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Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of The View from Space.
🛰️ An orbital industrial revolution is underway, argues Ariel Ekblaw for the FT, and those who take space seriously will be ‘well positioned to capitalise on the opportunities’:
‘Picture this: it is 2040 and semiconductors are being manufactured in orbit to achieve quality performance impossible on Earth. Energy systems that dwarf terrestrial solar farms are operational. The space economy is approaching $2tn, spanning supply chains and transportation to consumer goods and lifestyle …
As a factory floor, space offers a set of unique properties. Microgravity assists new assembling habitats that may enable breakthroughs. Pharmaceutical companies have studied protein crystallisation on the International Space Station. SpaceX is exploring in-orbit drug research with its new Starfall programme. Certain alloys can also only be created in low-gravity environments while orbital solar panels can collect energy 24/7, unaffected by weather or nightfall. These could be the next leap in clean energy.
There is sometimes a false choice presented between investing in Earth and investing in space. This misses the point. The infrastructure that we build in orbit can directly benefit Earth. Space-manufactured semiconductors can power more efficient data centres. Orbital pharmaceuticals could treat previously incurable diseases. Space-based solar panels can provide clean energy. Several governments, including the UK, are investing in the development of systems able to beam this energy back to Earth. If successful they could slash both energy costs and carbon footprints.’
🪖 In Defence Industry Europe, Sonder Director Harry Readhead suggests that effective political action on defence in Europe rests on whether the public understands risks the continent faces:
‘It remains to be seen how serious the politicians are. Most will not be governing when that 2035 deadline rolls around. The 5 per cent pledge is not legally binding. And the Italians have already tried to claim that an £11 billion bridge from the mainland to Sicily is an instance of ‘defence spending’. It seems greenwashing has given way to defencewashing. Plus ça change.
There is still a widespread feeling that we can count on the United States. But whatever the administration’s current posture towards Ukraine, there remain people close to the President who plainly think the U.S. should never have got involved. The tense exchange with Zelensky in the Oval Office in February hammered home the fact. Then there are the so-called Asia Firsters, who say that Taiwan should be the focus of U.S. foreign policy. Others believe Ukraine is a distraction from Iran. The U.S. cannot be everywhere. The uncertainty alone should be enough to cause concern in Europe. And that ‘madman theory’ of foreign policy cuts both ways, in any case.
Ukraine is unlikely to be the end of Putin’s ambition; this is the majority view among analysts. The rest of Eastern Europe is a risk. As Rutte said last month, ‘we are all on the Eastern flank now.’ In other words, what happens in Ukraine does not stay in Ukraine. It will be felt widely – perhaps beyond Europe. Putting this plainly was Peggy Noonan, writing in the Wall Street Journal’: ‘NATO might fall apart or be rendered inoperative, and the world’s rising authoritarians will conclude that the path to greatness is to build an army and take what you want. This’ – she adds, somewhat unnecessarily – ‘will make for a less stable world.’
🌙 In Space News, Ruck Tumlinson argues that China will ‘own the moon’ unless the U.S. acts:
‘We’re not losing a new space race with China. We’re handing them the Solar System. But we don’t have to. Not if we shed the old ways. Not if we embrace the tools we invented. Not if we empower the minds the giants of Apollo inspired.
We can still lead. Not just in flags and footprints — but in the long game: permanent presence, off-world industry and freedom among the stars.
We must commit — seriously — to opening the frontier. Not in 20 years. Now. And this time, we do it differently. This time, we engage American industry and our global partners’ private sectors — rather than facing a state space program with our own bloated state space program. This time, we don’t define the win by flags and footprints, but by foundations that build the future. And this time — whether in orbit, on the moon, or heading to Mars — we go to stay.’
🚀 Europeans are pouring billions into plans to put their own communications and surveillance systems into orbit, reports Eden Maclachlan in The Times – and the growing rivalry between Norway and Sweden is causing problems:
‘Central to these efforts is the need for a spaceport in mainland Europe as a cheaper and more accessible alternative to the present launch site, which is more than 3,000 miles away in the South American French department of French Guiana.
While there are candidates in the UK and Portugal, including Cornwall, Sutherland and Glasgow Prestwick, the leading contenders are Andoya in Norway and Esrange, near Kiruna in northern Sweden, which lie 190 miles and 124 miles above the Arctic Circle respectively. The tussle between the two is spilling over into a diplomatic stand-off as Norway seeks to block the launches from Sweden. The Norwegian aerospace regulator has published a report that warns of severe consequences should rockets from Kiruna crash on their flight path across northern Norway.’
💅 In GPS World, President of Cailabs US Jeff Huggins argues that electronic warfare is increasing, and putting global connectivity at risk:
‘As someone who has worked in naval intelligence and the defense industry for decades, I have seen how quickly technology evolves, and how slow we can be to protect our own systems. But there are solutions to the problem I’ve described. One is laser-based optical communications.
Laser communication is very difficult to jam or spoof. Unlike the low-power radio frequencies used by GPS, a laser beam is narrow, focused, and nearly impossible to intercept without being detected. And because lasercom is optical, not radio, it isn’t vulnerable to the same types of interference. That makes laser communication ideal for high-security communications and low latency support in contested environments.
Optical ground station networks, when paired with optical satellite links, also offer vastly higher data transfer capacity than conventional RF systems. Optical links can now carry 1,000 times more data than their RF counterparts. At a time when threats are growing quickly and data needs are exploding, that kind of capacity is essential.’
⌚️ And finally, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of SES O3b mPOWER satellites aborted its launch just 11 seconds before takeoff: