Heavy in 2024. The Falcon Heavy will NASA longer plans to launch its $32MThe amount Earth observation launch the Gateway Power and Propulsion Clipper mission on the System. startup Umbra raised $32 million to Element and Habitation and Logistics Outpost At an advisory group meeting Feb. 10, project fund development ooff a constellation modules. The value of the contract is nearly officials said they were informed by the agency ooff synthetic aperture radaradarr (SAR) three times higher than NASA’s $117 million satellites. The round was led bbyy the last month to “immediately cease efforts award to SpaceX to launch the familfamilyy office venture fund ooff Passport to maintain SLS compatibility” and instead mission. Psyche mission will likely use a standard Capital foundefounderr John Burbank with prepare to launch the mission on a commercial Falcon Heavy vehicle, but the lunar Gateway participation from existing Umbra rocket. Congress had mandated for years in launch may need an extended payload fairing investors. Umbra is preparing to appropriations bills that NASA use SLS, but SpaceX is developing for national security launch its first microsatellite this year relented in the 2021 bill. NASA intends to issue to provide SAR imageryimagery at a resolution missions. The contract also covers prelaunch a request for proposals for launch service. THALES ALENIA SPACE/SPACEX/ECE ILLINOIS ooff betterbetter than 25 centimeters. payload processing.

SPACENEWS.COM | 3 QUICK TAKES

SpaceX violated the conditions of a launch license for its Starship vehicle during a December launch, the FAA said Feb. 2, the same day another Starship prototype, SN9, crash landed at the company’s Boca Chica, , test site after performing a suborbital flight. Before the Dec. 9 flight of the Starship SN8vehicle, which also ended in a crash, SpaceX requested a waiver to its FAA license for Starship suborbital test flights. That waiver, the FAA said, would have allowed SpaceX to “exceed the maximum public risk allowed by federal safety regulations.” The FAA denied the request, but SpaceX went ahead with the launch. No injuries or third-party damage was reported during the Dec. 9 flight, but the FAA determined that SpaceX violated the conditions of its license by proceeding without the waiver. The FAA said that, as a result of violating the terms of its license, it required SpaceX perform a review, including “a comprehensive review of the company’s safety culture,” before allowing the company to proceed with the SN9 flight. The FAA said Starship SN9 it did not expect to take any further enforcement action against SpaceX.

Eutelsat won a contract to provide a navigation overlay service. The $121 million contract covers the hosting of a European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) payload on ’s Hotbird 13G , scheduled for launch in 2022. EGNOS broadcasts signals designed to improve the accuracy of existing services for safety-critical applications, such as aviation. Another EGNOS payload is on the Canada’s Radarsat 2 satellites are prepared for flight ahead Eutelsat 5 West B satellite launched in 2019. of a June 12, 2019, aboard a SpaceX rocket.

MDA is designing the follow-on to Radarsat-2, the C-band synthetic aperture radar satellite built in partnership with the Canadian government. MDA owns and operates Radarsat-2, a taskable satellite that provides imagery and data to government and commercial customers worldwide. As part of the Radarsat-2 Continuity Mission, MDA says it will rely on its “multi-mission Earth observation ground stations as well as advances in artificial intelligence techniques, including machine learning and deep learning, to manage large volumes of data across multiple sensor won a NASA award platforms and enhance our data analytics capabilities.” for a lunar lander mission. As part LOCKHEED MARTIN TAPS of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload ABL FOR UK LAUNCH A startup is acquiring assets from remote Services (CLPS) program, Firefly will sensing company Urthecast to establish deliver 10 payloads to the moon’s Mare ABL Space Systems will conduct a a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite Crisium region in 2023 on its Blue Ghost launch for Lockheed Martin from system. Alpha Insights purchased the lander for $93.3 million. That lander a new in the Shetland SAR assets of Urthecast, which filed for will also carry commercial payloads Islands, fulfilling an agreement with protection from creditors in 2020 to avoid arranged by Firefly. The company will the British government announced in bankruptcy. Scott Larson, a co-founder of arrange for the launch with another 2018.Lockheed said Feb. 7 that ABL will Urthecast and CEO of Alpha Insights, says company since the lander is too large perform a launch of its RS1 rocket in his new company is working on a dual- to launch on its Alpha rocket under 2022 from the , a band SAR system based on technology development. Firefly is the fourth spaceport to be developed on the island Urthecast developed. Alpha Insights recently company to win a CLPS award for of . The rocket, on a mission called raised a seed round to allow it to expand its sending NASA payloads to the moon, the U.K. Pathfinder launch, will place engineering staff. after Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and into orbit a tug developed by Moog in

Masten Space Systems. the U.K. to deploy six cubesats. SPACEX/MDA/EUTELSAT/FIREFLY/LOCKHEED MARTIN

4| SPACENEWS 02.15.21 NEWS MARS EXPLORATION

NASA’s China exclusion could spell a missed opportunity for Mars InSight

s NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover barrels through the Mar- tian atmosphere this week and A jettisons ballast that would oth- erwise doom its landing, the U.S. space agency’s two-year-old InSight lander will be listening intently, collecting data that could help scientists better understand the planet’s composition. While Perseverance’s Feb. 18 landing attempt marks the first opportunity for a heavily instrumented Mars lander to record the acoustic and seismic impacts of another ’s entry, descent and landing (EDL) sequence, there’s a second such opportunity later this year when China’s recently arrived Tianwen-1 orbiter sends it rover down to the surface. NASA’s Perseverance rover will be traveling 20,000 kilometers per hour when it reaches Mars’ atmosphere. The Insight lander is poised to record the seismic impacts of the rover’s entry, descent and landing sequence. However, long-standing U.S. restrictions on working with China — and China’s lim- ited release of mission specifics —could see instrumentation, with a unique opportunity landing will occur 3,450 kilometers west an opportunity to collect unique data on to advance knowledge of the properties of from InSight but the Tianwen-1 rover is Mars’ atmosphere and interior go begging. the Martian crust and mantle, the structure expected to land much closer, within a Perseverance is scheduled to land in and properties of Mars’ atmosphere and southern section of Utopia Planitia. Jezero Crater at 3:55 p.m. Eastern Feb. 18. interior and improve understanding of “All other things being equal, being two The seven-minute EDL sequence will gen- those seismic waves created by impacts — to three times closer will increase the signal erate seismic and acoustic waves through events which have yet to be conclusively strength by four to nine times,” Benjamin the sonic boom created by hypersonic detected and identified — according to a Fernando told SpaceNews. “So it would deceleration during atmospheric entry paper by InSight team member Benjamin potentially be significantly louder.” and the high-velocity impact of a pair of Fernando and colleagues. It could also be China, however, seldom reveals the de- 77-kilogram tungsten blocks, known as a first instance of “hearing” a spacecraft tailed timing of major mission events until Cruise Mass Balance Devices (CMBDs), making its landing on another planet. after the fact. While Utopia Planitia is the jettisoned at an altitude of 1,450 kilometers. The value of such data could potentially chosen landing area — selected based on Knowing the timing and location in ad- be multiplied through Tianwen-1’s EDL, engineering, science and other constraints vance brings added value to any detections, especially as it could occur much closer — landing coordinates of 110.318 degrees helping InSight overcome the limitations to InSight. To make the most of the event, east longitude and 24.748 degrees north of relying on a single station for recording InSight’s science team needs to know more latitude reported in official publication seismic events. about Tianwen-1’s design and the timing China Space News were later removed These events could provide InSight, and location of its landing attempt. from online versions of the article. with its seismometer and auxiliary sensor Tianwen-1 entered Mars orbit early Feb. The timing of major events in the recent 10 but the rover EDL timeline is vague, ex- Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission

NASA/JPL-CALTECH ANDREW JONES pected only in May or June. The Perseverance were only discernible to followers in and

SPACENEWS.COM |5 outside China by scouring technical papers for clues, monitoring spacecraft tracking carried out by amateurs and spotting a leak via Chinese social media. Reaching out to Chinese entities for this information is not straightforward, especially for NASA. “We have not yet contacted the Chinese about obtaining this information,” Bruce Banerdt, Insight’s principal investigator, told SpaceNews. “Contacts between NASA and our Chi- nese counterparts are limited under U.S. law. We are currently in the process of exploring our options.” Bilateral cooperation between NASA and Chinese organizations is currently restricted by the so-called Wolf Amend- ment, a provision first added to a NASA spending bill in 2011 by then-U. S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) that requires NASA China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter and rover imaged in deep space by an ejected camera in October 2020 to seek congressional approval for any bilateral collaboration with Chinese enti- held in Beijing in 2017 while a fourth was Earth-Mars transfer. ESA will also conduct ties. Similar language has been added to delayed partly by the COVID-19 outbreak. a technology demonstration to verify the subsequent appropriations, including the The Chinese Academy of Sciences, proximity link interoperability between 2021 spending bill enacted in December. which is involved in Tianwen-1 science ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft and the “The ability of the InSight science payloads and spacecraft integration, had Tianwen-1 rover, which may include team to ‘listen’ to Tianwen-1 EDL would not responded by press time to a request monitoring the EDL. These plans are not depend on a variety of technical factors for comment on the possibility of coordi- yet finalized, however. and, most importantly, whether China nation or release of information. InSight should be to get prepared for makes detailed information available on The effective ban of bilateral activities the Tianwen-1 rover if the timing and loca- its specific plans for the attempt,” NASA applies only to NASA, the White House tion information becomes available a week spokesman Sean Potter said via email. Office of Science and Technology Policy before the event, according to Fernando. Asked if NASA could reach out to its (OSTP) and the . Rover design information would prove Chinese counterparts, Potter confirmed Scientists at other U.S. institutions can, for useful also. “It all depends on what the that inquiries and coordination “would example, request access to China’s newly spacecraft design is,” says Fernando. “It’s fall under the restrictions on NASA’s bi- acquired lunar samples by following proce- conceivable but not necessary that they lateral interaction with China.” dures announced in January by the China use similar sorts of CMBDs to InSight, we While collaboration with China is not National Space Administration, a month really don’t know.” entirely prohibited, NASA would need to after Chang’e-5 delivered the goods to Detecting Perseverance and Tianwen-1 notify Congress in advance and provide Earth. There is no platform yet for sharing would be extremely valuable scientifically. certification that there are no risks for a Tianwen-1 mission data, but conversations “One measurement with a known source specific engagement. NASA and China between Chinese and non-NASA scientists time, location and magnitude would be were able to discuss the potential for the could take place, though passing along incredibly useful, two would be amazing. NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to sensitive information relating to missions Then, we can start to do things like con- monitor the landing of China’s Chang’e-4 may not be straightforward. sidering what effects local and 3D structure on the lunar far side in early 2019. The Another route would be for NASA to might have on the propagation from the two sides also occasionally meet for contact the , which source to recover,” says Fernando. But first the U.S.-China Civil Space Dialogue. A provided ground support for Tianwen-1 something may need to give on Earth for third and most recent such meeting was for launch and early orbit operations and impacts to be felt on Mars. SN CNSA

