← T-Minus: Space-Cyber Briefing
T-Minus: Space-Cyber Briefing
Firefly fuels growth with an acquisition.
00:25:14
Firefly buys SciTec for $855M; SpaceX & ULA land first post-2027 U.S. Space Force launches; Japan’s ispace passes lunar lander vibration tests. And more.
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You're listening to the N2K space network.
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Today is October 6th, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazes and this is T minus 20 seconds. ESA opens its newest deep Space antenna in Western Australia. Axiom Space partners with 4 IG of Hungary to launch a new orbital development center. Japan's ispace completes key vibration tests for its series three lunar lander. The US space force awards SpaceX and ULA the first post 2027 launch contracts. One firefly aerospace announces its $855 million acquisition of so scitech. And for our special monthly segment today, we're brushing up on our Space Law. Bailey Reichelt from Aegis Space Law and Matthew Linton from Linton Space Law are joining us today for some space law FAQs. Be sure to tune in after today's headlines. Happy Monday everybody and thank you for joining me today. The US Government shutdown is still ongoing as of the time of this recording, affecting quite a bit specifically in the space industry, so things are in the United States anyway, significantly quieter than usual. But fret not friends, there is still a lot of news to cover, so let us begin. First up, some big US Business news over the weekend. Texas based Firefly Aerospace is acquiring New Jersey based Saitech, which is a leading developer of sensor, fusion and data analytics technologies for defense and intelligence applications. This deal is valued at $855 million. The acquisition of Saitech will expand Firefly's footprint across the national security ecosystem, merging its launch and spacecraft manufacturing capabilities with Saitek's expertise in advanced sensing, missile warning and space domain awareness. The combined organization positions Firefly as a vertically integrated player in defense space infrastructure, supporting end to end solutions from launch to data. And you might recall that Firefly had its initial public offering just back in August of this year, which was great timing for this Saitek deal as Firefly is funding the acquisition with a combination of $300 million in cash and $555 million in Firefly shares. The deal is set to close by the end of this year, and when it does, Saitech will operate within Firefly as its own business unit, with Saitech's current CEO remaining at its helm. Next item up Speaking of big bucks, the US Space Force has awarded the first mission assignments under Phase three, Lane two of its National Security Space Launch, or NSSL program to who else but SpaceX and United Launch Alliance? Five missions will go to SpaceX for $714 million, while two missions will go to ULA for $428 million. This move underscores the Space Force's confidence in these two commercial heavy lift providers to reliably get key, often classified national security payloads to difficult orbits, while also laying the groundwork for additional competition in later phases aimed at broadening the industrial base. The awards to SpaceX and ULA cover missions beyond fiscal year 2027 through at least 2030, with potentially up to 54 launches in total. Now let's head on over to Japan now and Japan's ISPACE has successfully completed vibration testing on its Series 3 lunar lander, which is an important step towards ispace's Mission 4, which is scheduled for launch in 2028. The qualification test confirmed the lander's structural durability through simulated launch and lunar conditions. Building on lessons from earlier Hakuta R missions, ISPACE says this progress supports its long term goal of providing regular lunar transport and surface services, marking steady advancement in Japan's private sector lunar program. And just to clarify, because I was also confused about this, the company has had two missions already and this news today is regarding ispace's mission 4, which will be the company's first with the series 3 lander. So the missing step there is mission 3, which I Space says is still scheduled for a 2027 launch. Get all that? Yeah. More news now in the realm of private space with Axiom Space, which is collaborating with Hungary's 4IG Space and Defense Technologies on their Orbital Data center program, creating the Axiom Orbital Development center, or axodc. This new hub will focus on human spaceflight training, microgravity research and commercial mission development. Axiom says the partnership represents a blueprint for nations that are seeking to develop indigenous space programs while joining the expanding global commercial space economy. This news follows an earlier announcement from 4IG that they are evaluating the possibility of investing $100 million to acquire a stake in Axiom, but they have not yet committed to that and the European Space Agency has officially opened its new Deep Space Antenna in Western Australia, expanding its global network of communications infrastructure. The new 35 meter antenna called New Norcia 3, is located in Nercia, about 115 kilometers north of Perth. The facility enhances 24 hour connectivity for missions including Juice BepiColombo and Solar Orbiter. The antenna increases ESA's data transmission capacity and deep space autonomy with advanced receivers and signal processing Systems, as New Norcia 3 is now the fourth deep space antenna in ESA's S Track deep Space Tracking Network. ESA says this collaboration is another great milestone in its ongoing partnership with the Australian Space Agency. Indeed, science is always best when it's a collaboration foreign and that wraps up this Monday's intel briefing for you dear listeners. As always, links are in our show notes if you'd like to read more. But even when it's a bit quiet on the space front, as the US Government shutdown is still ongoing, there's plenty going on around the world and well in space. We've got our eyes on other stories that you might be interested in reading about and Director of Enterprise Content Strategy here at N2K. Mayan Plout is here to tell you about them today.
