← T-Minus: Space-Cyber Briefing
T-Minus: Space-Cyber Briefing
China’s crew capsule concerns.
00:26:49
China to send an unmanned Shenzhou spacecraft to Tiangong Space station. The FAA lifts spaceflight restrictions. SpaceX launched the Sentinel-6B. And more.
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- [00:02]
Maria Varmazis
You're listening to the N2K space network. Step into the digital upside down with Cyber Things Armis new three part podcast series which will dive into the unseen world of cyber security. From real life hacks to the digital shadows of the dark web, we connect pop culture and protection, fear and control. Episode one drops soon, so look out for Cyber Things in partnership with Cyberwire.
- [00:38]
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- [01:37]
Maria Varmazis
Today is November 17th, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazes and this is T minus.
- [01:46]
Patrick O'Neill
T minus 20 seconds to Los T Dris.
- [01:57]
Maria Varmazis
Madhya Pradesh's Department of Science and Technology has unveiled a draft of the state's State Space Tech Policy 2025. Jeff Bezos is set to launch a new artificial intelligence business that focuses on AI for engineering and manufacturing of computers, automobiles and spacecraft. SpaceX launched the NASA ESA jointly developed Copernicus Sentinel 6B satellite from California. The Federal Aviation Administration has lifted restrictions on spaceflight launch China will send a Shenzhou spacecraft to Tiangong Space Station to support the crew in orbit. And today we have our monthly catch up with Patrick o', Neill, public affairs and outreach lead at the International Space Station U.S. national Laboratory. We're going to be discussing genes in space and how Jimmy Buffett continues to support the research on the space station four years after his passing. How? Yeah, well, find out more after today's intelligence briefing. Happy Monday everybody. I hope you had a lovely weekend. Thank you for joining me. As we mentioned on Friday's show, as sort of a Footnote, China's Shenzhou 20 crew are now safely on terra firmament. The crew had returned using the spacecraft that had transported the Shenzhou 21 crew to Tiangong Space Station. And then predictably cue the headlines on stranded Taikonauts. But really, it did understandably leave the world scratching their heads and asking what was going to be next for the crew that was still on orbit well, on Saturday we got our answer when state TV broadcaster CCTV reported that China has begun preparations and to send an uncrewed Shenzhou spacecraft to its Tiangong Space Station ahead of schedule. Spacecraft was originally scheduled to transport the Shenzhou 22 crew to Tiangong in April 2026. However, as the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft was used on Friday by the Shenzhou 20 astronauts, the 22 spacecraft is now needed as a standby cruise ship. And I hope you're keeping up with all those crew numbers. So 22 is going up to rescue the 21s because the 20s used the 21s. Got that? Okay, so giving you a quick lowdown on why the crew returned on a different spacecraft than the one that they launched on. Well, if you didn't catch it. Cracks were found on the viewport window of the Shenzhou 20 capsule. It is assumed that they were caused by external impact from space debris. The three Shenzhou 20 astronauts returned safely to Earth again using the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft on Friday afternoon, nine days later than their planned landing. But better late than never, of course. The crew members are reportedly in good health and have entered a period of routine medical quarantine. They are expected to meet with the media in Beijing after their quarantine ends. And we will of course bring you updates on when the crew in orbit have their return capsule. Let's head on over to the United States now. And with the US Government shutdown concluding last week, finally the FAA has lifted restrictions on space launches as of today, Monday, November 17th. The news, as you might be imagining, has been welcomed by the industry, which had been concerned that the limits that were set on spaceflight would cause delays to flights that needed to lift off during daylight hours. We expect that the launch schedule in both Florida and California will now resume to normal operations quickly. And that said, overnight a new Copernicus satellite was launched from California, which is set to provide ocean and atmospheric information to improve hurricane forecasts, help protect infrastructure and benefit commercial activities such as shipping. The Sentinel 6B was jointly developed by both NASA and ESA and it will orbit Earth every 112 minutes, traveling at 4.5 miles per second. The satellite will eventually take over for its Twin Sentinel 6, Michael Froehlich, which was launched five years ago to continue a multi decade data set for sea level measurements from space. The Sentinel 6B satellite lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Contact between the satellite and a ground station in northern Canada occurred at about an hour and 30 minutes after launch and all systems are functioning nominally. Jeff Bezos yes, that Jeff Bezos is set to launch a new artificial intelligence business that focuses on AI for engineering and manufacturing of computers, automobiles and spacecraft. The Amazon and Blue Origin founder is calling his new startup Project Prometheus and has reportedly garnered $6.2 billion in funding for partly as you might imagine, from Bezos himself, making