6| SPACENEWS 02.15.21 Q&A CHRIS KEMP ASTRA’S 100-YEAR PLAN The once-stealthy launch startup is about to go public

n February 2020, Astra was just starting to open up to the public. The small developer, which had kept a profile so low that it called itself “Stealth Space I Company” in job listings, began talking to the media about its plans as it was preparing its first orbital launch attempt from Kodiak, Alaska, as part of the DARPA Launch Challenge. A year later, Astra was going public. The company announced Feb. 2 it would merge with Holicity, a special- purpose acquisition company (SPAC) founded by Craig McCaw, who a quarter-century ago led Teledesic, the failed broadband satellite constellation. That merger, along with additional investment, will provide Astra with nearly $500 million in cash and value the company at $2.1 billion, with its shares traded on the Nasdaq exchange. Astra will use the Astra’s Rocket 3.2 vehicle lifts off Dec. 15 from Kodiak Island, Alaska. funding to scale up production of its , with a goal of launching nearly daily by 2025, and start a new line of modular satellite platforms. And how did you choose Holicity? Chris Kemp, chief executive and co-founder of Astra, From our perspective, there couldn’t be better partners out spoke with SpaceNews senior staff writer Jeff Foust a few there for us. As we looked at the options in front of us, we days after the announcement, discussing the merger, Astra’s got really excited about the background that Craig and the plans for ramping up launch activity and how it will compete other folks had going back to the Teledesic days. They had a against both small and large launch providers. The following lot of pain that they felt trying to pioneer the first low Earth is a condensed version of that conversation. orbit communications constellation decades before . Launch was a big factor that scuttled their dreams. We’ve all seen what SpaceX has done solving that problem. Why did you choose to merge with a SPAC rather We think there’s another opportunity that is very different, than a traditional IPO or raising another round? which is the hundreds of companies that are trying to solve We’re offering a cheaper, more efficient and less risky way a number of very important problems here on Earth from for companies to get to space at Astra. So, it’s natural that we space, and we’re building a platform to address everything would take a cheaper, more efficient and less risky way to get else. We believe fundamentally that small launches from to public markets. I think a SPAC, for us, was by far the most anywhere on Earth anywhere in space means we can serve

ASTRA/JOHN KRAUS efficient path to public markets. that market better.

SPACENEWS.COM |7 Q&A CHRIS KEMP

What is McCaw providing Astra Can Astra compete with larger besides the capital from the merger? rockets on a cost-per-kilogram He’s been very actively involved. They’re basis? not passive. He has participated in many It’s really not the right strategy for any calls we’ve had with investors and he’s megaconstellation to have a single joining my board. He’s someone who I launch provider. All these companies, am really looking forward to learning with the exception of SpaceX that owns from and working with, as we build this their launch capability, will probably company. select two or three different providers, so they’re not locked in. But that On your last launch in December leaves a remainder problem because you nearly reached orbit. What the number of satellites that you can are your plans for your next put on different rockets varies. Astra launch? fills an important need, where we can There was a really careful look at everything fill in those gaps. You can get a batch from that flight. The fuel mixture was a bit of them where they need to go on a off and changing the mixture would have large rocket, and then you can fill in easily put that payload in orbit. The same the remainder with Astra. flight from a different spaceport or sent to a different orbit would have reached How does Astra stack up orbit. So, the system completely proved against the competition, be itself, and we will adjust the mixture ratio it other small launch vehicle on the fuel. I think the next fight will be companies or larger ones like a commercial flight this summer with SpaceX? a payload on it. We’re ramping up our We’ve done everything fast. We achieved commercial launch operations this year. this big milestone in December I think We’ll have monthly launches, starting in twice as fast as SpaceX and three times the fourth quarter. faster than and . We’ve already sold 50 launches. Will you make any changes to There’s so much demand and so many the rocket besides the fuel ratio? opportunities out there that we had to No changes. We’re ramping up production capitalize the business, to build the on this rocket. It’ll be called Rocket 3.3. infrastructure to go and ramp up our And we’ll make lots of 3.3’s. There will be Chris Kemp, launch rate and our production rate. some little updates here and there, but it chief executive One thing these customers all is exactly the same rocket configuration and co-founder have in common is they all want to — engine, software, hardware — with of Astra go to different places, on different minor enhancements, things that you’d schedules. That’s not possible with want to do if you’re going to make lots the SpaceX [rideshare] launch. That of them. launch cadence with a vehicle that can launch might have gotten a bunch throw about 300 kilograms to a reference of small satellites into one place in What about performance orbit. Ultimately, that means we can meet space, but those companies had to improvements? the needs of all these megaconstellations wait a very long time for that launch. The team will start working on a rocket like Kuiper. The target for the company It’s kind of like Airbus 380s versus that can carry about 100 kilograms is being a megaconstellation provider. small commuter jets. It’s never going next year, after this gets handed off to to make sense to fly an Airbus 380 to production. There’s a whole roadmap The conventional wisdom for Sacramento. You’re going to want to that talks about effectively moving to megaconstellations is that you fly a small Embraer jet. So we’re doing about 300 kilograms to a 500 kilometer launch them in bulk on larger the commuter jet, we’re filling in all sun-synchronous reference orbit by 2023. rockets, then use smaller vehi- the gaps. That’s, I think, a rising tide

In 2025, we hope to be hitting our daily cles for individual replacements. that will float all rocket ships, whether ASTRA

8 | SPACENEWS 02.15.21 they’re big or small. company. In fact, one of the things I’m entire spaceport, as we demonstrated working on now is the 100-year plan with the DARPA Launch Challenge, How are you planning to scale for the company. We’re really focused pack it up into four shipping containers, up production to reach that daily on this trillion-dollar economy that is unpack it, and launch the rocket with launch cadence? largely focused on improving life on five people. We were producing about a rocket a Earth from space, not going off Earth We’re never going to go to a government quarter last year. We don’t intend to do and settling other planets. spaceport. You’ll never see us build at more than that this year, because we’ll If you think about every company that Wallops or Cape Canaveral. We don’t be investing this capital to scale the has ever started in this industry, they want to be anywhere near those places. factory and really build the team out have to build the satellites from scratch, We want to deal with the FAA and they to start really preparing for monthly or they’re using this cottage industry of do a great job for us. I disagree with Elon launch operations next year. We’ll be companies that integrate them. We see [Musk] on this. I think that is a great group building out this quarter of a million a model that’s much more like Apple or that’s been incredibly responsive. We want square foot space, where we built about Dell, where customers just load software to have an environment where we can 100,000 square feet so far. We’re going and they plug in a peripheral. And the operate under their regulatory framework. to start construction in a few weeks peripheral is the camera, the sensor, the It’s way easier than operating from the and will be bringing in a whole bunch radio that is unique to their application. Cape or from Vandenberg. of new infrastructure to start scaling I think there’s a unique opportunity up production. for us to completely turn the industry Have you identified any space- on its head by thinking about how we ports you’ll go to next after What approaches are you using prioritize what’s actually happening in Kodiak? to increase production? space versus the structural mechanics Yes, absolutely. We have engaged with It’s not like we’re making a handcrafted of how this industry has operated for several. machine. We’re using aluminum. We many, many decades. can really manufacture these things at You mentioned you’re work- rate without a lot of labor and without When will you start launching ing on a 100-year plan for Astra. a lot of custom machinery. It’s welding, those satellites? What does a 100-year plan for a it’s riveting. There’ll be robots. It will be We’re going to start building the capability rocket company look like? a pretty lean factory operation. Yes, it’s to make them this year. Next year we’ll start If you look back at the Earth 50 years from less efficient than a carbon fiber rocket, flying the first prototypes. The following now, or 100 years from now, there is a but our goal as a company was never to year, we’ll really start to productize and layer right above our atmosphere helping make the most efficient rocket. It was to start providing space services to our improve life on Earth. It’s an intelligent make the highest margin, most profitable customers. The satellite will fit inside dust of connectivity that provides a company at scale. That’s what separates of our rocket and be really beautifully level of capability here on the planet to Astra from everyone else. designed to use every bit of space and better understand our resources, like mass available in the rocket. really incredible, high-fidelity weather In addition to rockets, you forecasting. Where are we hurting our revealed in the merger an- You’re talking about doing 300 coral reefs? What’s happening with nouncement that you’re also launches a year in 2025, which methane? developing a satellite bus that would be nearly three times the I cannot believe 100 years from now, can carry customer payloads. number of launches worldwide looking back at Earth, there isn’t this Was that something you were last year. How are you going to beautiful protective sphere. And you planning all along? scale up operations to support can call that Astra. So, we’re building It has been but it hasn’t been something that unprecedented pace? that. How do you build that? Is that a we’ve talked about. We didn’t want We need to have a high level of monopoly? No, it’s a platform, and that to talk about it until we achieved this automation, so at the foundation of platform will be driven by standards and first milestone of reaching space with our platform is software. We had at our competition and global collaboration. something that could deliver satellites. first launch of 1.0 about 30 people in Astra is building that platform, but it’s Now that we’ve got this milestone Kodiak. In our 2.0 launch, we had about going to take decades. This transaction behind us, we’re opening up a little bit 15 people. In our 3.0 launches, we got gives us the resources we need to begin more about the long-term plan for the it down to five. We now can take the that journey. SN