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Hi Maria, so there's a really interesting piece in Space.com today about the unknown status of the Juno probe. This is the mission that's going around Jupiter and the last mission extension ended on the same day as the current US Government shutdown. So because of the shutdown, NASA can't answer any questions right now. So the real question is, is the Juno probe even still on? No one can get a definitive answer. But I'm curious, do you know? Maria?
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I do, but I'm not telling anybody. We'll leave it there. Thank you Mayan. Of course, listeners, check out that story and all of today's headlines in our show notes in your podcast app or over at our official website, which is space.n2k.com regular listeners to T Minus know that every day at the end of each show, I read the names of all the people who work on T Minus. It is a big team effort to get this show published every day and you, dear listener, play a very important role in that too. Every time you share an episode of T Minus with colleagues or on social media, that not only helps us grow, but more importantly, it also shows us how our work is useful and interesting to you. So if you enjoy T Minus, please don't keep us hidden. Share our show in your social and professional networks because it helps us grow and makes T minus even better every day. And thank you for being A part of the T minus crew.
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It is space law FAQ's time. Now over to Bailey Reichelt from Aegis Space Law and Matthew Linton from Linton Space Law.
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Welcome to Space Law FAQ with Aegis Space Law. I'm one of your hosts, Bailey Reichelt.
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And I'm Matt Linton with Linton Space Law.
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We're talking about artificial intelligence and those tools, AI tools and what you should expect when professionals you're hiring are using AI tools. Should they be, what tools should they be using? What's the transparency you should expect in that? We're going to talk all about those expectations. So first of all, I think we should just start by saying, should lawyers use AI? Matt, what do you think?
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Yes, 100%. And even if you didn't want to or you disagreed with me, there's no going back.
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Yeah, there really isn't any going back. That's kind of like saying I refuse to use emails.
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I remember seeing that nearly 20 years ago when I entered the legal profession, there were still partners at law firms or judges that had their emails printed for them and placed on their desk. And that does not last too long.
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Oh, same. It was 2014, I was practicing and that was still happening. It's crazy. But yeah, AI is here to stay. It can really enhance your efficiency. I think it's crazy for professionals to not be using it to help maximize the efficiencies with which they get high quality product to their clients. Does that mean your lawyers should be drafting their responses to you with AI? Well, no, but let's talk about all the ways we can gain efficiency and what you should expect. So I think, Matt, and I think you'll agree with me that you should expect your attorneys to say that they embrace technology, especially if you're in the tech startup world. What do you think?
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Absolutely. And you know, most state ethics rules and the ABA model rules are having a requirement to be continuously up to speed on the latest technological advancements to be able to better serve your clients. And so I think informing the clients that you are meeting that obligation and that transparency is critical.
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I think you're safe having the expectation of your attorneys to be using some sort of tools to gain efficiency. You also have an expectation that they're going to use those tools wisely. And that can mean things like having some sort of training for their staff on how to use them appropriately. One of the things that we have is an internal policy on how to use AI and a secure solution that we offer our internal staff in using AI and we encourage them to try to play devil's advocate with the AI and pick apart different arguments so that they understand different perspectives. I think it's even more efficient when you work in remote environments or work from home now because you don't necessarily have the water cooler or the meeting room where you can just go say, hey, what does everyone think about this argument I'm about to make or, or this client's scenario? And you can use AI tools to step in when you're in a remote environment, which is many, many professionals now, and it can help you to develop and more well round your argument without ever actually putting fake citations anywhere. Right. But you also need to be transparent when you're doing that and let your clients know upfront, like how you're securing their data, making sure that it's like on an enterprise platform, it's not just free on the Internet. I think in the last episod we said, yeah, just don't dump proprietary information on the Internet. That's always bad. Don't let AI models train on it. That's basically the same. So don't do that. You should be expecting your attorneys to use AI and also expecting them to use it wisely and competently. Now you brought up attorney client privilege in the last episode. Matt, can you tell us more about that?
