← T-Minus: Space-Cyber Briefing
T-Minus: Space-Cyber Briefing
Blue Origin launches TeraWave.
00:24:02
Blue Origin has unveiled TeraWave. Rocket Lab launches a dedicated mission for Open Cosmos. Lunar Outpost to conduct an in-orbit demo for TACOS. And more.
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- [00:02]
Maria Varmazes
You're listening to the N2K space network.
- [00:13]
Cybersecurity Announcer
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- [01:25]
Maria Varmazes
Today is January 22nd, 2026. I'm Maria Varmazes and this is T min.
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Cybersecurity Announcer
20 seconds to Los.
- [01:44]
Maria Varmazes
Orbex's Danish subsidiary Orbital Express Launch EPS is reportedly set to file for bankruptcy. 4 Palestinia space has been awarded a contract by CNES in partnership with the French defense procurement agency for the d' Azir program. Lunar Outpost has announced a new orbit demonstration to support the launch integration and on orbit operations of thermal architecture components. Rocket Lab held its first launch of 2026 with the Cosmos Will see you now mission for Open Cosmos Blue Origin has unveiled a new satellite communications network called TerraWave. Our guest today is Dr. Melissa Patton from Patton Consulting Group. Dr. Patton is a panel at Spacecom next week and will be giving us a taste of what to expect from that session after today's intelligence briefing. Happy Thursday everybody. Thank you for joining me today. Let's begin. Blue Origin has unveiled a new satellite communications network designed to deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 terabits per second anywhere on Earth. The network, known as Terrawave, aims to service tens of thousands of enterprise, data center and government users who require reliable connectivity for critical operations. The TerraWave architecture will consist of 5,408 optically interconnected satellites in low earth orbit and medium Earth orbit. Blue Origin says this multi orbit design will enable ultra high throughput links between global hubs and distributed multi gigabit user connections, particularly in remote rural and suburban areas where diverse fiber paths are costly, technically infeasible or just slow to deploy. TerraWave will provide point to point connectivity and enterprise grade Internet access, enabling customers to choose throughput and physical presence in response to changes to their needs. So when do we expect this network to deploy exactly? Well, Blue Origin says the first spacecraft in the Constellation will Launch in the fourth quarter of 2027 and staying with Blue Origin for a second New Glenn's next mission, the New Glenn 3 will carry AST Space Mobile's next generation Block 2 Bluebird satellite to low Earth orbit. The launch is scheduled for no earlier than late February From Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. And speaking of launch, Rocket Lab held its first launch of 2026 in New Zealand today. The mission was dubbed the Cosmos will see you now and it launched two spacecraft for European space technology company Open Cosmos. The mission was Rocket Lab's 80th launch overall and builds on their successes in 2025 with 21 launches and 100% mission success across their launch sites in New Zealand and Virginia, usa. But not everything is working out for the launch company, unfortunately. Rocket Lab announced an update relating to the development of its neutron rocket launch. During qualification testing of the stage 1 tank, a rupture occurred during a hydrostatic pressure trial. Of course, testing failures are not uncommon during qualification testing. It's kind of the point of testing and test structures are pushed to their limits to validate structural integrity and safety margins to ensure that the robust requirements for a successful launch can be comfortably met. Now Rocket Lab says there was no significant damage to the test structure or their facilities and and that the next Stage 1 tank is already in production and Neutron's development campaign continues while the team assesses the latest test outcome. Lunar Outpost has announced a new in orbit demonstration to support the launch integration and on orbit operations of thermal architecture components. The company says the mission represents a major milestone in advancing next generation thermal technologies for space applications, enabling more resilient systems and more capable spacecraft operations in the harshest environments. The mission funding has been awarded by the IOD IOV program by the European Commission and implemented with the support of the European Space Agency. Let's stay in Europe for this next story. Telesalinia Space has been awarded a contract by the French Space Agency CNES in partnership with the French Defense Procurement Agency for the d' Azir program. Desir, which stands for please excuse my terrible French demonstrateur Desalimants Souvenir Dimagirie Radar aims to develop technologies for a sovereign French space radar imaging capability. Thalassaline will develop an all weather day night observation capability enabled by synthetic aperture radar, aiming to complement France's existing optical Earth observation capabilities used for intelligence and surveillance. These capabilities also support vitally important dual use applications including environmental monitoring, crisis management and maritime surveillance and European spaceflight, is reporting that Orbex's Danish subsidiary Orbital Express Launch APS is set to file for bankruptcy. The report says its facilities closed on 20 January, leaving approximately 90 employees without jobs. UK based Orbital Express Launch, better known as Orbex, established its business in Denmark in October 2016. According to the company, its Copenhagen based business carried out work in propulsion testing, software, avionics and business services. And we do wish the company and the employees the absolute best of luck for the future. And that wraps up today's intelligence briefing and my horrendous French My apologies to all our Francophone listeners. A reminder that you can find links to further readings on all of the stories that I've mentioned throughout this episode in the Selected Reading section of our show. Notes T Minus Crew if you're going to be at Commercial Space Week next week in Orlando, we're going to be there too. So come by and see us in booth 8647. And if you'd like to speak with us during the event, guess what? You can do that too. Just drop us a line@space2k.com so we can set something up. And thank you by the way, we look forward to seeing you there.