SPACENEWS.COM |9 “W SPACENEWS 02.15.21 10 | WORKFORCE through virtual interviews, employee employee interviews, virtual through primarily interns 1,000 and employees Systems brought onboard more than 4,100 hurdles. the norm, companies faced new hiring became distancing social and halted travel Once workers. find to pandemic Engineering Research Center. Space USC the of director Barnhart, David pay,”said their double typically by Google, , Tesla for jobs that up picked get “they years of couple a working for space companies, but after out start often engineers astronautical are luringaway spacesector talent. excited about space.” them get and industries non-tech and “We try to pull in people from other tech said during the 2021 SmallSat Symposium. egy and business development director, Creech, Millennium Space Systems strat- are people with space heritage,” Michael in high demand. are engineers systems and engineers that’s out there.” projects and sucking up a lot of the talent major up ramping are companies big “The platform. search career a Talent, Space of founder Kilian, Justus said technicians. and managers engineers, for quest a in websites job-listing and Instagram TALENT CRUNCH SPACE SECTOR Meanwhile, some of the tech giants tech the of Meanwhile,some “There’s more space work than there In 2020, ’s Space It was hard enough before the COVID-19 California Southern of University mechatronics specialists, Software landscape,” competitive very a “It’s YouTube, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, on message companies share that hiring.” e’re Space a practical sense.” in leaders space generationof next the perience of their own, we’re developing space operations and earn valuable ex- ly-career employees to gain exposure to said. “By creating an opportunity for ear- and diverse perspectives,” Pitts-Madonna experience, but they brought new ideas for this program didn’t have on-the-job Earth for two weeks inJanuary. orbit Stationto InternationalSpace the perch on the spacecraft that left data on technology performance from its said by email. resources, human of president vice tor Northrop Grumman Space Systems sec Pitts-Madonna, Beth talent,” technical for example, was “building a pipeline of Northropofgoal Grumman’s SharkSat, key A responsibilities. new on take to employees current training to energy recruitment process. referrals, and enlisting employees in the for professors university and college conducting virtual job fairs, contacting said by email. management, talent of president vice Caroline LeCount, Maxar Technologies’ work at least part of the time remotely,” to want people more finding are we as location, government a at or Facility] [Sensitive Compartmented Information a in presence on-siterequire that roles workers toseekgreater flexibility. hires and700interns. heed Martin did the same for 2,700 new orientation sessions and trainings. Lock- “This has had an impact on cleared on impact an had has “This The pandemic also is prompting some “Many of the team members selected SharkSat was a payload that gathered Companies also are devoting time and are companies slots, open fill To S N -

NASA/ROCKETLAB From the pandemic to going public: space startups face hiring challenges

or many companies in the indus- of a rideshare mission launching to positions, like software and traditional try, filling job openings can seem polar orbit in January, the host noted radio-frequency engineering, are rela- as difficult as rocket science. For SpaceX had openings at its Vandenberg tively easy to fill. “But in specialist areas, Fothers, it simply involves rockets. Air Force Base site, where it does most like semiconductor chipset development, SpaceX often uses its launch web- of its polar orbit launches. those hires are hard to find.” casts as recruiting tools, taking advan- Not everyone in the industry — almost In an interview, Finney said that tage of an audience of thousands who no one, really — has that sort of market- Isotropic was able to hire people who will tune in at all hours to see a rocket ing muscle. Near the opposite end of the had been laid off from other companies launch and landing. Webcasts hosts space industry from SpaceX is Isotropic during the pandemic last year, including will casually mention the company is Systems. The startup, with about 70 em- from OneWeb after it filed for Chapter hiring, directing people to their web- ployees, is developing flat-panel antennas: 11 bankruptcy. “We’re in a pretty bright site to browse the current openings. essential, but not high-profile, hardware place. We’re trying to scale up as fast as Sometimes they will be very specific for satellite communications. we can,” he said. “There’s a lot of talent in their requests: during the webcast “We’re just about on track,” John Fin- becoming available that we might not ney, chief executive of Isotropic, said of have otherwise accessed.”

ADOBE JEFF FOUST his company’s recruitment effort. Some The company, though, needs to

SPACENEWS.COM | 11 WORKFORCE

Once Astra becomes publicly traded John Finney, on the Nasdaq exchange, it will be able chief executive to make the same offers to its employ- of Isotropic. ees. “We’re having a whole new set of conversations with a whole new level of people,” he said, including both en- gineers and executives. Private companies can still attract talent from publicly traded firms. Commercial imaging company Satellogic announced Feb. 11 it hired a former Maxar executive, Thomas VanMatre, as its vice president of global business development. He held a similar position at Maxar and previously worked at the National Geospatial-Intel- ligence Agency. Satellogic, which is just starting to build out its constellation of high-resolution scale up those hiring efforts. The some of the biggest players out there,” imaging satellites, has an unusually global company closed a $42 million funding he said, noting that the company is next presence for a company of its size, with round Feb. 8 and plans to grow to 110 door to a Northrop Grumman facility. offices in the United States, Latin America, employees by the end of the year as it “It’s a matter of attracting people that and China, tapping local expertise opens a new facility near its headquarters want to come and do something new.” in software, satellite manufacturing and in Reading, England. That challenge is magnified when business development. “We’ve stepped up in a lot of areas” to you’re not able, or at least willing, to talk “We are growing extremely fast,” recruit those additional employees, he said. publicly about what you’re doing. In its Emiliano Kargieman, chief executive “It’s a war for talent at the end of the day.” first few years, small launch vehicle de- of Satellogic, said in an interview. The The new funding round is led by veloper Astra kept a low profile, without company has more than 200 employees satellite operator SES and includes par- a public website or other discussion. now, and he said he expects to hire 70 ticipation from the British government, The company called itself “Stealth Space people in this quarter. The company’s which Finney said should help the com- Company” in its online job listings. website lists dozens of job openings, pri- pany recruit those new employees. “That “We worked really hard to bring peo- marily in Argentina, Uruguay and Spain. gives people a lot of confidence to join ple in here,” Chris Kemp, co-founder That hiring pace “is a function of the company,” he said, easing any con- and chief executive of Astra, said in an trying to match the demand that we’re cerns they have about a company still interview of those early hiring efforts. seeing in the market,” with strong inter- in its early phases of development. “We “But we literally had to bring people in est from government and commercial couldn’t be better supported.” here and show them the place.” customers for Satellogic’s imagery, he Isotropic also has an office in the That became easier about a year ago, said. The company secured a launch United States to work with U.S. govern- when Astra unveiled a website and started contract last month with SpaceX, mak- ment customers. The hiring situation talking more openly about its work. On ing that company its “preferred” launch there is a little different. “It always seems Feb. 2, the company announced it was provider through a series of rideshare like it’s a challenge when we’re hiring,” merging with Holicity, a special-purpose missions through next year. he said. “We’ve got a great team with acquisition company, allowing it to go “We’re feeling strongly that this is the fantastic knowledge over there, but the public and providing it with nearly $500 time for us to double down and scale,” hiring process does tend to be a little million in cash to fund its expansion. he said. Despite the economic fallout of bit longer.” Going public, Kemp said, will help the the pandemic, “2020 was the best year Finney chalks that up to much bigger company recruit new employees. “There in the history of the company, and we’re competition. That U.S. office is located are some really talented people at big expecting a very strong 2021.” in Maryland, amid office parks between publicly traded companies where they Perhaps, if they run into difficulties Washington and Baltimore filled with have the ability to give their employees hiring, they can get their new launch aerospace and defense contractors. “We liquidity,” he said. “It does restrict the kind partner, SpaceX, to put in a plug for them

are competing for the best engineers from of talent that you can bring in.” on a launch webcast. SN ISOTROPIC SYSTEMS

12| SPACENEWS 02.15.21 ADOBE T programs toadapt university space Pandemic forces groups of students from gathering in in light of apandemic that prevents been forced tomodify theircurriculum on offering hands-on instruction have entrepreneurs. Universities that pride themselves of aerospace engineersand training thenextgeneration has complicated thetaskof he COVID-19 pandemic DEBRA WERNER Research Southern California Space Engineering Barnhart, director of theUniversity of are sendinghardware tostudents. David “We justhave hadtoadapt.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. tics andAstronautics Department at the Daniel Hastings, who headstheAeronau- and rovers. laboratories tobuild cubesats, rockets In some cases, university professors “It has beenchallenging for us,” said Center, ordered additional schools interact with the companies pick themup.” on theporch. Students drive by and hart said.“Iprint themandset students Barnhart brought home a3Dprinter. demic-related controls. send there were world,” Hastings said.“We discovered of hardware. encountered problems with certaintypes which hedelivered tostudents. tem for many spacesystemprototypes, boards that serve astheoperating sys- commercial “We have students from all over the The pandemic also hasaltered theway “We worked out aschedule where the In MIT adopted asimilar strategy but overseas” another send certain open-source effort social me because their things to distancing rules, cope 13 SPACENEWS.COM | prints,” of we U.S. electronic with couldn’t export Barn- pan- SPACENEWS 02.15.21 | 14 and Northrop Grumman andSpaceX. and companies, including Blue Origin, from NASA centers, U.S. ganized daily seminarswith presentations sciences andengineeringprofessor, or- University of Michigan climate, space recruit theirstudents. WORKFORCE University ofSouthernCaliforniaDepartment ofAstronauticalEngineeringwithalunarlanderprototype. tests deep-spacehabitat prototypetechnology. The University ofMichigan’sBioastronauticsandLifeSupportSystem teamdesigns,builds,and Top: Early inthepandemic, Nilton Renno, “The idea wastoshow the current incoming students and government agencies that often that things didn’t Undergraduate andgraduate studentsinthe Above: world, schoolsare looking for ways to it wasanice surprise,” Reno said. face-to-face. virtually when theycould notmeet students with potential employers on, people were findingways towork.” Renno said.“There wasactivity going completely stop” due to the pandemic, “Everyone got asummerinternship, The seminarsalso helpedconnect Looking aheadto the post-pandemic in 2019,students spent sixweeks at the of working online. the pandemic showed the advantages and Florida Institute of Technology, Center for Space Entrepreneurship by International Space University graduate certificate program offered continue touse.” to teach.Some of thosetools,they’ll bit relative tothetoolsthey’re using “The faculty have innovated quite a from thisexperience,” Hastings said. because we should learnsomething not work exactly thesameasbefore, social-distancing concerns ease. instruction when travel resumes and retain some of thebenefits of online is challenging.” all thisteamdynamics work remotely Hastings said.“Figuring out how tomake uates talking about students here, undergrad- designing aircraft or spacecraft,“we’re from people around theworld when corporations know how togather input virtual teams.While major aerospace together on physical teamsrather than to thetimewhen students canwork they didwasfantastic.” students andthe quality of work that the United States. Thequality of the a , globe: three from Africa, afew from able to get students from around the Entrepreneurship. “First of all, we were Space Institute andtheCenter for Space Andrew Aldrin, vantages todoing thingsonline,” said Visitor Complex. two weeks at theKennedy Space Center a hybrid, with eight weeks online and Space Entrepreneurship isplanning online in2020.For 2021, theCenter for Complex. All coursework wasconducted NASA gaggle For theCommercial Space Studies “I’m reasonably sure that thingswill Still, professors are looking forward When “There are some tremendous ad- who Kennedy a of students from the student have program really director S Space N from Sri Lankaand done this was Center of the Aldrin established all around before,” Visitor

