Eye of the Dragon

Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Nat Hamet, Founder & CEO of Quindar, to discuss satellite mission management. Quindar is building cloud-based software for satellite operations, mission management, and ground-segment coordination. The company helps operators manage hybrid satellite fleets, automate workflows, and improve reliability as space infrastructure becomes more proliferated.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction and Quindar overview

00:47 – Founding story from OneWeb and the need for scalable mission software

03:21 – Current traction, in-orbit customers, and government market focus

04:42 – Quindar as the “Datadog for space” and a common operating picture

07:28 – Golden Dome, national security, and hybrid space systems

10:48 – Missile defense, commercial acquisition, and speed-focused procurement

13:46 – Cost savings compared with traditional ground-segment programs

17:57 – Onboarding satellites and integrating with flight software and hardware

21:48 – Customer needs, white-glove onboarding, and automated workflows

26:19 – Legacy satellites versus newer satellite systems

28:04 – Y Combinator, six co-founders, and founder-team dynamics

33:12 – Max-Q moments, early customers, fundraising, and market validation

37:51 – Roadmap across manufacturers, data centers, and customer portals

43:19 – Infrastructure needs for proliferation: antennas, crosslinks, compute, and launch

46:35 – Lunar operations, space manufacturing, refueling, and data centers in space

49:14 – Cybersecurity, geopolitics, and conflict risk in space

51:16 – System-of-systems integration and closing remarks

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com

Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Charles Black, Founder & CEO of Sen, to discuss live video from space. Sen is developing hosted camera systems that provide real-time video views of Earth from orbit. The company is building a consumer media platform around live space imagery, with plans for more cameras, higher-resolution views, and future lunar and deep-space coverage.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction and Sen’s live camera system on the ISS

01:40 – Charles Black’s founding vision for a space video network

03:49 – Consumer use cases, FAST channels, subscriptions, XR, and creator tools

07:26 – The overview effect and democratizing access to Earth views from space

10:45 – Public launch timeline and commissioning of the ISS camera system

12:00 – Real-time latency and the space-to-cloud video pipeline

12:58 – How Sen differs from traditional Earth observation companies

15:14 – Camera resolution, steerable cameras, and hosted payload strategy

19:53 – Sponsorship, advertising, and brand partnership opportunities

22:00 – Future cameras in LEO, GEO, lunar orbit, and Mars

25:06 – Data value, computer vision, AI, and change detection

26:38 – Investor misconceptions about Sen’s consumer media model

29:57 – Bandwidth requirements and onboard H.265 video compression

31:20 – Sponsorship model and sustainability-focused partnerships

33:45 – Unexpected live events captured from orbit

35:22 – Steerable cameras, event tracking, storms, Starcam, aurora, and stars

38:32 – Public reactions, flat Earth comments, and open access to live imagery

42:50 – Camera hardware, optics, sensors, processors, and hosted payload design

47:07 – Historical analogies: NatGeo, MTV, CNN, and new media formats

50:33 – Closing message: watch Sen live and see Earth like an astronaut

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com

Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Scott Graybeal, CEO of Caelux, to discuss perovskite solar technology. Caelux is developing power-generating glass that adds a perovskite layer to conventional silicon solar modules. The conversation covers solar manufacturing, space power, radiation resistance, and the role of perovskites in the next generation of photovoltaics.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction and Caelux overview

01:39 – Solar industry growth and deployment trends

03:42 – Scott Graybeal’s background in nuclear, semiconductors, and solar

06:01 – Perovskites explained for non-specialists

07:21 – Space applications and early commercial adoption10:20 – Efficiency, cost, and tandem solar architectures

12:50 – In-space manufacturing and repairable solar arrays

14:30 – Differences between solar on Earth and in space

17:04 – Flexible panels, roll-to-roll production, and deployable arrays

18:30 – Solar, nuclear, and redundancy for space power systems

19:57 – Solar supply chains, China, and U.S. manufacturing

22:38 – Industrial policy and rebuilding domestic PV capacity

25:32 – U.S. advantages in solar innovation and power electronics

30:24 – New terrestrial applications including balcony solar and building-integrated PV

