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Newspace International www.newspaceinternational.com NewSpace International - January/February 2019 1 2 NewSpace International - January/February 2019 www.newspaceinternational.com #EDITOR #GOBLIN #DWARFPLANET #TG387 #SUBARUTELESCOPE Dr Amy Saunders Editor Towards the end of 2018, it was reported that a new Dwarf Planet dubbed Goblin – for its Halloween 2015 discovery – had been confirmed. The planet, officially called 2015 TG387, reportedly provides new evidence for the now infamous but yet-to-be-proven Planet 9 or Planet X. Carnegie University’s Astronomer Scott Sheppard and team located Goblin with the Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The Goblin’s highly-elongated orbit, which takes it as far as 2,300AUs from the Sun, means that it doesn’t interact with other planets in our Solar System, but is bound to the Sun as part of a cluster of Extreme Trans-Neptunal Objects (ETNOs). The Inner Oort Cloud Objects (IOCOs) sub-group, which also includes 2012 VP113 (another catchy name) and Sedna, are hard to detect, since they spend the vast majority of their time far away from the Sun. It’s these IOCOs that have caused astronomers across the globe to search for the elusive Planet 9. Their reasoning? The similarity of their orbits is indicative of the influence of an as-of-yet undiscovered Planet 9, which is thought to be located hundreds of AUs away from the Sun. Indeed, some argue that the chances of these three planets having such similar orbits is only a fraction of one percent. Alternative theories to the Planet 9 idea include the hypothesis that, during the early formation of the Sun, the extreme gravity of a close stellar encounter could have pulled these IOCOs away from the Sun and left them in a ‘fossilized orbit.’ Others have suggested that enough minor planets might exist which are capable of influencing each other’s orbits over many million years through ‘self-gravitation,’ gradually travelling further away from the Sun. The challenge in finding Planet 9 lies in its distance from us. We know that its mass is estimated at 2-4 times that of the Earth, but nothing about the amount of light it would reflect, rendering it extremely difficult to identify and locate. Nevertheless, the confirmed discovery of Goblin is yet another feather in the cap of the Planet 9 hunters. While today, the search suffers from a serious lack of data, that may change in the years to come as deep space exploration projects advance. Searching for the unknown An artist’s conception of a distant Solar System Planet X, which could be shaping the orbits of smaller extremely distant outer solar system objects like 2015 TG387. Credit Roberto Molar Candanosa and Scott Sheppard, courtesy of Carnegie Institution for Science www.newspaceinternational.com NewSpace International - January/February 2019 3 CONTENTS Letter from the Editor 3 Searching for the unknown NewsBlast 6 All the latest news from around the world A Space-based gold rush 12 Deep space mining could be a modern solution to the old problem... Front cover: Axiom Modules connected to ISS. Photo Axiom 12 Editor Amy Saunders [email protected] Sales Director Chris Ayres [email protected] Sales Director Sam Baird [email protected] Publisher Richard Hooper [email protected] Managing Director David Shortland [email protected] Delivering value in near and deep space 16 Q&A Ian Jones, CEO of Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd No part of this publication may be transmitted, reproduced or electronically stored without Touring the universe 20 the written permission from the Space tourism edges even closer publisher. Laser communications 26 DS Air Publications does not Q&A Linda Braun, Sr. Technical Vice President of Photonics at LGS give any warranty as to the Innovations context of the material appearing in the magazine, its Breaching the bottleneck 30 accuracy, timeliness or fitness Q&A Chris Larmour, CEO at Orbex for any particular purpose. DS Air Publications disclaims all personal responsibility for any Advertisers’ Index / Next issue 34 damages or losses in the use and dissemination of the information. All editorial contents Copyright © 2019 DS Air Publications All Rights Reserved ISSN: 2516-4848 DS Air Publications 1 Langhurstwood Road Horsham West Sussex RH12 4QD United Kingdom T: +44 1403 273 973 20 26 F: +44 1403 273 972 4 NewSpace International - January/February 2019 www.newspaceinternational.com www.newspaceinternational.com NewSpace International - January/February 2019 5 #NEWSBLAST #NEWSPACE #MOON #ISOTROPIC #HORIZONX Isotropic Systems raises $14 million in Series A Funding led by Boeing HorizonX Ventures to advance space-based Isotropic Systems. “Boeing’s invest- performance result in newly- ment provides our team access to addressable markets and enable