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN/UNIVERSSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Recruiting in trying times

Lockheed Martin Space hired 2,700 people plus 700 interns in 2020, a year unlike any other for human resources managers. Almost overnight, the prime contractor with about 23,000 employees switched from its traditional in-person approach to virtual recruitment, interviewing and training. SpaceNews correspondent Debra Werner spoke with Lockheed Martin Space executives Nick Spain, human resources vice president, Renu Aggarwal, talent acquisition director, and Heather Erickson, organizational development director, about the opportunities and challenges posed by heightened demand for talent amid a pandemic.

How do you find new that students are prepared for the working How did the pandemic change employees? world. We do workshops to help them, the hiring process? Nick Spain: I have a phenomenal staff. whether it’s to get ready for interviews or Renu Aggarwal: It was a pretty big We have folks that think about college to understand what it’s like at work. We shift. We were an organization where hiring, building relationships with also make sure that we provide people interviews were done in person. We schools. We partner with universities and with opportunities and training so they did over 6,000 interviews virtually last two-year schools. We have programs in will be successful once they get here. year. From a recruiting standpoint, we place for military hiring. We also have We make sure we’re building long-term kept moving forward. We also held to a pretty robust STEM program. We’re partnerships. our college hiring commitments. A making sure that we’re giving people Heather Erickson: I would add that lot of them worked virtually and were opportunities, whether internships or we focus on upskilling our workforce. successful. Co-Ops. Another thing we do is partner We have a comprehensive tuition with our headquarters to make sure reimbursement program. If folks are Is there an emphasis on diversity? we’re searching for executive talent trying to expand their education, we Nick Spain: Yes. That’s definitely been that we need. have practices and policies to support long standing. We believe that’s a that continuing education whether it business imperative. The best teams What types of relationships do be a full degree or just a single course. have diversity of people, diversity of you have with schools? thought. That’s why we build the right Nick Spain: We’ve got our software Do you have strong demand for relationship, whether that be minority- associate degree program. We’ve got workers with clearances and serving institutions or organizations that our advanced manufacturing technician do you help workers obtain serve more experienced professionals. apprenticeship program. From the clearances? We make sure that we have a presence corporate standpoint, we partner Nick Spain: We do hire a lot of cleared at the conferences. We’re building that with minority-serving institutions individuals. We also have those that go into our overall plan. We have a chief and historically Black colleges and through the clearance process while diversity officer for the corporation universities. For example, I’m an they’re working for us. They may do as well as a vice president of global executive sponsor for Lockheed Martin unclassified work while waiting for their diversity and inclusion to give it extra with Hampton University. We help the clearance. That is a large portion of our emphasis. We built it into our hiring schools with curriculum to make sure Lockheed Martin Space workforce. and promotion practices. SN

SPACENEWS.COM | 15 Space Forcechieftechnologyandinnovation office. Lt. JackieSmithisa softwarespecialistat theU.S. SPACENEWS 02.15.21 | 16 WORKFORCE wants digitally minded troops To defendthe high frontier, ellite weapons. national security threats inorbit such asanti-sat independent military branchtohandle emerging Force uses November calls for adigitally minded force that in acommander’s guidancedocument released in analysis. traffic control, satellite operations andspacedata around theworld that perform duties like space 400 software coders who will be assigned tounits events astheSpace Force looks tobuild acadre of Semper Supra, or always above. supra coders isinhomage totheservice’s motto Smith told 300 candidates. Theprogram ishighly selective, from thefirstbootcamp heldinJanuary. said 28military andcivilian personnel graduated who soon will betransferring totheSpace Force, known asthe“supra coders.” Force software bootcamp whose graduates are Force,” said1st Lt. Jackie Smith, who runsaSpace I The 28were selectedfrom among more than Chief of Space Operations Gen.John Raymond The Smith, an Air Force officer and software specialist “Software touches everything we do intheSpace it could besaidthat software coders andapp f fighter pilots are therock starsof theAirForce, Force. developers are thefighter jocksof theSpace technology in established was coding boot SpaceNews SANDRA ERWIN in innovative ways. camps will . Shenotedthat thename an as 2019 December become The regular Space -

U.S. SPACE FORCE U.S. SPACE FORCE data across all Space Force activities. “We will ation conference. at aNational Defense Industrial Associ- will berequired,” Thompson saidlastfall every single member of the Space Force knowledge andtrainingactivities that role. “Sheisestablishingacore set of of spaceoperations, explainedCrider’s the AirForce’s chief data officer. officer, or CTIO. Crider previously was Force chief technology and innovation Maj. Gen.Kimberly Crider asthe Space technology andinnovation. He selected post inhisoffice dedicated topromoting into law, Raymond pushedtohave asenior software bootcamp. Maj. Gen.KimberlyCrider, SpaceForcechieftechnologyandinnovation officer(left),andGen.JohnRaymond,chiefofspaceoperations, attend aSpaceForce Crider saidone of herresponsibilities Gen. David Thompson, the vice chief As soon astheSpace Force wassigned beto develop guidelines for the useof plans to release more details on the Force deputy CTIO, saidhisoffice development asastrategic asset.” said. “We’re pushing toview software our vision for adigital service,” Smith the way forward. to work at theCTIO office andhelpmap in New Mexico when Crider tapped her Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate assignment at theAirForce Research and Astronautics. the American Institute of Aeronautics workforce,” shesaidat aconference of we do andwe want todevelop adigital digital capabilities inall thethingsthat want toutilize digital technologies and “The supra coder program ispartof Smith, thesoftware coder, wason an Col. CharlesGalbreath, theSpace satellites, saidGalbreath. Thegoal isto the design and acquisition of future for theuseof “digital engineering”in in creative ways. data and technology tosolve problems ture where people are empowered touse technology, but also about creating acul- proficient insoftware development and service. nition of what it means to be a digital personnel were given inDecember. said, referring tothenameSpace Force to all theguardians intheSpace Force,” he said Galbreath. “Digital fluency is critical coming year. Space Force’s digital strategy over the This wasamandate from Raymond, The Space Force will set guidelines Galbreath saidthere isnosingledefi- It’s about having 17 SPACENEWS.COM | a workforce SPACENEWS 02.15.21 | 18 to-day operations. so theycanbeapplied intheirday- of thetoolsthat are available Space Force tohave anunderstanding “But we do needeverybody inthe Space Force tobeacoder,” hesaid. at Digital University. Space Force personnel have taken courses cybersecurity. science andartificial intelligence, and mation technology infrastructure, data development, introduction toinfor- offers courses such as digital product Digital University, avirtual schoolthat tage of theDepartment of theAirForce’s skills, theSpace Force istakingadvan- infrastructure. lack amodern information systems to adopt because many organizations sector but themilitary hasbeenslow practice that iscommon intheprivate virtual environments from endtoend,a WORKFORCE Lt. JackieSmithleadsaSpaceForcesoftwarebootcampinColoradoSprings,Colorado. Galbreath saidsofarmore than1,100 “We To design, develop andtestsatellites in sharpen theworkforce’s digital don’t need everybody in the to them” transferring people from theAirForce. technical career fields because it isstill recruiting or hiringgoals for eachof the the Space Force hasnotyet setspecific and Strategy, Mulcahy said by security, acquisition andengineering. like spaceoperations, intelligence, cyber- human capital on technical career fields said theSpace Force will concentrate its operations for personnel andlogistics, operations andotheroverhead functions. for rely on its parent service theU.S. AirForce Force will have atechnical focus andwill personnel. son, theMarineCorps hasabout 180,000 military andhalf civilians. Bycompari around 16,000—about half active-duty few thousandnow, it expectstotop out the military services. Numbering justa The Space Force isby farthesmallest of Human the administrative Speaking inJanuary on awebinar hosted Patricia Mulcahy, deputy chief of space Because of its small size,theSpace Aerospace Corporation’s Center for capital strategy support, training, base - Vandenberg AirForce Base, California, in the AirForce’s spacetrainingschoolat Space Force thisyear. Theywill attend military trainingare expectedtojoin the the quality of folks we’re abletoattract.” of courses,shesaid.“Thistells usabout collectively completed nearly 150hours started basic military training,therecruits University courses.Before theyeven iPads loaded with licenses for Digital Mulcahy saidall seven recruits were given Force’s basic military trainingprogram. members who graduated from the Air December received seven newenlisted coming year, saidMulcahy. about 4,000more will transfer over the the AirForce have transferred sofarand young people. But the reality is that the become leaders saidtheyexpecttheservice to and retain technical talent. ing on ahuman capital strategy toattract on adigital backbone,” sheadded. space situational awareness isincumbent to perform command andcontrol, and is not physically present so their ability “Space isadomain where theoperator of crucial importance, saidMulcahy. machine learninganddata analysis are fabric of who we are.” being digitally enabled. Thisisthevery she said.“What you’ll seeisemphasis on with theSTEMbackground we need,” ing andmathematics. short for science, technology, engineer- universities with focus on STEMdegrees, Officers’ Training Corps programs at bring insome officers through Reserve class of 2021. Force from theU.S. Air Force Academy new officers will beadded totheSpace specialists. Additionally, asmany as116 order tobecome spacesystemsoperations About 300 more enlistees from basic The Space Force for thefirst timein Fluency inprogramming languages, More than2,400 spaceoperators from Raymond and other Space Force Mulcahy saidtheSpace Force iswork- “It’s important toattract thebesttalent Mulcahy a magnet said the Space for tech-oriented Force also will

