Forging new space in Portugal.

Summary

Podcast Summary: T-Minus Space Daily – "Forging New Space in Portugal"

Release Date: May 29, 2025

Host: Maria Varmazas
Guest: Michael Geist, Vice President of Product Management at SES Space and Defense
Produced by: N2K Networks

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1. Introduction

In this episode of T-Minus Space Daily, host Maria Varmazas delves into significant developments within the global space industry. The episode, titled "Forging New Space in Portugal," focuses on Space Forge's strategic expansion, collaborations enhancing global connectivity, acquisitions shaping the defense sector, and advancements in space technology. The episode also features an insightful interview with Michael Geist from SES Space and Defense, discussing the groundbreaking Secure Integrated Multi Orbit Networking (SIMON).

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2. Intel Briefing

a. Space Forge Expands to Portugal

At [05:00], Maria Varmazas reports that Space Forge, a UK-based ISAM (Integrated Satellite and Manufacturing) company, has inaugurated a new office on Santa Maria Island in the Azores, Portugal. This move signifies Space Forge's commitment to expanding its European presence and establishing a satellite return location on mainland Europe.

• "This marks the beginning of our wider European expansion," announces Space Forge, highlighting the new facility's role in developing a scalable return infrastructure across Europe.

The Portuguese facilities aim to support industrial-scale manufacturing of advanced materials in space, collaborating closely with the Azores regional government. Future plans include research and development of next-generation semiconductors and the production of seed crystals forged in space, positioning Space Forge at the forefront of space-based manufacturing innovations.

b. Singapore’s DSTA Collaborates with AST SpaceMobile

Singapore's Defense Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) is partnering with the US-based AST SpaceMobile to enhance connectivity solutions. This collaboration focuses on leveraging space-based cellular broadband networks to improve humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and emergency response, particularly in remote regions.

• "This collaboration will move the needle for Singapore's connectivity capabilities," states DSTA, emphasizing the project's potential to provide enhanced situational awareness and rapid response in critical situations.

c. Harman Space and Defense Acquires Industrial Solid Propulsion (ISP)

Harman Space and Defense has successfully acquired Industrial Solid Propulsion (ISP), a company specializing in energetic propulsion technologies for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS). The acquisition, valued at approximately $60 million, was funded through an increased term loan.

• "The acquisition of ISP allows us to expand our propulsion technology offerings significantly," explains Harman Space and Defense, underscoring the strategic importance of solid propulsion systems in the growing UAS market.

d. Astrobotic’s Zodiac Rocket Termination

Astrobotic's 176th flight of its Zodiac rocket ended prematurely with the loss of the vehicle during a test launch in Mojave, California.

• "We detected an anomalous condition and commanded a flight termination," reports Astrobotic, noting that the vehicle remained within its planned flight envelope but ultimately impacted the launch pad.

There were no injuries, and infrastructure damage was minimal. The team is actively investigating the cause of the termination to prevent future occurrences.

e. Vast’s Haven 1 Space Station Air Filter System Test

Vast's Haven 1 space station has successfully completed tests of a critical air filter system designed to maintain astronaut health in orbit. Conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, the tests confirmed the system's capability to sustain a safe atmosphere throughout all mission phases.

• "The system can maintain a safe and healthy atmosphere for all planned Haven 1 mission phases," announces Vast, highlighting the importance of the Trace Contaminant Control System in ensuring long-duration missions' safety and viability.

NASA continues to support multiple commercial space station designs, aiming to procure services from various companies to enhance low Earth orbit infrastructure.

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3. Selected Reading

Alice Carruth, N2K's Senior Producer, introduces additional resources available in the Selected Reading section:

1. Voyager’s Onboarding with the US Government's Oasis Plus Program: Details Voyager's integration into the government's satellite communications framework.
2. Altair's Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Georgia Tech: Explores collaborative efforts in aerospace research and development.
3. US Bill to Clear Space Junk: Discusses legislative efforts aimed at mitigating orbital debris and enhancing space sustainability.

Alice emphasizes the urgency of addressing space junk, stating, "Let's hope the latter passes quickly," reflecting the critical nature of this issue.