it one of the most well financed early stage startups in the world. Quite a head start, huh? Bezos will be taking on the role of co Chief Executive Officer for Project Prometheus, his first formal operational role in a company since he stepped down as the CEO of Amazon in July 2021. Bezos Co chief executive is Vic Bajaj, a physicist and chemist who worked closely with Google's co founder Sergey Brin at Google's X, a research effort often called the Moonshot Factory. According to a report by the New York Times about all of this, Project Prometheus has already hired nearly 100 employees, including researchers from top AI firms such as OpenAI, DeepMind and Meta. And now perhaps we can better understand the rebranding of what was once known as Project Kuiper, which will now be known as Amazon leo and finally, Indian State Madhya Pradesh's Department of Science and Technology has unveiled a draft of the state's Space Tech Policy 2025 and this policy aims to establish Madhya Pradesh as the leading destination for space related innovation, manufacturing and application driven solutions in India. It outlines ambitious goals for the next five years, such as attracting around 30 space tech startups to the region, securing over $100 million in investments and generating 2,000 skilled direct employment opportunities to catalyze private sector participation. The policy introduces substantial financial incentives and infrastructural support. You can read more about the draft in the Times of India report that's linked in the selected reading section of our show Notes. And for folks who need a geography touch up, Triharikota is in Andhya Pradesh, which is to the south of Madhya Pradesh. And speaking of those show notes, we have added more stories in our selected Reading section for you today. U.S. senator Martin Heinrich, who is the ranking member of the U.S. senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, announced $83 million for the construction of a new Space Rapid Capabilities Office, better known as Space rco, headquartered on Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. Virago has launched a new radiation tolerant chip to power satellites and Cituspace has released third quarter financial results. All of those links, along with the original sources of all the stories that I mentioned throughout this episode can all be found on our website, which is Space in addition to the show notes on the platform that you listen to us on. You know, a lot of people are listening to podcasts through YouTube nowadays and if that is the way that you would prefer to listen to this show, well, I've got good news for you. T Minus Space Daily is indeed on YouTube. We post our episodes there along with video clips from some of our interviews and events throughout the year. You can find us at N2K Cyber, that is our company's YouTube channel, and you will find the T Minus Space Daily playlist on there along with all of the other shows we make here at N2K. Again, that's N2K Cyber on YouTube.
- [11:02]
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- [12:04]
Maria Varmazis
Our guest today is Patrick o', Neill, Public affairs and outreach lead at the International Space Station US National Laboratory. The ISS National Lab has just unveiled a new mission patch with an unlikely partner and I asked Patrick to tell us all more about it.
- [12:23]
Patrick O'Neill
So this has been a long standing project with a lot of starts, stops and some changes in latitudes, quite literally. In the early origins of the ISS National Lab, we worked with a variety of companies, celebrities to develop mission patches that represented, you know, research that was happening on the space station during that particular year. And so we had the chance to work with some great, great figures, whether it was Ridley Scott, Lucasfilm and Star Wars, Marvel with Guardians of the Galaxy, Shepherd Fairy, Seth Green. So it's like we've worked with some interesting folks and we, we came into contact with Jimmy Buffett in 2018, 2019 and there was a mutual desire at one point to develop a mission patch. And the one thing that we had never done or that the partners we had Worked with, done, was sold that mission patch, this was always done with the intention of engaging the general public on the great things that are happening on the space station through the national laboratory. But Jimmy and his team at Margaritaville, they saw the value of maybe this is something that we can sell to our community and we can donate the proceeds from that to the ISS National Lab to further research to better understand or improve our planet. And, and so Obviously that was 2019, and a lot of time has since passed since that timeframe. And Unfortunately, Jimmy in 2023, he also passed after a long battle with cancer. But his team at Margaritaville, they reached back out to us and they said, listen, this was a passion project for Jimmy, and we see the value of this still going live because it provides an opportunity for us to honor Jimmy's legacy, both in singing, songwriting, entrepreneurship, but more importantly, being able to give back to potentially help fund research on the space station. So last week at the Space Economy Summit, Margaritaville announced this collaboration. And so they are selling the patches, they are selling stickers, they will be selling a variety of likeness thereof, and all of the proceeds will be going to Casis, the manager of the ISS National Lab, to again further research or ongoing research on the space station to improve our planet.