U.S. SPACE FORCE Space Force will have to compete for talent with the private sector and with other government agencies, noted Paula Thornhill, a retired Air Force brigadier general who commanded the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Pat- terson Air Force Base, Ohio. It will be interesting to see the details of the Space Force human capital strategy, Thornhill said. Because of the rigid military personnel system, it seems unrealistic to expect the Space Force can populate the ranks with engineers and STEM experts, at least in the near term, Thornhill told SpaceNews. “A digital Space Force at this point is purely aspirational.” Gen. John Raymond, chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, visits the Space CAMP Skills for space as domain of war (Commercially Augmented Mission Platform) software factory in Colorado Springs, Colorado A digitally trained and skilled service is important to the future of the Space The military space field is going in a my concern is: does that automatically Force but so is a change in culture, said different direction, he said. “You operate exclude people who haven’t had that Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the in a contested environment all the time, opportunity or pursued other opportu- Joint Chiefs of Staff and a career space where you’re going to have different lev- nities? Are we creating a single model officer. els of responsibility in order to deal with of space professional? If they all grow The United States faces national se- the threat that presents itself.” up thinking the same we’re not going curity challenges as foreign powers de- A guardian on a console flying a sat- to be as effective.” velop space weapons to jam or disable ellite must have the skills to see a threat The Space Force is doing a good thing critical satellites like the Global Position- but will also need authority to respond by promoting STEM education, he said. ing System, Hyten noted. Developing a just like a private in combat is allowed to “But we have to be careful that we’re not workforce capable of dealing with these take certain actions without having to just trying to create an army of clones that threats should be a top priority for the go through several layers of approvals, eventually all think the same.” service, Hyten said during a webinar last Hyten said. This will be part of a cultural The service needs “people with agil- month hosted by the National Security evolution that will have to happen in the ity of thought” who can quickly analyze Space Association. Space Force, which goes beyond the a situation and come up with solutions Space Force operators who are re- technical training. if, for example, a satellite is being delib- sponsible to protect satellites in Col. Richard Bourquin, commander of erately targeted. thousands of miles above Earth have to Space 4 at Buckley Air Force Base, To illustrate that point, Bourquin be able to figure out that an attack might Colorado, cautions against putting too recalled when he was a junior officer be underway and know how to respond, much emphasis on STEM degrees as a flying Defense Support Program mis- said Hyten. Traditionally space troops requirement to serve in the Space Force. sile-warning satellites. “I got the data, I have been trained for routine operations Space Delta 4 operates the satellites analyzed it. We’re great at that,” he said. of satellites and maintenance, not for and ground radar that provide strategic “But if somebody was attacking the sat- hostilities, he added. In the future the and theater missile warning to the United ellite I would not have known where to Space Force will need troops who can States and international partners. start or what was out there that could think quickly on their feet. “We need diversity in the Space Force,” threaten the satellites.” “I see a big change coming over what he said in a December interview with the The up-and-coming space operators has been a traditional space professional’s Space Force Association. will have to prepare for those eventualities, career,” Hyten said. “For decades it has “I worry a little bit when I hear peo- he said. “I never knew anything about really been a checklist oriented struc- ple talk about the importance of STEM satellites maneuvering towards each tured approach, operating a capability education,” said Bourquin. STEM flu- other, or about rendezvous and proxim-

U.S. SPACE FORCE in a benign environment.” ency is needed, he pointed out. “But ity operations. We didn’t learn that.” SN

SPACENEWS.COM | 19 WORKFORCE

Efforts to streamline security clearances slowed, not halted Still, the COVID-19 pandemic slowed some clearance by pandemic investigations. “For cleared roles supporting Maxar’s government ser- vices business, we have experienced longer wait times with ational security space companies are hiring. government customers to grant individuals access to cleared “As our space programs continue to grow, so does facilities,” LeCount said. our need for talented employees,” Beth Pitts-Ma- Security experts would like to see wait times decline further Ndonna, Northrop Grumman Space Systems sector and they have suggestions for easing the clearance process. vice president of human resources, said by email. It’s not unusual, for example, for a classified government Northrop Grumman Space Systems has more than 3,100 contract to stipulate that all the individuals who will be as- jobs currently open, including more than 1,000 positions for signed to the contract possess top secret security clearances employees with security clearances. before work begins. As a result, companies without enough “Finding candidates with the appropriate technical skills cleared staff available to take on the work are forced to hire and/or clearances can sometimes be difficult in the current individuals who possess the appropriate clearance from market,” Caroline LeCount, Maxar’s talent management vice other companies or government agencies. That creates an president, said by email. As a result, companies often hire em- additional vacancy. ployees with the right skills and help them obtain confidential, “You’re just shuffling the deck chairs,” said a security expert secret or top secret clearances. who asked not to be identified. For years, space industry executives bemoaned the amount If government contracts instead stipulated that individuals of time employees waited for security clearance investigations needed to possess the appropriate level of clearance before to conclude. While that remains a concern, the process is not beginning to work on the contract, companies would have as time-consuming as it was before 2019 when the Office of time to sponsor employees to obtain clearance. Personnel Management transferred the National Background “That would likely give industry greater flexibility to hire Investigation Bureau to the new Defense Counter-Intelligence the best and the brightest, no matter what their status of and Security Agency (DCSA). clearances,” the security expert said. DCSA reports on the time it spends processing the fastest Another security expert raised concerns about reciprocity. 90% of security clearance cases. An employee cleared to work on a secret U.S. Space Force pro- In January 2021, the average processing time for gram, for example, needs government approval to contribute 90% of industry applicants for initial secret clearance to a National Reconnaissance Office contract. In general, U.S. investigations was 54 days. It was 83 days for initial top government agencies quickly approve the clearance decisions secret investigations, according to Security Clearance, made by other agencies. Suitability/Fitness and Credentialing Reform, a report When they don’t, the process can drag on for weeks or published in January by the Performance Accountability months. In those cases, companies have no way of knowing Council, a U.S. interagency panel focused on reforming the reason a decision is delayed. the security process. “The most common reasons a person’s clearance is denied or By comparison, the fastest 90% of initial background revoked include (in no particular order): financial considerations, investigations took 77 days for secret clearance in 2019 and personal conduct, criminal conduct and drug involvement,” a 157 days for top secret clearance. In addition, the backlog DCSA spokesman said by email. “If an individual’s clearance is of security clearance cases, which peaked at 725,000 cases denied, he/she receives a Statement of Reasons that lists the in April 2018, has dwindled to around 202,000 cases. factual basis for the security clearance denial or revocation. The statement highlights all security concerns, which allows DEBRA WERNER the individual to formally respond.” SN

20 | SPACENEWS 02.15.21 BOOK EXCERPT

LIFTOFFELON MUSK AND THE DESPERATE EARLY DAYS THAT LAUNCHED SPACEX

An excerpt from the forthcoming book by Eric Berger, senior space editor at Ars Technica

A fat, red sun sank into the Texas horizon asas Elon Musk bounded toward a silvery spaceship.spaceship. Reaching its concrete landing pad, Musk marvelemarveledd up at the stainless steel, steampunk contraptioncontraption looming above, which shone brilliantly in the dyindyingg light. “It’s like something out of a Mad Max movie,” hehe gushed about the first prototype of his Mars rocket,rocket, nicknamed Starhopper. Musk traveled to his South Texas rocket factorfactoryy in mid-September 2019 to track progress of SpaceX’SpaceX’ss Starship vehicle, the culmination of nearly two dede-- cades of effort to move humans from Earth to MarMars.s. Weeks earlier, Starhopper soared into the clear skiesskies above the coastal scrublandscrubland,, located just this side ofof ethe eMexico co bo border. deAdh And ,tvthen,ery it nearlyvery crashe crashed.d. LLuckily, kileF theede Federal al Aviation Admin - sistration aon had ad restricted estricted the flight’flight’ss mamaximumu a tude altitude to five hundre hundredd ffeet,, so so whenen engineers engineers lost con con-- ttrol o dduringigSa rhopper’sStarhopper’s desce descentnt iits s llanding di l g legss merely crushe crushedd hthroughh ead’s the steel-reinforce pad’s steel-reinforcedd cconcrete,t a er than rather erupting into into a ballba of off lame.flame. Musk laughe laughedd aat s this thought. thought. For muc muchh of SSpaceX’saceX’s lifetime he ha hass rrounds,d -f a ahigh-fiving dul o l ad a handful of employees and ffoughtht against regulators, enjoying the moment with three of his sons who alalways ays seeking to go had come along for the weekend trip from Los An- ffaster,er, to push higher. geles. Starhopper, he explained to the boys, is made T“Thishis time,” he quipped, from stainless steel, the same stuff in pots and pans. h“thee FAA saved us.” This stainless steel, however, had the look of This was his first being left on a stovetop’s open flame for too long. ivisitsit to Starhopper The evening’s deepening darkness could not mask ssince. nce. Musk made the extensive charring on the metal. Standing beneath NORAD AND U.S. NORTHERN COMMAND PHOTO/WILLIAM MORROW