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4. Interview with Michael Geist: SIMON Technology

Guest: Michael Geist, Vice President of Product Management at SES Space and Defense

At [08:41], Maria Varmazas introduces Michael Geist, who provides an in-depth look into SES Space and Defense's latest innovation, SIMON (Secure Integrated Multi Orbit Networking).

Understanding SIMON

SIMON is a sophisticated networking technology designed to integrate multiple connectivity pathways across different orbits, enhancing the resilience and reliability of satellite communications.

• "SIMON takes multiple different connectivity mediums, combines them, and makes them seem and act as a single connectivity medium for the user," explains Geist at [09:39].

The system ensures continuous and robust connectivity by automatically switching between various networks, mitigating risks from weather disturbances, interference, or other anomalies.

Unique Advantages of SIMON

Unlike existing solutions, SIMON offers customizable resilience levels, allowing users to balance affordability and assuredness based on operational environments—from benign to contested.

• "We can give the user levers to determine whether they are interested in more affordability in their network resilience or more assuredness," Geist elaborates at [09:39].

This flexibility is particularly beneficial for military applications, where operational conditions can rapidly change, requiring dynamic adjustments to communication resilience.

Development and Future Plans

Developed over more than a year, SIMON is transitioning from concept to execution, with testing scheduled for later in the fall.

• "We're in the execution phase. We'll be testing this capability initially, and then enhancing it over the next year as we roll out a minimal viable product," Geist outlines at [13:25].

SES Space and Defense is also involved in parallel projects under contracts like the Air Force Research Lab Ducey Program, which focuses on defense experimentation using commercial satellite internet. Geist highlights the collaborative nature of the satellite communications industry:

• "The satellite communications industry is quite an industry of a lot of friendly partners who realize that to deliver capabilities that our warfighters need, we have to work together," he shares at [15:58].

This collaboration fosters advanced technological developments that benefit both military and civilian sectors.

Impact and Significance

SIMON represents a significant advancement in satellite networking, offering unparalleled resilience and flexibility. Its development underscores SES Space and Defense's commitment to supporting government requirements and advancing satellite communications technology.

• "SIMON is a game changer for our end users, especially given the current state of the market," reflects Varmazas at [13:06], summarizing the technology's transformative potential.

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5. Gaia Foundation Model: Revolutionizing Weather Prediction

Later in the episode, Maria Varmazas highlights a breakthrough in artificial intelligence for extreme weather prediction:

Gaia Foundation Model

Developed by the University’s Space Research Association's Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science, in collaboration with BCG, XAI Institute, and NASA, the Gaia Foundation Model is an open-source AI designed to enhance extreme weather forecasting.

• "Gaia stands out for its ability to reconstruct missing satellite data and estimate precipitation with remarkable accuracy," Maria explains, emphasizing the model's advanced capabilities.

Key Features:

• Data Utilization: Trained on 25 years of global satellite data from sources like GOES, Meteosat, and Himawari.
• Spatial Resolution: Achieves a detailed 4 km spatial resolution with updates every 30 minutes.
• Innovative Architecture: Combines masked autoencoders with self-distillation techniques to capture both local and global atmospheric patterns.

Performance and Open-Source Accessibility

Gaia outperforms traditional models in tasks like gap filling and precipitation estimation, even with limited training data. Its open-source nature invites researchers worldwide to contribute and utilize the model, fostering global collaboration.

• "The implications of Gaia are vast, from enhancing disaster preparedness to informing sectors like agriculture and aviation," Maria notes, underscoring the model's widespread impact.

Future Prospects

As climate challenges intensify, tools like Gaia exemplify the potential of AI and collaborative scientific efforts to develop transformative solutions for environmental and societal benefits.

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6. Conclusion

The episode concludes with a recap of SES Space and Defense's innovations and the transformative potential of the Gaia Foundation Model. Maria Varmazas emphasizes the importance of collaborative advancements in the space and technology sectors, highlighting how these developments pave the way for a more resilient and sustainable future.