connectivity Boeing experts, testing labs, and mass adoption of satellite communic- other valuable resources to fast-track ations. Isotropic Systems Ltd., the next- the deployment of our terminal “Isotropic’s solution allows for generation integrated satellite solutions and to leverage our increased capabilities at reduced terminal solution provider, has intellectual property across other costs for satellite service providers,” announced a $14 million Series A space-based and wireless connect- said Brian Schettler, Managing round of funding led by Boeing ivity applications.” Director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures. HorizonX Ventures, with participation Leveraging a transformational “This investment accelerates the from WML, Space Angels and Space optical beamforming technology to expansion of space-based conne- Capital. control the direction of radio waves, ctivity services to the mass market “The Series A financing builds on Isotropic Systems has developed and continues Boeing’s leadership in an exceptional year for Isotropic communication terminal solutions space innovation.” which saw a rapidly growing roster of that are significantly more cost- This new funding will allow strategic partners and customers effective. Also they use significantly Isotropic to accelerate the who are poised to unlock the full less power and yet achieve superior commercialization of its technology potential of high-throughput satelli- perform- ance benefits for the end to benefit its satellite operator tes and mega-constellations across users. customers and to leverage its all orbits,” said John Finney, Founder The substantial reduction in cost technology to explore new and Chief Executive Officer of and power combined with improved applications in adjacent markets. PTScientists to examine future ESA mission on in-situ resource utilisation on the Moon The European Space Agency ESA and ArianeGroup, as prime contractor of a consortium of Arianegroup, Space Application Services and PTScientists, have signed a contract to study and prepare ESA's planned ISRU mission. In space, in-situ resource use (ISRU) is the practice of collecting, processing, storing and using materials found or produced on other celestial bodies (Moon, Mars, asteroids, etc.) to replace materials that would otherwise be brought from Earth. The ESA mission focuses on the use of the lunar regolith. Being able to extract water and oxygen from regolith is a prerequisite for a sustainable presence of humans on the Moon. In addition, the necessary fuel for future missions into deeper parts of the solar system could be produced in this way. ArianeGroup and its subsidiary Arianespace, which will provide the Ariane 6 launch vehicle, the Berlin-based new-space startup PTScientists, which will provide the lunar lander, and the Belgian company Space Applications Services, which will provide ground segment, communications and related services, have joined forces to conduct this study. The innovative and wholly European consortium will be able to provide services for the entire mission, from launch to transport of the payloads required for the ESA mission to the Moon, landing on the Moon's surface and communication back to Earth. "We are very pleased with the confidence placed in us by the European Space Agency ESA. The award of the ISRU study to the strong consortium of ArianeGroup, SAS and PTScientists underlines the current shift in the space industry" says Robert Böhme, CEO and founder of PTScientists GmbH. "The use of space resources could be a key to sustainable lunar exploration and this study is part of ESA's comprehensive plan to make Europe a partner in global exploration in the next decade - a plan we will put to our Ministers for decision later this year at the Space19+ Conference." added Dr. David Parker; Director, Human and Robotic Exploration at ESA. 6 NewSpace International - January/February 2019 www.newspaceinternational.com #NEWSBLAST #NEWSPACE #QUADSAT #ROCKETLAB #LEO QuadSAT secures £700,000 seed funding QuadSAT, the drone-enabled and our future roadmap.” corporate partners whilst on the antenna testing company, has closed Rob Desborough, Seraphim Space Camp Accelerator and are first its £700,000 seed round, led by Capital Portfolio Director and Director movers in a billion-dollar global Vaekstfonden, the Danish Growth of Seraphim Space Camp comm- market. With stringent industry Fund, with participation from ented: “We are very excited to be standards in place, QuadSAT is Seraphim Capitaland existing partnering with Joakim and the rest solving a real challenge for its investors. The investment will enable of the QuadSAT team. They were customers and will provide enormous QuadSAT to bring its innovative drone incredibly well received by our benefit to
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