SPACENEWS.COM | 21 LIFTOFF

rover, weighs about one ton. A single, small human The seeds for everything mission would probably require fifty times the mass. For a sustainable human settlement, Musk thinks he SpaceX has grown into today probably needs to ship 1 million tons to Mars. This were planted during the early is why he is building the massive, reusable Starship days of the program. vehicle in Texas. In many ways, SpaceX is vastly different today from the company Musk started long ago. But in important ways, it remains exactly the same. With Starhopper, Musk peered upward into the cavern the Starship project, SpaceX has returned to its earli- housing a large fuel tank that had fed propellant to a est, scrappy days when it strove to build the Falcon 1 Raptor rocket engine. “It’s in remarkably good shape rocket against all odds. Then, as now, Musk pushed considering we had an inferno in there,” he said. his employees relentlessly to move fast, to innovate, Elon Musk traveled a long road to reach these to test, and to fly. The DNA of the earliest days, of plains rolling down to the Gulf of Mexico. In 2002, the Falcon 1 rocket, lives on in South Texas today Musk founded SpaceX with the intention of even- at the Starship factory. And a huge photo of a Fal- tually building spaceships that would take hun- con 1 launch hangs on the wall of Musk’s personal dreds, and then thousands, of human settlers to conference room at the company’s headquarters Mars. Though a cold, likely dead, and nearly airless in California. world, Mars nonetheless offers humanity the best To understand SpaceX, where it aspires to go, place to expand beyond Earth. Mars has polar ice and why it just might succeed, one must voyage caps, useful chemicals in its thin atmosphere, and back to the Falcon 1 rocket and dig up the roots. The material to scratch out a living. It also is relatively seeds for everything SpaceX has grown into today close, as planets go. were planted during the early days of the Falcon Over the years, Musk has accomplished a number 1 program by Musk. Back then he sought to build of remarkable feats with SpaceX, flying the world’s first low-cost, orbital rocket. All of the into space, landing rockets on boats, and remaking aspirational talk about Mars would mean nothing the global aerospace industry. But those achieve- if SpaceX could not put a relatively simple rocket ments pale next to the audacity of trying to send like the Falcon 1 into orbit. And so, with a burning humans to Mars, which remains far beyond the intensity, he pressed toward that goal. SpaceX began present-day capability of NASA or any other space with nothing but an empty factory and a handful of agency around the world. Even with an annual employees. This small group launched its first rocket budget approaching $25 billion a year, and some less than four years later and reached orbit in six. of the smartest scientists and engineers anywhere, The story of how SpaceX survived those lean, early the space agency that landed humans on the Moon years is a remarkable one. Many of the same people remains several giant leaps away from sending a who made the Falcon 1 go remain at SpaceX today. few astronauts to Mars. Some have moved on. But all have stories about those Musk wants to build a city there. Perhaps it is early, formative years that remain mostly untold. better to say something inside Musk relentlessly The men and women who helped Musk bring drives him to do this. He long ago decided that for SpaceX through its darkest days hailed from farm humanity to have a long-term future it must expand country in California, from the suburbs of the Midwest, to other worlds, with Mars offering the best place from East Coast cities, from Lebanon, Turkey, and to start. This is extremely hard because space is an Germany. Musk hired them all, molded them into a insanely dangerous place, permeated by radiation, team, and coaxed them to do the nearly impossible. and with certain death always lurking on the other Their path to orbit led from the United States to a side of thin, pressurized walls. The amount of water, small tropical island about as far from a continental food, fuel, and clothing needed to sustain a months- landmass one can get on this world. And out there long outbound mission to Mars is astounding, and in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the company once there people must actually have somewhere to very nearly died multiple times. survive on the surface. The largest object NASA has More than a decade later Musk and SpaceX have ever sent to the surface of Mars, the Perseverance traversed the chasm separating failure and success.

22| SPACENEWS 02.15.21 In many ways, SpaceX is vastly different today from the company Musk started long ago. But in important ways, it remains exactly the same.

After perusing Starhopper at sunset, he spent several towering Starship under construction. It appeared hours touring his rocket shipyard in South Texas. as much a skyscraper as a spaceship. Through the night, as a full moon rose, employees Taking it all in, a childlike broke out over banged and welded and hefted a full-sized Starship his face. “Hey,” Musk said, turning to me. “Can you prototype from rolls of stainless steel. The hour had believe that thing, or something like it, is going to reached near midnight when he and his boys emerged take people to another planet for the first time in 4.5 from a construction trailer. As his kids tumbled into billion years? I mean, probably. It may not work. But the waiting black SUV, Musk paused to look up at the it probably will.”

EMPLOYEE NO. 14

For those so bold as to dare fly to Mars, the sum- NASA’s prestigious Jet Propulsion Laboratory, just mer of 2003 offered a hopeful sign of things to north of Los Angeles. In turn, NASA paid for grad- come. Due to the quirks of planetary motion, in July uate school at U.S.C. As an advisor to a fraternity, the red planet made its closest approach to Earth in Bjelde enjoyed free housing along with his pick of sixty thousand years. At the time, a small company the best weekend parties. named SpaceX had only just begun to cut metal So when Bjelde rolled up to SpaceX’s modest on its first rocket. Although its inaugural launch headquarters in El Segundo, he really had just come remained a few years away, the firm’s founder, Elon for the tour. “You walk in, and there’s a desk, and Musk, had already taken the first step toward Mars. there’s these two double glass doors,” Bjelde said. He understood he would go nowhere without the “I walked through the office, shaking hands. There right people. So interview by interview, Musk sought were gray cubicles. There was really nothing on out the brilliant and creative engineers who would commit themselves wholly to his goal— and make the impossible possible. He was beginning to find them. Brian Bjelde was oblivious to Mars’s close approach and Musk’s dreams that summer when he received a phone call from a former college classmate. They had bonded during late nights in the University of Southern California’s aerospace lab, tinkering with vacuum chambers and small satellites. The friend, Phil Kassouf, spoke rapturously about his new job working for a hard- charging multimillionaire from Silicon Valley. The guy had crazy plans to build a rocket and one day travel to Mars. You should come by for a tour, Kassouf said, and gave his friend an address near the Los Angeles airport. Bjelde was living a charmed existence at the time. The cherubic twenty-three-year-old had risen from modest means in California’s rural farm country to make good in the big city. After graduating from Brian Bjelde, SpaceX employee No.14, with the C-17 that he helped acquire to transport the “Flight 4” Falcon 1 booster.

COURTESY OF HANS KOENIGSMANN U.S.C. as an aerospace engineer, Bjelde took a job at

Brian Bjelde SPACENEWS.COM | 23 LIFTOFF

“Do you dye your hair?” Musk asked. One of Musk’s common tactics during an interview involves throwing a person off-kilter, to see how a potential employee reacts.

the tour. Only an empty factory. They had just glossed off the factory floors.” What struck Bjelde most of all was the Coke ma- chine in the break room. Musk had imported this Elon Musk outside NASA headquarters in 2003. innovation from Silicon Valley— unlimited free soda, to keep the workforce caffeinated at all hours. For someone from academia, and the sober environment had found someone with the gift of gab. Bjelde can at NASA, this was a novelty. As he moved through talk to anyone. So after quickly recovering, he asked the office, one of the dozen or so people in the cube Musk, “Is this an icebreaker? Because it’s working.” farm asked Bjelde about his projects at the Jet Pro- But Musk said he was serious. He had noticed pulsion Laboratory, which builds that Bjelde’s eyebrows were very light, and his hair to explore the . Bjelde explained about darker. The young engineer explained that the dis- his use of semiconductors, plasma etching, and va- parity was natural. Soon, they were laughing. por pressure to develop new propulsion techniques During the thirty-minute interview Musk probed for small satellites. into Bjelde’s background, but also shared his vision Sure, someone responded, but what did he think for SpaceX, founded to make humanity a truly space- about propulsion for big systems? Like, say, rock- faring civilization. The success of NASA’s Apollo ets? Suddenly, it clicked. Bjelde had not really been Moon program in the 1960s had spurred a wave of invited for a tour and as many Cokes as he could student interest in math and science, and led to a drink. This was a job interview. generation of engineers, scientists, and teachers. “I ended up in this room,” he said. “Unbeknownst But this tide had ebbed by the turn of the century. to me, it was called the meat locker because it was Bjelde’s generation had grown up with the space so cold. Somehow, in the HVAC circuit, it got the shuttle, and its endless revolutions around Earth super flow. It was freezing in there.” in low-Earth orbit, not the derring-do of the Apollo Various people rotated through. His friend, Kas- explorers. Unlike Bjelde, who had chosen his major souf, came first. Then Phil’s boss, the company’s vice literally because aerospace was listed first alphabet- president of avionics, Hans Koenigsmann, spoke ically under engineering, most of the cool kids were with Bjelde. Eventually, Musk himself walked in. not doing space anymore. They were into medicine, Only a decade older than Bjelde, Musk already was investment banking, or tech. a very wealthy, increasingly famous entrepreneur. Musk had been among those leading the digi- To break the ice, Bjelde made the usual small talk— tal revolution. With PayPal he had helped take the it’s nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you, banking industry online. And everywhere from I’m excited to be here. The hyperobservant Musk, communications to health care, the digital trans- never one much for pleasantries, moved straight formation had begun accelerating. Yet the stodgy into questions. aerospace industry seemed to be going backward. “Do you dye your hair?” Musk asked. Companies in the United States and Russia still used Somewhat flustered, Bjelde replied that he did not. the same decades-old technology to launch rockets One of Musk’s common tactics during an interview into space, and the price kept going up. It seemed involves throwing a person off-kilter, to see how a like things were going in the wrong direction, so

potential employee reacts. In Bjelde, however, he Musk had founded SpaceX, and now a year later he SPACE NEWS PHOTO

24| SPACENEWS 02.15.21 NASA paid him a comfortable $60,000 a year, along with his tuition. SpaceX offered less. For a chance to work with a visionary, on an inspiring project with a mission he could embrace, Bjelde would have to eat a salary cut.

and his sense of adventure, and he decided to seize this chance with Musk. After all, getting to Mars was a