Notable Quotes:

• Michael Geist [09:39]: "SIMON takes multiple different connectivity mediums, combines them, and makes them seem and act as a single connectivity medium for the user."
• Michael Geist [15:58]: "The satellite communications industry is quite an industry of a lot of friendly partners who realize that to deliver capabilities that our warfighters need, we have to work together."
• Maria Varmazas [17:38]: "As climate challenges intensify, tools like Gaia exemplify how collaborative efforts in AI and science can lead to transformative solutions."

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Additional Resources:
For more information and to access the selected readings mentioned in this episode, visit space.n2k.com and navigate to today's episode title.

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Thank you for tuning into T-Minus Space Daily. Stay informed with the latest in space intelligence and analysis, brought to you by N2K Networks.

Transcript

[Maria Varmazas]

You're listening to the N2K space network.

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[Maria Varmazas]

That's spycloud.com cyberwire today is May 29th, 2025. I'm Maria Varmazas and this is T minus T minus 20 seconds at Los Speed Reservo for deploy.

[Michael Geist]

5.

[Maria Varmazas]

Vast's Haven 1 space station has completed a test of a critical air filter system. 4 Astrobotic's 176th flight of its Zodiac rocket ended in the loss of the vehicle.

[Sponsor Voice]

3.

[Maria Varmazas]

Harman Space and Defense has acquired industrial solid propulsion. Singapore's Defense and Science Technology Agency is collaborating with AST Space Mobile to enhance connectivity. UK ISAM company Space Forge has increased its global footprint by opening a new office in Portugal. Our guest today is Michael Geist, Vice President of Product Management at STS Space and Defense. We're going to be discussing Simon no, it's not a person. It's the Secure Integrated Multi Orbit Networking. So stick around for more on Simon and more later in the show. Happy Thursday everybody. Let's dive into today's intel briefing, shall we? UK ISAM company Space Forge has announced the opening of a new office in Portugal on the island of Santa Maria in the Azores. It establishes a satellite return location on mainland Europe and Space Forge says it marks the beginning of its wider European expansion. The new location supports the development of a scalable return infrastructure across the continent and will be central to the company's ambitions to make space a viable platform for industrial scale manufacturing of advanced materials. Space Forge plans to work in partnership with the Azores regional government to bring its Portuguese facilities online. The company says it is the first step in broader plans that include R and D into future platform architectures and the development of one or multiple European manufacturing sites for next generation semiconductors and using seed crystals forged in space. Over to Asia now and Singapore's Defense Science and Technology Agency, also known as DSTA, is collaborating with the US's AST Space Mobile to enhance connectivity. DSTA plans to harness the space based cellular broadband network for humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and emergency response situations, offering improved situational awareness and response in remote areas. DSTA says this collaboration with AST Space Mobile will move the needle for Singapore's connectivity capabilities. Karman Space and Defense has acquired Industrial Solid Propulsion, also known as isp. ISP specializes in energetic propulsion technologies including small boost motors and solid propellant gas generators for the rapidly growing Unmanned Aerial Systems, or uas. UAS Intercept and Rocket Assisted Takeoff Systems. Markets Carmen successfully closed an offering to increase the size of its existing $300 million term loan B by $75 million. The majority of the proceeds from this offering were used to fund the acquisition of ISP, which consisted of $50 million in cash, approximately $5 million in Carmen's common shares and $5 million in potential earn out payments. The transaction closed yesterday, May 28th. Astrobotic's 176th flight of its Zodiac rocket ended in the loss of the vehicle. The Zodiac launch was held at the test site in Mojave, California. While the vehicle remained within its planned fight envelope, Astrobotic says it detected an anomalous condition and commanded a flight termination. This resulted in a rapid descent and caused a loss of the vehicle upon impact with its launch pad. No injuries have been reported and there is no significant damage to the test site's infrastructure. Astrobotics says the team is conducting an investigation into the cause of the flight termination. Vast's Haven 1 space station, the darling of Space Symposium 40 has completed a test of a critical air filter system for keeping future astronauts healthy in orbit. Testing confirmed that the system can maintain a safe and healthy atmosphere for all planned Haven 1 mission phases. Testing of the Trace Contaminant Control System was completed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight center in Huntsville, Alabama as part of a Reimbursable Space act agreement. NASA supports the design and development of multiple commercial space stations through funded and unfunded agreements. The space agency plans to procure services from one or more companies following the design and development phase as part of the agency's strategy to become one of many customers for low Earth orbit stations. And that concludes Today's intel briefing. N2K senior producer Alice Carruth joins us now to tell us other stories to keep an eye on Alice.