- [08:35]
Cybersecurity Announcer
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- [09:54]
Maria Varmazes
Our guest today is Dr. Melissa Patton from Patton Consulting Group. Dr. Patton is hosting a panel at Spacecom next week and has a big announcement coming out at the conference and I'll let her tell you more.
- [10:09]
Dr. Melissa Patton
I am the newly appointed CEO of Space Grove. I also am a previous educator. I've been 20 years in education, worked my way up from admissions entry level to a chief academic Officer and dean and I've also been tenured at Eastern Florida State College here in Brevard County. And I guess I got bored one day and just decided, hey, I'm going to cash in my savings, retire and do a start startup. And that's how I kind of got into space. My, my startup that my husband and I started was an integration of the first space adjacent. So we took space in STEM and we intersected it with collegiate and elementary and middle school athletes. And so the liberal arts component, the conversational opportunities, all of those aligned really nicely with being connected to the space and STEM industry. So that's how I got my start. And now I'm at Space Grove, which launches in a couple weeks.
- [11:11]
Maria Varmazes
Let's start with spacecom because there's a lot going on at spacecom for you and for Space Grove and you're going to be on a panel at spacecom as well.
- [11:20]
Dr. Melissa Patton
So let's start there.
- [11:21]
Maria Varmazes
About the panel, tell me a bit about that.
- [11:22]
Dr. Melissa Patton
Yeah, yeah. So I'm actually really excited about this. My panel is one of the best panels that will ever be at spacecom. I'm not telling you only because the lineup is incredible. If you're a local, you understand why it's incredible. But even more so if you're a national international space ecosystem member, you understand that having Carol Craig from Cituspace, having Robert Fabian from Viyaspace, Dr. Stephanie Sherby, an executive at all points. Randy Trask, Q Station. So you've got innovation hubs and you know, the opportunity to bring economic development in the millions to different companies around the country. And then I've got my international partner, Mike Curtis Rouse, who's from isam. It's a panel that is going to really be impactful. I do believe that we're going to be able to share not only what's going on now, but the future of manufacturing, satellite manufacturing.
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Maria Varmazes
Oh, interesting. Okay, so where can we get a preview of some of your thoughts for that panel? Or is it a wait and see situation?
- [12:30]
Dr. Melissa Patton
Well, I can't tell you all my dirty secrets, but my panel and I, as crazy as this sounds, we've already met and had a pre read of kind of how we're going to organize our thoughts for this. And what was really important to me, especially in picking the people on the panel, was for this not to be boring and for them not to have been able to chatgpt the answers. They're unconventional in how they get things done and that's why they're leaders in industry. So I am thrilled to have them.
- [12:58]
Maria Varmazes
You also mentioned that at spacecom, Spacegrove is coming out of stealth essentially. So I really want to hear the pitch for Space Grove please, if you don't mind.
- [13:08]
Dr. Melissa Patton
Yeah, so Space Grove is an innovation hub, but it's so much more than that. It will be a physical space physically located in Brevard County. We do have a potential anchor tenant which is a major government agency. In addition to that, you'll have the innovation hub there with also major partners backing everything that's going on within the hub. So that's the physical space, there's also the global space. So there's the connections and the collaborations with the international agencies. Italian Space Agency, UK Space Agency, Australian Agency, Space Agency, all of those different agencies being able to collaborate. I just got off a call with like 50 other individuals from the UK Space Agency and and globally. The conversation is about how do we drive deals and where do we go to do that. And so spacecraft will the solution as a one stop shop. A place where people can go to get their questions answered when it comes to the space ecosystem. And I think much deeper than that, it provides the space for deal flows. We're VC backed, investor backed. So we're really friendly with a non conventional kind of model where we can help companies receive the dollars that they need to drive in these government contracts and to receive these streams of revenue. So I think that's the biggest part and then another part of that is building up the space community and the ecosystem. If you're coming over from Israel and you want to have a physical spot here, where do you build? Where do you go? Well that's the real estate development part of Space Grove Ventures. It allows for us to imagine what it would look like to have a community with houses and stores and, and these buildings infrastructure and we build that out for the space ecosystem.
- [15:02]
Maria Varmazes
That vision sounds amazing and honestly it also sounds like it's something that the space industry community has been sort of looking for for quite some time in Brevard county specifically. I mean that. So that is definitely fitting a need that I know I've been hearing about. And the vision also with not just an inch an incubator space, but also with the housing. That's really interesting. That is definitely. I would not have expected that, but that makes a ton of sense.
- [15:30]
Dr. Melissa Patton
Yeah, I mean if you're just looking at Brevard county and you're driving down Courtney Parkway, which will lead you straight to the launch pad, there is, and I don't want to give away all my secrets but there are miles and miles of just open land. Now, there's reasons why that land is not, you know, doesn't have infrastructure there. But when I go outside my office and I want to go have a cup of coffee with someone, I have to go on the other side of the bridge. There are no coffee places on my side of the island. There's no restaurants, there's only three gas stations. And this is one of the, the largest areas, the largest area for a launch capability. So when you look at that and then you look at the broader horizon and then you look at it from a, from a national perspective, there's a lot of room for us to grow.