- [14:36]
Maria Varmazis
That's so wonderful. And I think it's so important that people also understand that these kinds of projects do take time. They can take years to just percolate and you know, things do happen. Sadly, losing Jimmy, that I could have seen that derail things. But how wonderful that Margaritaville wanted to continue with, with his legacy in this project.
- [14:53]
Patrick O'Neill
Yeah, no, I agree 100%. And it's funny, I still remember it like it, you know, it was yesterday where it was December 28, 2018. And I'm at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex with my parents and they're walking around the Atlantis exhibit, and I'm actually standing right next to the ISS kind of exhibit that they have over there. And I get this email and I'm looking at it. It ends up being from Jimmy Buffett. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And he just says, yeah, I want to do the patch. And I mean, it's up on my computer right now where I was looking at that the other day when all this was happening and I was like that. You know, that's one of those moments where it just stops you right in your tracks. And it's something that is indelible to me. And I'm excited to see how this resonates with the general public. Not just the parrot heads out there, but also with the space enthusiasts and just those that want to see great things happen on the space station.
- [15:41]
Maria Varmazis
I love it. And for me, and I don't live anywhere near Florida. I'm in Massachusetts. So, like the exact opposite of Florida. But when I think of Florida, I think of the space program and Jimmy Buffett. I mean, truly, it's such a perfect match. I will now completely change topics to this awesome article I saw in Upward magazine, which I want you to tell us about what Upward magazine is about the Genes in Space program hitting its 10th anniversary this year. So I just threw a whole bunch of terms. Walk me through all this. Genes in Space, Upward, all of that.
- [16:12]
Patrick O'Neill
So I'm going to start first with Genes in Space. And I'm glad that you brought that up, because when you and I were chatting before and I was like, oh, yes, that's a, that's a great thing for us to talk about. So Genes in Space is a program that was developed through Boeing and Mini pcr. And it was done with the intention of having students propose genetics experiments on the space station. And so to your point, we've been now operating this project for 10 years. There have been, you know, gosh, dozens of students that have been involved in projects that have flown to the space station. And there have been thousands and tens of thousands of students around the United States that have proposed ideas about doing genetic experiments on the space station. And so what we did is we did kind of a compilation of where are some of those people at now? And one of the great things about the Genes in Space program. And listen, I love my beloved San Diego State University, but the students that have ultimately won the Genes in Space competition, they have gone on to some of the best institutions in the United States of America, and they have been specializing in either medical fields or engineering. So this was in some ways an opportunity to really inspire the next generation about what you can do when you think out of the box for STEM or STEAM related initiatives. And so this has been kind of a crown jewel for us to talk about from an educational perspective. And so again, we've highlighted multiple students that ended up winning and have now since moved on to either professional endeavors or now engrossed deeply into their academic studies. And they talked a little bit about how this program was instrumental to them.
- [17:44]
Maria Varmazis
These were high school students that got to. Yeah, I just feel like we got to emphasize that high schoolers doing this, this is amazing.
- [17:49]
Patrick O'Neill
They're proposing. And again, these are not fundamental investigations. These are hardcore Genetics experiments that would help to allow us to better understand how to live and work in space or also to bring some of that back to us here on Earth. So again, it's really a fantastic program. We've been honored to work alongside again, Boeing and many PCR during these 10 plus years. And it's not stopping. So that's the great thing about it. Now, where you can learn a little bit more about this particular piece is through Upward. And Upward is the official magazine of the ISS National Laboratory. We put out normally three to four volumes over the course of any given year. But what makes Upward different from press releases or blogs or things that we might put out there in the general ether is that this is focused on results. You know, we hear it all the time. You know, what, not just what's happening on the space station, but why does it matter? What are the things that we're learning and how are we able to impart that into our life here on Earth or to business models in space? And Upward is that magazine, is that mechanism for us here at the ISS National Lab where it's focused specifically on the results that are happening and why it matters and the impacts it has for all of us. And what I would also do is Shameless Plug. So first of all, you can go subscribe to it on our website@issnationallab.org but speaking of anniversaries, we mentioned 10 years for genes in space. Early next year, I want to say, in February 2026, that's going to be our 10th anniversary of Upward. So we're hoping to have a special edition of Upward that will go out to, to the masses. And again, it's a great opportunity for you to learn about what's been happening on station, but the results that have been derived from research.