[Alice Carruth]

Thanks, Maria. We've added three additional links in today's Selected Reading section of our show. Notes. The first covers Voyagers onboarding with the US Government's Oasis plus program. The second is on Altair's MOU with Georgia Tech, and the third is on a US Bill to clear space junk. Let's hope the latter passes quickly.

[Maria Varmazas]

Indeed, it is a very pressing issue. Alice, can you remind our listeners where the links can be found please in.

[Alice Carruth]

Addition to the podcast Show Notes, you can always find the links to further reading on all the stories mentioned throughout the show on our website. Simply visit space.n2k.com and click on today's episode title.

[Maria Varmazas]

Hey T minus crew. If your business is looking to grow your voice in the industry, expand the reach of your thought leadership or recruit talent, P can help. We'd like to hear from you. Just send us an [e-mail] or send us a note through our website so we can connect about building a program to meet your goals.

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[Maria Varmazas]

Our guest today is Michael Geist, Vice President of Product Management at SES Space and Defense.

[Michael Geist]

My name is Michael Geist. I'm the Vice President of Product Development Product Management at SES Space and Defense. SES Space and Defense is the US Foci mitigated proxy organization of our Luxembourg parent ses, which is a satellite operator and systems integration organization. And we, Space and Defense specifically do that for the U.S. government. So in my role I focus on developing new technologies, products and solutions that meet current and emerging government requirements.

[Maria Varmazas]

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Michael. And the reason we reached out to you all was to learn more about SES's announcements about Simon. So can you tell me a bit about what Simon is?

[Michael Geist]

Yeah, so SIMON is an acronym that stands for Secure Integrated Multi Orbit Networking. And so essentially what that is is it's commonalizing multiple disparate connectivity pathways for users to provide enhanced resilience of their connectivity. So essentially it takes multiple different connectivity mediums, combines them, makes them seem and act as a single connectivity medium for the user to deliver resilient connectivity independent of effects that may happen to one or many of those different mediums, whether that is weather or unintended interference or perhaps intended interference or different things like that. And so a lot of companies can do that, and that doesn't make it a big deal. But what makes us unique in this capability and what we reference as far as Simon, is that as a satellite operator, we have other levers that we can turn relative to the spacecraft and, and gateway operations and so forth to deliver assured outcomes for our customers. But in addition to assured outcomes, we can give the user levers to determine do they, are they interested in more affordability in their network resilience or are they, are they interested in more assuredness in their resilient. Resilient connectivity? And you would ask, well, why do we do that? We do that because our operators, our users, operate in a variety of different environments, from benign environments all the way through congested environments to contested environments. And the level of resiliency that you may need to dial up needs to change as you're moving through those environments. And so having the ability to provide the war fighter with the ability to turn up the resilience as the, as the environment changes enables them to maximize the affordability of that resilience for the taxpayer while making sure that our warfighter stays safe. So it's a good responsible solution. It hasn't been done before, which makes us unique in that, in that vein. And if I compare it to what, what occurs today. What occurs today is a PACE architecture pac, which, which stands for Primary Alternate Contingency Emergency Communications pathways. For a long period of time, those pathways have been each individual pathway one at a time. And so the complaints that we've heard from our government customers about that scenario have been that they pay for four things, but they only ever get one, and, or they get one at a time. And so that has moved to, from, from a PACE construction to an auto PACE construct which enables automatic switching between different mediums, but still doesn't get after the affordable resilience, which is what Simon really focuses on.