- [16:17]
Maria Varmazes
That's exciting. I can't wait to learn more about this. And it sounds like the opportunity for that will be at a launch party I've heard something about. So.
- [16:24]
Dr. Melissa Patton
Yeah, so I, I'm really fortunate to have some great friends that are going to help launch us off. We've got several headline speakers, one from the United States Space Force, UCF Superintendent of Brevard Public Schools. I'm excited for the, the VIP participants. This is invite only and so we will have the, the biggest and the best of, of the space ecosystem represented from industry, government, academia and workforce development.
- [16:57]
Maria Varmazes
That sounds great. So for our industry listeners, which is a lot of people listen to this show, what do you want them to know about Spacegrove?
- [17:04]
Dr. Melissa Patton
So I want you to know that now there is a place, There is a place. There is one unified hub that has an opportunity for you to get your questions answered and for you to be able to understand how to do what you're trying to do, whether you're international or whether you're right here in the States, we can support you. We also have great partners like Space Florida and like the Economic Development Organization here in Brevard County. So we're doing life with them as well to make sure that we've come up with an opportunity for you. We're scalable. I've already kind of given you a sneak preview that after we stand up this physical hub, we are licensing Space Grove. So that's, that's important to realize that there is a, there is a point too to it. And then the real estate side of things allows real opportunity for you to actually physically have a place. And we're doing that as well for our partners.
- [18:03]
Maria Varmazes
I cannot wait to Learn more at Spacecom. So, Dr. Melissa Patton, it's been truly a joy speaking with you. I want to make sure if there's anything I missed that you wanted to make sure to mention to the audience that I give you the podium. Anything at all, by all means.
- [18:17]
Dr. Melissa Patton
I would love to mention a couple things. Number one, come out and support spacecom, get a ticket, come on out and then of course come see me at 2:30 on Thursday moderating and I'll have to do it in my moderation voice from Tarmac to tomorrow around systemic driving, satellite manufacturing and scalable space infrastructure. So come out and see our group and then if you something about Space Grove really intrigued you, feel free to send me a Note either on LinkedIn or email and I will send you an invite to our launch party. We are hoping to bring in some equity partners and if that's you, you want to actually make some money when you put your money where it is. I would also be more than happy to look at that as well.
- [19:16]
Maria Varmazes
We'll be right back.
- [19:22]
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- [20:06]
Maria Varmazes
Welcome back. Some wrap up thoughts before we close out today. First up, the ISS crew who came home a bit early for a medical evacuation, did a media debrief yesterday and we didn't learn a whole lot aside from yes, everybody is doing fine and no they're not going to tell you who or what was going on because it is 100% none of our business. And that is fine and good. There was one tidbit that was kind of a neat little extra bit of information for us though. Crew member and NASA astronaut Mike Finke said that the onboard ultrasound machine on the ISS came in super clutch in figuring out the medical situation that they were dealing with. So much so that Finke said that all future spaceflights should have an ultrasound in their kit. Now the ISS crew for years have been using ultrasounds as part of their regular scientific research work and not unlike the ultrasound machines you may have seen at a doctor's office. It just looks like a souped up laptop with a handheld ultrasound wand attached by a cable. A very smart and compact bit of kit that certainly has a ton of utility. Now a second item for your consideration today, my friends, is the official Artemis II flight kit. Specifically the merch that they're bringing with them. Okay, merch is perhaps not technically the right way of thinking of it, as NASA is calling them all mission keepsakes. But stickers, pins, patches, badges, ribbons? Come on. Listen, I'm a nerd who's been to a comic con or 5. I know merch when I see it. All right, There will be 12 Canada Space Agency stickers, six Canada flag patches, one ESA flag, 100 silver Snoopy pins, at least 115 U.S. flags, a one by one swatch of the plane fabric from the Wright Brothers plane, the unflown Apollo 18 flag, and the US flag that was flown on both the very first and very last shuttle missions. And that is just a small sampling, to be honest. You can read the whole list for yourself if you really want, but spoiler alert, it's a lot of pins, patches and stickers. Oh, and the Houston Livestock show and Rodeo leatherback number. Because I guess for NASA, when it comes to sending people to the moon, indeed, this ain't their first rodeo. And that is T minus Brought to you by N2K CyberWire we'd love to know what you think of our podcast. Please don't correct me on my French. I know it's terrible. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like the show, please share a rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the show notes or send an email to space2k.com we are proud that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector. From the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies, N2K helps space and cybersecurity professionals grow, learn and stay informed. As the nexus for discovery and connection, we bring you the people, the technology and the ideas shaping the future of secure innovation. Learn how@n2k.com N2K Senior Producer is Alice Carus. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our Executive producer is Jennifer Ibin. Peter Kilpe is our publisher and I am your host with the bad French, Maria Varmazes. Thank you for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
- [23:46]
Cybersecurity Announcer
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