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Yes, I think, you know, and I used to litigate for many years and then became in house counsel and, and you know, I think obviously the attorney client privilege is sacrosanct and critical for our ability to provide the kind of advice needed to clients. And throughout different technological, I think advancements, there's always been concern over how that impacts attorney client privilege. There were those concerns over emails, I mean the sort of origin of these confidentiality statements, you know, on our emails, skits to some of that still. And, and I think for me and clients, it's really something to be thinking about all the time because if you are starting a company, running a company, thinking about starting or running a company, at some point you will have to provide Your history of whatever issue you may have been sorting to perhaps a regulator, maybe it's in a litigation context, or maybe even if it's just internal, or perhaps it's during diligence for investments. And there might be some things that just truly are very critical to be protected under the attorney client privilege. And remember, it's a communication with your lawyers seeking legal advice. So just typing in a bunch of stuff to your AI agent and getting an answer is almost very likely discoverable to the, you know, such that you, you may find yourself very exposed if you face a subpoena for your ChatGPT history. Even if you've tried to turn it off or delete it, there are ways that it lives out in the world. And so when seeking legal advice, think of the AI maybe like a water cooler person who you're having a conversation with. But once you got to get deep, you need to make sure you've got your lawyer in the loop. And in the context of seeking legal advice, if you're going to need to protect that information.
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You know, you make a really good point there. And I'm thinking about emails. So previously when I've been in house, we've had retention and archiving policies for our emails. And you know, what no one ever wanted to say was, yeah, we delete emails after one year because we don't want them to be discoverable after one year. We don't want that, you know, everything ever said by email to at some point come back to get us. So maybe if you're going to use AI or expecting your attorneys to use AI, it'd be good to ask, hey, what's your policy? Maybe I see your policy for how you're actually protecting my data. Like what's your cybersecurity level if you're going to be using it, what's your retention policy? What's my own retention policy if I'm the company, am I setting it right there alongside my email? Because you're right, it is an archivable history. It's discoverable just like emails. So perhaps in my internal procedures I need to be thinking about my discoverability, my archival policies for AI conversations. And I think we've kind of summarized it, Matt. Yeah, you should expect us to use AI because we, we should be getting you work product better and faster. And if there are tools on the market that let us do that, we should use them. So I think it's really fair to come back at your legal counsel and ask, what are your internal tools? Are you literally going to bill me to type things out. 10 hours every time you write a brief for me. Are you actually going to be using something to make you faster? That goes to the whole hourly billing model, which is in my opinion also antiquated. But I digress. Yes, the legal professionals should be using AI with some caution and I think you should be asking those questions of your legal professionals.
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Thank you Bailey. Pleasure speaking with you here again.
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As always, our thanks to Bailey Reichelt and Matthew Linton for joining us for our monthly Space Hall FAQ segment. And if you have a topic or question you'd like them to address, send it on over to us. Space2K.com is our email and we will share your message with them. We'll be right back.
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Welcome back. Science is awesome of its own accord, of course, but if you can do some good science and also help out ESA's juice mission, why not do that, right? So this is a public service announcement for our astronomy loving listeners in Western Europe, especially about Asia. Lovely opportunity to contribute some science all on your own to help Jews mark your calendars for the night of October 13th to 14th when Jupiter's largest moon Ganymede passes in front of the star hip 37442, briefly blocking its light. This phenomenon will be visible across much of Europe with a telescope or binoculars, that is with the best timing to view in France par exemple between France 247 and 301 UTC. And this kind of event isn't just some kind of spectacle. The astronomy term for when a celestial object blocks the light of a star. Well, that is an occultation. And occultations are a very important tool in the astronomy toolkit in this situation. Specifically by recording the precise timing of Ganymede's shadow crossing the star observers can help refine the Jovian moon's orbit, improving ephemerides that are crucial for ESA's JUICE mission, which will reach Jupiter's system in 2031. The more observations that people can collect, the more accurately scientists can map Ganymede's motion and support the success of future space missions. So if you'd like to pitch in, as I said earlier, this is not something you'll be able to do with the naked eye. You need a telescope or binoculars equipped with a high frame rate camera since the star is about 10 times dimmer than Ganymede. And then the request is that you record the four key contact points, that is when Ganymede first touches the star, fully covers it, begins to uncover it, and finally clears it. In doing all that, scientists can reconstruct the moon's shadow with precision. Observers are encouraged to upload images to the dedicated campaign site to contribute to this international effort. And there are, as you might imagine, a lot more details that you would want to read up on. So please do check out the link in the show Notes from the Observatoire de Paris. The detailed post is both en Francais and in English. Citizen science plus an occultation event equals a really lovely hands on reminder that even small observations on Earth can guide missions across the cosmos Foreign is brought to you by N2K CyberWire. We'd love to know what you think of this 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 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 Carruth. 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 Ivan. Peter Kilby is our publisher and I am your host Maria Varmazes. Thank you for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.
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T minus.