A belated 2025 to the those have committed their support to TDP International's ambitious Artemis Stellar Field Watch project!
Unfortunately, this has not proven to be the year of success that we had angled for, as we received news on January 30 that Blue Origin, one of our probable providers, was suspending New Shepard suborbital flights for a minimum of two years. This news came right before creating our year in review update and we've been busy trying to figure out how to plan around it, shortly after packaging them for flight.
(above: Artemis dials packaged for flight and weighed out)
In short, the suborbital payload market - which the Artemis depends upon - is rather small and labyrinthine. Blue Origin's services were a major tentpole in the market and helped provide a relatively streamlined pathway for payloads to get to space. With the hiatus of probably the major suborbital payload provider, it's difficult to figure out what the timeline and availability of those services look like going forward. High-level conversations were had, NDAs were signed, but as of right now we're grounded.
That's not to say that we've given up on flying this mission, but it does mean that the timeline of delivering on these watches is completely up in the air (pun not intended). It may mean absorbing more risk in the form of flying on a university-developed project in the nearer future. We've had the pleasure of showing up at a few major space conferences to get our name out into the industry and made some connections. The possibility of internally developing our own suborbital vehicle has come up and is being seriously considered, though this would push the timeline out yet further.
For those of you who have stuck around and continue to support Artemis, we're eternally grateful! When this project started out the market looked bright and cinching a payload slot seemed almost a given. Reality, as always, has proven to be much more difficult.
To look ahead: In the interest of giving our supporters something for their dedication, we're also working on the expanding our product line (much as was considered in 2024-2025) to offer non space-flown watches. Lunar regolith dials? Cool colorways? They're on the table.
We'll continue to provide updates on Artemis as they come through, but keep your eyes on this spot for new and exciting things this year!
- The TDP International Team