- [19:32]
Maria Varmazis
That's so wonderful. And you know, we, I was saying to you offline, there's only so much I can cover in a podcast. I feel like we're just always a little taster. And for folks, we always emphasize you want to get something more in depth, we will happily send you to places that do much more in depth than we can possibly do. So for sure. I mean, I was just, I had been briefly looking through Upward and it's wonderful how, whoops, I hit my mic. It's wonderful how in depth.
- [19:54]
Patrick O'Neill
You're that excited about it. Yeah. And again, it's not, it's not like a. To your point, it's a deeper dive. It's much deeper than that. It's a feature, you know, each there's normally three or four features in each volume. And so, and again, there are multiple pages. So you know, if you got 10, 15 minutes, you're gonna, you're gonna enjoy that read. So it's not, it's not just a Cliff Notes version. It is truly, you know, how, how things started to, how they ended to now what are we doing moving forward? So it's a great look at a lot of historical R D that's happened on station and you know, how that sets the foundation for what we can do next.
- [20:28]
Maria Varmazis
It's a highly recommended read. So we'll make sure we have links in the show notes for everybody if they don't already know about it, which I would imagine many of our listeners do. But in case they don't, they will now.
- [20:36]
Patrick O'Neill
So I appreciate the plug. We appreciate the plug.
- [20:39]
Maria Varmazis
Of course. No, I mentioned earlier I got my start ages ago in writing. So I'm a big fan of the written word. This big, big fan. What can I say, Patrick, is there anything else you want to make sure to mention for today's segment?
- [20:52]
Patrick O'Neill
You know, again, I think that we're happy to be kind of back to that full speed moment again. There's going to be some moments, hopefully we'll be able to talk about in the DEC time frame. But one thing I would also float out to those that are very deep into space, R and D, or those that maybe are already actively involved in doing research on the space station. There will be a conference that will be happening in early December. The Let me see if I get this right. It's ASGsR, which is the American Society of Gravitational and Space Research. And they're going to be having their annual gathering. It's going to be December 3rd through December 6th out in Phoenix, Arizona, which is probably about one of the best places you can be in that December time frame. So we're going to be talking about a lot of, of research that's happening on station. And think of that as when we talk about upward. This is the same thing, except you're doing it in person and people are presenting and going in depth on the research that they've been doing on station and what they've learned and what the next steps might look like. So if there are those that are out there that are interested, there will be a large contingent, I think not large, but there'll be a contingent from the National Lab, from our friends over at NASA, as well as the research community as a whole.
- [21:55]
Maria Varmazis
That's wonderful. Well, welcome back everybody. Patrick, good to speak with you as always.
- [22:00]
Patrick O'Neill
Always a pleasure.
- [22:01]
Maria Varmazis
I'm sure next month when we catch up, it'll be really busy, given all the catching up.
- [22:06]
Patrick O'Neill
Trust me, it's gonna be, it's, it's already busy, but it's, hopefully it's gonna be even more busy, but that's how it should be. We always want things to be rapid and accelerating on the space station or in our, in, you know, down here on Earth, getting ready to send things to the space.
- [22:32]
Maria Varmazis
We'll be right back.
- [22:39]
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- [23:26]
Maria Varmazis
Welcome back. Chinese scientists studying lunar regolith samples found by Chang' E6 at the South Pole Aitken Basin or SPA, say that they have found micrometer scale hematite and maghemite and they are both oxidized iron minerals. Yes, they found rust on the moon and of hematite and maghemite, the latter is also magnetic. In both cases they weren't expected to be found on the moon. And the team from CNSA Shandong University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported their discovery in Science Advances, calling it the first sample based evidence of both hematite and maghemite on the lunar surface. And the researchers posit that large ancient impacts are likely what caused temporary oxygen rich vapor plumes that then oxidized lunar iron and produced these materials. And this could also maybe help explain magnetic anomalies around the SPA basin since again, maghamite is magnetic. So for our geologist friends and for lunar scientists, these tiny, tiny findings are an interesting evolution in our understanding of the Moon's redox history. In other words, our understanding of how reduction, oxidation chemical reactions happened on the Moon. And now it's onwards to go from these clues to figure out more about how major impacts shaped the Moon's chemistry and its sublimely unique magnetic environment. Yes, all of that from humble rust, foreign. And that is T minus. Brought to you by N2K CyberWire. We'd love to know what you think of our podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like our 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 space@n2k.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 a 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's senior producer is Alice Carouse. 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, Maria Varmazis. Thank you for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
- [26:47]
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