The Falcon 1 rocket lifts off Sept. 29, 2008, on the first of crazy hard goal. Nearly impossible. But not impossible. two successful launches it completed in five attempts. “I’d love to think that we could live in a world where in our lifetime, during this short little blink of an eye where we get to be here, that we can make sought to move from basic designs into develop- a rapid change to where you or I, or anyone, could ing hardware. Musk wanted Bjelde to help with the have the means to afford it,” he said of traveling to rocket’s electronics. Mars. “That’s something that’s right in front of us. It’s It was a lot for Bjelde, sitting in that frigid room, within our reach.” to take in. He had a comfortable government job, a Later, Bjelde learned that before his visit to SpaceX, promising academic career, and an active social life. Kassouf had gone to bat for him. The company needed SpaceX would strip all of that away. From talking to someone who could build electronics for a rocket’s Kassouf about SpaceX’s intense environment, Bjelde brains, the hardware and software to help the booster knew coming to work for Musk would turn his life fly straight. Bjelde wasn’t even an electronics engineer. upside down. And Musk could offer no guarantees But Kassouf had told Musk about the long hours they’d of success. How could such a small team build a worked together at U.S.C., the all- nighters, and his rocket capable of reaching orbit, anyway? No privately friend’s passion for solving hard problems. Kassouf had funded company had ever succeeded at something effectively put his badge on the table for his buddy— like this before, and many had failed trying. After his yes, Bjelde would lay it all on the line for SpaceX and interviews, Bjelde wondered if he’d been fed mostly the Falcon 1 rocket. In August 2003, Brian Bjelde, empty promises. funny-colored eyebrows and all, officially became A few days later, he received an email from Musk’s employee number fourteen at SpaceX. SN assistant, Mary Beth Brown, at one in the morning. Did he want a job? Bjelde realized this company operated at its own speed. From the forthcoming book At first, Bjelde tried to negotiate for a higher salary. Liftoff: Elon Musk and the NASA paid him a comfortable $60,000 a year, along Desperate Early Days that with his tuition. SpaceX offered less. For a chance to Launched SpaceX by Eric Berger work with a visionary, on an inspiring project with Copyright ©2021. a mission he could embrace, Bjelde would have to Reprinted with permission eat a salary cut. In thinking it over, he recalled a high of William Morrow/ school chemistry teacher named Ms. Wild, who had HarperCollins, New York, NY. an eccentric bucket list. As a student, Bjelde saw her All rights reserved. embrace opportunities when the chance arose, tick- BUY THE BOOK ing off items such as belly dancing at the foot of the [AMAZON]

SPACEX/AMY CARSON PHOTOGRAPHY Egyptian pyramids. So this offer appealed to Bjelde

SPACENEWS.COM | 25 COMMENTARY Milton “Skip” Smith

The crew of ’s Ax-1 mission (from left): commander Michael López-Alegría and passengers , and .

Issacman’s platform to Representing the start an online business. While the flight is unique, the Ax-1 flight is the first in a series planned private astronaut by Axiom. Ax-1 will be commanded by Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA A new step for human — and for astronaut now with Axiom. With him will space lawyers be three multinational private astronauts and Axiom customers: Larry Connor of new era of space travel, these missions create new the United States, Mark Pathy of Canada was launched with Axiom challenges and opportunities for space and my client Eytan Stibbe of Israel. All will Space’s Jan. 26 announcement lawyers — representing private astronauts, spend about eight days on the . Aof the four private astronauts it some of whom will spend the approximately Axiom provides all the services needed will send to the International Space Sta- $55 million estimated by industry sources by private astronauts including training, tion early next year aboard a chartered for participating in the Ax-1 mission. transportation, mission planning, hardware SpaceX Crew Dragon flight. The next The Inspiration4 flight is the creation of development, life and medical support, week, SpaceX announced the privately Jared Issacman, a wealthy business owner crew provisions, safety and hardware cer- funded Inspiration4 mission that will and pilot who reportedly has paid for the tifications, on-orbit operations, and overall carry four civilians to Earth orbit perhaps entire mission and is donating the other mission management. In order to provide as soon as later this year. three seats to selected individuals with the these services, Axiom has agreements The Axiom Ax-1 mission will be the goal of raising $200 million for St. Jude with SpaceX for launch and Crew Dragon first purely commercial mission to the ISS Children’s Research Hospital. One of the transportation to and from the ISS, and while the Inspiration4 mission will be the seats will go to a St. Jude health care worker. with NASA for accommodations on the ISS. first all-civilian mission to Earth orbit. In One will be raffled to St. Jude donors. And Axiom, and any other similar service

addition to adding a new dimension for one will be given to someone who uses providers, will enter into contracts with AXIOM SPACE

26 | SPACENEWS 02.15.21 private astronauts for each mission. Axiom managed by insurance or otherwise. address a host of issues including: medical anticipates two missions per year, so there It’s important for potential private as- and other qualifications; the price to be should be at least six private astronauts each tronauts to understand the limitations that charged and payment terms; insurance year needing legal advice to navigate the will apply to their mission. For example, for possible damage to ISS equipment for complex web of national and international private astronauts going to the ISS will be which the astronaut and his government laws related to their contractual rights and subject to the ISS Crew Code of Conduct, might be responsible; the length of the obligations. which establishes a chain of command, agreement; conditions upon which the There are risks associated with ev- sets forth standards for activities, and ex- astronaut may receive a refund; the impact ery launch and reentry. Those risks are tensively regulates those activities includ- of force majeure events such as pandem- managed, to the extent possible, in many ing what personal effects astronauts may ics; rights to media; access to voice and ways. Private astronauts face additional carry to the ISS. They will also be subject video communications while on the ISS; risks – contractual risks, that must also be to the NASA Interim Directive on the use the responsibilities of Axiom or another identified, evaluated and managed, to the of the ISS for Commercial and Marketing service provider; sponsorship; duties while extent possible. That is the challenge for Activities. These regulations may limit the on the ISS including, for example, galley the lawyers representing private astronauts. commercial activities in which private as- and toilet operations; dispute resolution; tronauts may want to engage. events of default; and cure opportunities. KEY LEGAL ISSUES What the private astronauts may do re- As in most legal agreements, the devil is One of the key legal issues, and perhaps garding research and other activities can in the details. Lawyers will need to explore the one most familiar to those in the space be important for a variety of reasons. All the those details in great depth with their private industry, involves cross-waivers of liability. Ax-1 private astronauts will conduct scientific astronaut clients. Many are generally familiar with the waiv- and educational activities on the ISS. For Additionally, there may also be agree- ers applicable to the launch and reentry example, Eytan Stibbe will collaborate with ments between the private astronauts and phases required by the Commercial Space the and the Scientific third parties, such as supporting organiza- Launch Act and implementing FAA regu- and Technology Ministry and donate his ISS tions involved in selecting experiments and lations. NASA also has waivers applicable time to educational and scientific projects other activities the private astronauts will to activities related to the space station. on behalf of the Ramon Foundation. Larry conduct on orbit. These agreements must Such waivers are part of the legal regime Connor and Mark Pathy will also donate be coordinated with and consistent with established by the and time for scientific and educational purposes the primary private astronaut agreement. other international obligations, including to specific organizations. Attorneys should Finally, each private astronaut will need the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) evaluate what, if any, tax advantages could to evaluate life insurance and potential between the nations involved with the ISS be realized from such donations. exclusions. and associated Memorandums of Under- Delays are a fact of life in the space in- In closing, Michael Suffredini and his standing (MOUs) between NASA and coop- dustry and the potential impacts of delays Axiom team should be congratulated for erating space agencies. The IGA and MOUs must be considered by the private astronauts pioneering this first all-commercial mission provide details on use of the ISS, including and their lawyers. Given that the schedule to the ISS. That team includes his lawyers commercial uses, such as private astronaut for missions to the ISS could take years who helped identify and address the legal missions, and requirements for such uses. from contract formation to the flight, it’s challenges present in the complex contrac- Waivers may also apply to terrestrial activi- important to understand how delays will tual arrangements with private astronauts. ties. For example, astronaut training entails be handled contractually. Delays would not And Mr. Isaacman is to be applauded for certain risks. Those risks will be managed, just be inconvenient; they could cause the making Earth orbit accessible to the three at least in part, by cross-waivers. Addition- inability of a private astronaut to partici- individuals who will be lucky enough to ally, states in which training, launch and pate in a mission for a variety of reasons. fly with him. SN reentry activities may be conducted likely Provisions for a backup or replacement will have their own waivers applicable to astronaut ready to take the vacant seat and MILTON “SKIP” SMITH IS A SPACE LAWYER all “space flight participants.” In short, the assume financial responsibility can mitigate WITH SHERMAN & HOWARD AND IS ON THE web of potentially applicable cross-waivers the financial risks to the private astronaut BOARD OF THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE is extensive and private astronauts need to who has paid millions but is unable to fly. OF SPACE LAW. SMITH REPRESENTED ISRAELI understand what risks they are waiving In addition to the above key issues, PRIVATE ASTRONAUT EYTAN STIBBE IN and evaluate whether such risks can be private astronaut agreements will need to CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS WITH AXIOM.

SPACENEWS.COM | 27 COMMENTARY Shelli Brunswick

Space Initiatives in Africa Offer a Canvas of Opportunity

ore than ever before, the nations and their citizens will see benefits that enhance resource management. It sup- promise and potential in across the continent. They can chart a path ports innovation, investment and vibrant space is available to those to space that precisely answers local and economies. And critically, it moves directly Mwith the ambition to reach for regional challenges, such as environmental toward preserving the economic autonomy it. Nowhere is this story more exciting stewardship, communications and more. and uncontested national security to which and compelling than in Africa. With this, African nations are on the every nation is entitled. Considering the goals and priorities cusp of enormous opportunity, and as Realizing this vast potential will require detailed in the African Union’s (AU) Agenda stated in the AU’s African Space Strategy, investment, education and workforce 2063, the socio-economic and professional “It is inconceivable that so many of Africa’s development. development many African nations seek space-derived services and products are can be facilitated and accelerated by space outsourced,” given the high standard of Investment: The African space industry activities. The AU’s 2019 African Space living and effective provision of food and is estimated to grow at a 7.3% compound Strategy for Social, Political and Economic energy resources that space technologies annual growth rate and exceed $10 billion by Integration lays out a path for developing enable. 2024, according to the 2019 African Space indigenous workforces, technologies, African nations can and should be fully Industry Annual Report. Already, 11 African supply chains and programs that present in the pilot’s seat of their individual and countries have launched 38 satellites. The a canvas of crosscutting benefits, civilly collective space ambitions, setting their trend is clear. One example of an African and commercially. own trajectory to capture the benefits they space enterprise is NileSat, an Egyptian As the AU’s new continent-wide space define and desire. This includes expanded satellite communications company. While program sets up headquarters in Egypt, and communications capabilities owned and facing economic headwinds, NileSat still sees new and established space enterprises launch operated by African nations and enterprises. tens of millions of U.S. dollars in revenue, innovative initiatives and services, African It also includes Earth observation satellites and when its new NileSat-301 geostationary