[Maria Varmazas]

That sounds like, I mean, not to be too hyperbolic, but that does sound like a game changer for a lot of your end users, honestly, to be able to have that option, especially given the current state of the market. So that must be. I imagine there was a lot of user feedback that went into that and that you all have been working on this for some, for some time.

[Michael Geist]

Yeah, we've been contemplating this for well over a year. We have been messaging the art of the possible to various different user communities and they have been excited about the possibilities that we can bring through this capability set. And so now with the, with the contract from Defense Innovation Unit, as well as other parallel contracts that the company currently has, we're in the execution phase. And so we'll be Testing this capability initially, later on, later on this fall. And then we have plans to continue to enhance this capability, to add even more levers for our customers to choose from and to do more testing with our, with our user communities in, in terms of how effective is the resilience that, that we're offering. And so we'll be doing that over the course of the next year or so as we're rolling out sort of a minimal viable product.

[Maria Varmazas]

You mentioned the other contracts that this is sort of working in parallel with. Can you speak a little more to that?

[Michael Geist]

Yeah. So some of the other contracts are contracts that have, that have existed for a while within SES facing Defense. One of those contracts is the Air Force Research Lab Ducey program. Ducey stands for defense experimentation using commercial satellite Internet. And so we have a variety of different things, experiments like that. And Air Force has one and army has one, and Navy has one and Marine Corps has one. And so all of these different organizations are pursuing the same capability set, which is multi orbit networking at the end of the day. And, and so this is just one solution that can be applied to that multi orbit networking. And, and I'm going to say that many of the different solutions that can address this problem are similar. Ours just goes a step further and has plans to go two steps further.

[Maria Varmazas]

Fascinating. I guess I'll be looking forward to hearing more about what that means in the future when that news is more publicly released. Michael, thank you so much for giving me this great overview. I want to make sure if there's anything else that you wanted to mention about this news from SES Defense and Space, or anything else about maybe future vision, the floor is yours. Anything you wanted to add?

[Michael Geist]

No. I appreciate that. I appreciate your time. We're certainly excited about the future, both in geostationary as well as non geostationary orbits, and working with our various partners in orbits in which we don't provide our own solutions. The satellite communications industry is quite an industry of a lot of friendly partners who realize that in order to deliver capabilities that our warfighters need, we have to work together. And I have never seen as much collaboration across the industry as I have recently. And that's very exciting for us. And it allows us to really pursue advanced technologies that benefit our world. Titles.

[Maria Varmazas]

We'll be right back.

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[Maria Varmazas]

Welcome back. The university's Space Research Association's Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science Bit of a mouthful, but stay with me here, in collaboration with bcg, XAI Institute and NASA, has unveiled the Gaia Foundation Model. Now, the Gaia Foundation Model is an open source AI designed to revolutionize extreme weather prediction. It's trained on 25 years of global satellite data from sources like GOES Meteosat and Himawari, and Gaia stands out for its ability to reconstruct missing satellite data and estimate precipitation with remarkable accuracy. This model achieves a spatial resolution of 4 km and and updates every 30 minutes, offering a new level of detail in atmospheric analysis. What also sets Gaia apart is its innovative architecture, which combines masked autoencoders with self distillation techniques. No, I do not know what that means either, but I'm assuming somebody does all of this to capture both local and global atmospheric patterns. It all allows Gaia to outperform traditional models and tasks like gap filling and precipitation estimation, even when it has limited training data. And my favorite it's open source. And its open source nature, making it available on platforms like always fun to say. Hugging Face invites researchers worldwide to contribute to and benefit from this advancement. And the implications of Gaia are vast, from enhancing disaster preparedness to informing sectors like agriculture and aviation. And as climate challenges intensify, tools like Gaia exemplify how collaborative efforts in AI and science can lead to transformative solutions. Well done Gaia. That's it for T minus for May 29, 2025 brought to you by N2K CyberWire for additional resources from today's report, check out our show [e-mail] we're privileged that N2K and podcasts like T Minus are part of the daily routine of many 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's senior producer is Alice Carouse. Our producer is literally Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester, with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ibin, Peter Kilby is our publisher and I am your host, Maria Vermazes. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

[Michael Geist]

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