INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Sign up here to receive Max Q weekly in your inbox, starting December 15.There were lot of highlights in the space industry this past week
(even though a rocket launch that was supposed to happened is now pushed to Monday)
The biggest news for commercial space might just be that NASA signed on five new companies to its list of approved vendors for lunar payload
delivery services, bringing the total group to 14.SpaceX is among them, and Musk’s company had its own fair share of news this week, too
One things’ for sure: Even going in to the last week in November, there’s still plenty of news to come in this industry before the
year’s out.NASA selects five new vendors for commercial lunar payloadsArtist’s rendering of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander.The five
include Blue Origin, SpaceX, Ceres Robotics, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems
This doesn’t necessarily mean all or any of these companies will actually fly anything to the Moon on behalf of NASA, but it does mean
they can officially bid for the chance
Alongside 9 other companies selected previously by NASA, their bids will be considered by the NASA based on cost, viability and other
factors.SpaceX Starship prototype blows its lidThis is the bad news I referred to earlier: SpaceX’s Starship Mk1 prototype in Texas blew
up just a little bit during cryo testing
This test is designed to simulate extreme cold conditions that the spacecraft could endure during flight, and it clearly didn’t
But Elon Musk was optimistic, saying just after the incident that they’ll move on to a more advanced design right away.Sierra Nevada
Corporation details an expendable cargo container for its Dream Chaser spaceshipSNC’s Shooting Star module
Credit: SNC.One of the companies that is now included in NASA’s lunar payload service provider list is Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC)
They’re currently developing and building their Dream Chaser spacecraft, which is reusable and lands like the Space Shuttle
At an event at Cape Canaveral in Florida, they unveiled what they call the ‘Shooting Star’ – an ejectable single use cargo container
for the Dream Chaser that can really add to its versatility.Nanoracks will launch a test craft that can convert old spaceships into orbital
habitatsThis demonstration mission is just a start, but the tech that Nanoracks is launching aboard a future SpaceX launch will be able to
cut metal in space, marking the first time a robotic piece of equipment has done that
The ultimate goal is to use this tech to take spent spacecraft upper stages and give them new life – as research platforms, satellites or
even habitats in orbit.NASA’s JPL is using the Antarctic to test a rover for a trip to EnceladusThat’s one of Saturn’s moons, and
it’s made up of icy oceans
Normally, that’s not an optimal place for a rover to get around, but the agency’s laboratory has been testing a design in the Earth’s
coldest oceans to see how viable it will be, and now they’re going to use the Antarctic, which is where it’ll test it for months at a
time.Tesla’s Cybertruck is made of Starship steelElon Musk revealed Tesla’s crazy, beautiful, ugly, strange Cybertruck pickup last
week, and he noted that the stainless steel alloy that makes up its skin is the same material that SpaceX is developing and using on its new
Sometimes, being CEO of both a car company and a space company at the same time really pays off.Space is inspiring new kinds of startupsA
lot of large companies outsource at least part of their innovation management and design, and with the space boom on, there’s a new
opportunity for companies to emerge that specialize in helping those same large companies find out where they fit in this new frontier
Luna is one such co, putting the puzzle pieces together for health tech companies.