28 | SPACENEWS 02.15.21 satellite is launched in 2022 on a Falcon 9 African nations can and should be fully in the SpaceX rocket, the company will be poised to deliver more digital broadcasting and pilot’s seat of their individual and collective communications services throughout space ambitions, setting their own trajectory to the continent. capture the benefits they define and desire. Such endeavors can begin to address the dearth of communications and Inter- net access. Mobile broadband coverage Educational, Scientific and Cultural Or- The African Development Bank Group continues to hover at 70%, and 4G net- ganization (UNESCO) reports that in the reports that to keep the current level of works in cover just 60% of the same region, one-third of children ages 12 unemployment from rising, the continent population. The Broadband Commission to 14 are not in school, and almost 60% of requires 12 million new jobs every year. for Sustainable Development found that children 15 to 17 years old are out of school. This comes at a time when automation achieving universal and affordable broad- The challenge is even more pronounced and advanced robotics are increasingly band connectivity across Africa by 2030 in girls’ education. Nine million girls aged used to expand productivity, which will will require an investment of $100 billion. 6 to 11 will not attend school at all. steadily replace human labor for repetitive, The nations and investors who deliver Africa boasts the world’s youngest low-skilled tasks. on this need will not just supply essen- population. As investments are made and Yet, there too is opportunity, as an auto- tial services for citizens and businesses. space assets and capabilities are expanded, mated workforce requires a skilled human As noted in Space Foundation’s analysis it enhances student access to internet con- workforce to manage and maintain techni- in The Space Report, Africa overall is a nectivity, permits remote learning, and in- cal infrastructure and assets. And all of that largely data-scarce region, owing in part spires young people to think creatively about demands data, reliable communications, to limited connectivity. Data is arguably higher education and the career pathways access to space-based navigation systems the most valuable resource in the modern available to them, thanks in part to space. and much more. There are millions of jobs economy, one that African enterprises can To be sure, fostering and expanding to be created, and the space supply chain collect and apply across the full spectrum education is a global priority and much can deliver them. of commerce, society and governance. work remains. It is why Space Foundation Addressing the needs in investment, The growing imperative is to elevate launched the Center for Innovation and education and workforce development will awareness of opportunities that entre- Education. Our goal is to create and de- require collaboration, which is one reason preneurs, startups, small businesses and liver inclusive, innovative, and sustainable the upcoming 1st Africa Space Week forum investors can access in the space supply workforce development and economic pro- is important. To be held in Nairobi, Kenya chain. Beyond communications, Earth grams enabling all people to participate in in March, the event will bring together Af- observation satellites can be used to study the space economy. And that work begins rican stakeholders and international space populations, manage natural resources and with education. leaders and organizations to explore the track disease outbreaks. Navigation satel- future of space for the continent. As Space lites support transportation industries and Workforce: There is an urgent need to Foundation knows from experience with a variety of other critical logistical functions. grow and enrich the existing workforce, our annual Space Symposium, when the These areas and more are ripe for invest- arming professionals with the right expe- global space community gathers, new rela- ment, and the more space assets that are riences and skills to take part in the space tionships, strategies and business emerge. employed, the more data is collected and value chain. According to Space in Africa, There has arguably never been a more applied, and the benefits cascade across around 8,500 people are employed in the exciting time in space. We can see the economic sectors and communities. African space industry, 2,000 of which are potential, and the canvas of opportunities with commercial enterprises. Going forward, are as evident as they are abundant. Work- Education: Investment must come in African nations face the national, regional ing together, the promise of space can be tandem with a pipeline of skilled workers. and continental imperative to cultivate the opened to all people and all nations. In this In sub-Saharan African nations, there has skilled workforce that supports private en- way, countries across the African continent been a substantial increase in students terprise and public sector initiatives. are setting an example for the world. SN enrolled in primary school over the last Africa overall needs a workforce whose 20 years, which bodes well for a thriving skills match existing jobs, as well as those SHELLI BRUNSWICK IS THE CHIEF OPERATING space workforce. Yet, the United Nations that will be created in the years to come. OFFICER OF SPACE FOUNDATION.

SPACENEWS.COM | 29 ON NATIONAL SECURITY Sandra Erwin

Biden’s declaration of support puts Space Force on firmer ground

he Space Force, NASA and executives joke after all. in the space industry breathed a col- “If you haven’t heard, Space Force is an actual lective sigh of relief earlier this month thing we have in this actual country,” the popular T when the Biden administration finally sports blog Deadspin noted in its Super Bowl provided some answers to lingering questions coverage, pointing out that the Space Force is about its support for military and civilian space a branch of the U.S. armed forces. activities. That is not to say that people won’t continue In consecutive briefings, White House press to mock the Space Force and question why we secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden is need guardians of the galaxy. This clearly will not revisiting the decision to establish the Space be a challenge for the Space Force as it begins Force and intends to back NASA’s program to its second year in existence: explain to the return humans to the moon. public what it is and what it does. That could The White House statements were partic- take some time. ularly good news for the Space Force, which It was notable that a few days after Biden’s has often been referred to as “Trump’s Space statement of support, CNN’s Michael Smer- Force” even though it was signed into law with conish interviewed the former head of the Air bipartisan support from Congress. But Biden’s Force Space Command retired general William silence on space issues during the campaign Shelton, in a story titled: “Why the Space Force and over the transition of power worried Space is no laughing matter.” Force enthusiasts and caused some concern Shelton talked about the threats posed to the within the service. United States by high-power lasers and other Before the White House clarified the pres- weapons being developed by China and Russia ident’s position, experts had argued that the to take down U.S. satellites. The United States has Space Force was not in danger although it would “some incredible capability in space,” Shelton not get the same level of attention it got from said, but those assets need to be protected and Trump. For obvious reasons the administration that is why the Space Force was formed. would need to put space on the back burner Shelton said it was unfortunate that the Space and focus on more pressing priorities. But after Force turned into a political punching bag. Psaki glibly dismissed a reporter’s question on After speaking with Shelton, Smerconish the Space Force as trivial, she got an earful from observed: “The take-away at least for me is that some lawmakers. Psaki came back the next day Space Force ought to be evaluated on its own with an unambiguous statement of support. merits and not in association with a former Following the White House endorsement, commander in chief.” In other words, he said. another good thing happened to the Space Force “Let’s not pass judgment on him and therefore and its public image: its flag flew alongside say we should or shouldn’t have a Space Force. those of the other branches of the armed forces Let’s look at it and make a decision that way.” at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida, during the Psaki in a tweet invited the leaders of the singing of the national anthem. Space Force to the White House briefing room To many in America, that apparently was to tell their story. The generals should take her sufficient proof that the Space Force is not a up on that. SN

30 | SPACENEWS 02.15.21 ON THE HORIZON

APRIL AUGUST DATE EVENT PLACE DATE EVENT PLACE

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SPACENEWS.COM | 31 FOUST FORWARD Jeff Foust

“the time and energy I need to focus” on other projects, including Blue Origin. Will Jeff Bezos kick- Some saw the announcement as a sign that Bezos would use that time and energy to pro- vide new urgency for Blue Origin. “He is going start Blue Origin? to kick Blue Origin into a higher gear,” an un- named executive told Reuters, which headlined Does he need to? its article with the claim Bezos would shift Blue Origin “into hyperdrive.” Those claims, though, are all vague on exactly what Bezos will do at Blue Origin. Bezos has ack in the 1990s, space advocates had vi- never really been disengaged from Blue Origin, sions of reusable launch vehicles that would famously spending a day a week at the company lower the cost of getting to orbit, opening and being its primary source of capital, to the Bthe door to everything from space hotels tune of at least $1 billion a year in recent years. to space solar power satellites. The problem, they Short of installing himself as CEO and taking argued at conferences as they showed viewgraphs over day-to-day operations, it’s not clear what of their designs, was not technical but financial: Bezos will be able to do to accelerate Blue Ori- few were willing to invest in these ventures. If only gin’s activities that he can’t do already. Bill Gates, then the richest man in the world, would Those comments reflect a sense of frustra- put his money into the industry, some lamented. tion with Blue Origin, which has fallen behind A quarter-century later, those enthusiasts got schedule on many of its projects. In an interview their wish and then some. Jeff Bezos and Elon two years ago, Bezos said the company would Musk, the two richest men in the world, are at the start flying people to space “this year.” 2019 forefront of the commercial space industry today. wasn’t the year, nor was 2020. The first launch Reusable launch vehicles? SpaceX routinely lands of its rocket, once expected in 2020, and reuses its Falcon 9 boosters, while Blue Origin may now slip to 2022. Yet Blue Origin is hardly has demonstrated the reuse of its sub- the only space company to suffer development orbital vehicle. Both men have espoused ambitious delays; it’s not even the only suborbital space- long-term plans, from Bezos’ vision of millions of flight company (hello, .) Even people living and working in space to Musk’s goal SpaceX, amid its manic launch activity, has had to establish a city on Mars. schedules slip for many of its projects. And yet, all that is not quite good enough for Bezos has taken the long view at Blue Origin, some, particularly when it comes to Blue Origin. and the company has been working in recent More than 20 years after Bezos quietly founded years on the infrastructure needed for its long- the company, it has yet to send a human into term plans: a new headquarters near Seattle, an space or place a payload into orbit. SpaceX, by engine factory in Alabama and a New Glenn contrast, has launched more than 250 satellites, manufacturing facility in Florida, where it’s announced plans for private missions of its Crew also building a launch complex for that rocket. Dragon spacecraft and launched (and crashed) a Eventually it needs to use that infrastructure to prototype of a next-generation vehicle — all since execute those plans, but seems willing to do so the first of the year. at its own pace, or at least the pace of its founder. That’s why there was so much industry interest Blue Origin’s motto is “Gradatim Ferociter,” in the announcement Feb. 2 that Bezos will step or “step by step, ferociously.” The company has down as chief executive of Amazon in July, taking lived up to the first word of that motto, mov- on a new role as executive chairman. In his an- ing deliberately, but gradually. We’ll soon see if nouncement, Bezos said the move will give him Bezos adds some ferociter to his company. SN

32| SPACENEWS 02.15.21 We reach decision-makers at NASA, , and the White House

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