Sign up here to receive Max Q weekly in your inbox, starting December 15.There were lot of highlights in the space industry this past week (even though a rocket launch that was supposed to happened is now pushed to Monday).
The biggest news for commercial space might just be that NASA signed on five new companies to its list of approved vendors for lunar payload delivery services, bringing the total group to 14.SpaceX is among them, and Musks company had its own fair share of news this week, too some good, some bad.
One things for sure: Even going in to the last week in November, theres still plenty of news to come in this industry before the years out.NASA selects five new vendors for commercial lunar payloadsArtists rendering of Blue Origins Blue Moon lander.The five include Blue Origin, SpaceX, Ceres Robotics, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems.
This doesnt necessarily mean all or any of these companies will actually fly anything to the Moon on behalf of NASA, but it does mean they can officially bid for the chance.
Alongside 9 other companies selected previously by NASA, their bids will be considered by the NASA based on cost, viability and other factors.SpaceX Starship prototype blows its lidThis is the bad news I referred to earlier: SpaceXs Starship Mk1 prototype in Texas blew up just a little bit during cryo testing.
This test is designed to simulate extreme cold conditions that the spacecraft could endure during flight, and it clearly didnt.
But Elon Musk was optimistic, saying just after the incident that theyll move on to a more advanced design right away.Sierra Nevada Corporation details an expendable cargo container for its Dream Chaser spaceshipSNCs Shooting Star module.
Credit: SNC.One of the companies that is now included in NASAs lunar payload service provider list is Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC).
Theyre currently developing and building their Dream Chaser spacecraft, which is reusable and lands like the Space Shuttle.
At an event at Cape Canaveral in Florida, they unveiled what they call the Shooting Star an ejectable single use cargo container for the Dream Chaser that can really add to its versatility.Nanoracks will launch a test craft that can convert old spaceships into orbital habitatsThis demonstration mission is just a start, but the tech that Nanoracks is launching aboard a future SpaceX launch will be able to cut metal in space, marking the first time a robotic piece of equipment has done that.
The ultimate goal is to use this tech to take spent spacecraft upper stages and give them new life as research platforms, satellites or even habitats in orbit.NASAs JPL is using the Antarctic to test a rover for a trip to EnceladusThats one of Saturns moons, and its made up of icy oceans.
Normally, thats not an optimal place for a rover to get around, but the agencys laboratory has been testing a design in the Earths coldest oceans to see how viable it will be, and now theyre going to use the Antarctic, which is where itll test it for months at a time.Teslas Cybertruck is made of Starship steelElon Musk revealed Teslas crazy, beautiful, ugly, strange Cybertruck pickup last week, and he noted that the stainless steel alloy that makes up its skin is the same material that SpaceX is developing and using on its new Starship spacecraft.
Sometimes, being CEO of both a car company and a space company at the same time really pays off.Space is inspiring new kinds of startupsA lot of large companies outsource at least part of their innovation management and design, and with the space boom on, theres a new opportunity for companies to emerge that specialize in helping those same large companies find out where they fit in this new frontier.
Luna is one such co, putting the puzzle pieces together for health tech companies.