33:43 – Commercial space markets for perovskite solar

36:09 – Power beaming, directed energy, and high-power space systems

38:56 – Space-based solar power and launch-cost considerations

41:27 – Lunar power, storage, and backup systems

44:08 – Lunar nights, Mars, and in-situ solar production

48:01 – Lunar fuel production, hydrogen storage, and asteroid mining

50:48 – Power, air, food, and water for off-world infrastructure

52:44 – Investor misconceptions about solar and China

55:51 – Solar’s future across terrestrial and space markets

57:44 – Closing remarks

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com

Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Karthik Gollapudi, Founder of Sift, to discuss hardware observability. Sift builds data infrastructure and observability tools for complex machines, helping teams unify sensor data, logs, video, and test outputs. The company supports faster testing, root-cause analysis, and validation across aerospace, defense, robotics, maritime, automotive, and energy systems.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction to Karthik Gollapudi and Sift00:43 – Karthik’s SpaceX background and the origin of Sift03:35 – Hardware observability and building hardware like software04:08 – How Sift unifies sensor data, logs, video, and time-series data06:03 – Why existing software tools are not built for hardware systems08:54 – SpaceX culture, first-principles thinking, and hiring at Sift12:33 – Building versus selling into complex hardware industries14:41 – Hiring software, infrastructure, and hardware-domain talent16:12 – Customer onboarding and handling fragmented data sources18:14 – Root-cause analysis, simulation, and faster anomaly resolution21:37 – AI, data infrastructure, and why Sift complements AI tools23:23 – Expansion beyond aerospace into maritime, energy, defense, robotics, and automotive26:32 – Internal tools, SaaS models, and why hardware companies use Sift28:05 – Investor interest, market pain, and hardware-sector growth29:54 – Defense budgets, space infrastructure, and AI-linked demand31:31 – What investors should understand about hard-tech companies35:01 – Government use cases and selling into defense versus commercial space36:41 – Future changes in space, Starship, orbital compute, and direct-to-cell systems39:27 – Scaling Sift’s team and product roadmap40:01 – Competitive moats versus Palantir, Datadog, and other data platforms42:32 – How AI may change software markets and internal workflow tools46:24 – Why “the best dashboard is no dashboard”48:34 – The Moon as infrastructure, manufacturing hub, and strategic high ground51:25 – Sift’s role in lunar vehicles and future space systems52:43 – Final takeaway: space is coming faster than most people realize

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com

Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Jake Schneider, Founder and President of Atlas Analytics, to discuss satellite-based GDP forecasting. Atlas Analytics uses satellite imagery, remote sensing, and machine learning to forecast GDP ahead of official government releases. The company aims to give investors, governments, and businesses earlier visibility into economic activity.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction and Atlas Analytics overview

02:28 – Jake Schneider’s background and the origin of the company

04:23 – Using satellite imagery to forecast GDP and market signals

07:33 – How Atlas identifies useful economic signals from satellite data

09:00 – Tracking construction, land use, vegetation, and port activity

11:08 – Why nightlights are limited as an economic signal

12:34 – Validating Atlas’ GDP forecasts against official releases

16:21 – Sentiment, fundamentals, and the relationship between GDP and markets

20:46 – Explaining a major forecast miss and the role of trade data

22:06 – Jack: Atlas’ container-tracking algorithm for port activity

23:45 – Beachhead markets, including hedge funds and governments

25:42 – Defensibility, patents, stickiness, and first-mover advantage

28:53 – Why AI alone cannot easily replicate the Atlas pipeline

33:22 – Satellite imaging inputs, band math, and convolutional neural networks

35:57 – How investors can use Atlas data for macro-exposed ETFs

39:09 – How better Earth observation systems could improve the product

41:13 – Fundraising plans and geographic expansion

43:27 – Product roadmap and country-specific geospectral signatures

47:00 – Future applications in industrial intelligence and local forecasting

49:42 – Why Atlas matters beyond financial returns

51:31 – Final takeaway and closing remarks

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com

Balerion Principal Emerson Garnett sits down with Ioana Cozmuța, Founder & CEO of G-Space, to discuss microgravity research and manufacturing. G-Space is building a data, physics, and AI platform to help companies design, analyze, and optimize microgravity experiments. The company focuses on reducing trial and error so space-based materials, biotech, and manufacturing efforts can become repeatable and commercially viable.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction to G-Space and the role of microgravity

01:33 – How removing gravity changes fluid behavior, transport, and molecular stability

05:23 – G-Space’s intelligence layer for microgravity research and manufacturing

07:54 – Near-term applications in protein crystallization, materials, and fiber optics

12:23 – The fragmented state of historical microgravity data

16:18 – NASA recognition and G-Space’s standardized analytics platform

17:55 – Customer workflow across pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight phases

20:05 – Physics-informed AI and how the platform improves over time

21:51 – Differences between NASA, academic, and commercial customer needs

23:48 – Examples of morphology and material changes in microgravity

26:18 – Materials use cases including alloys, composites, glasses, and battery materials

27:06 – Using dashboards to move from experiment results to product specifications

29:06 – Why higher launch cadence must be paired with smarter experiment design

31:38 – Ideal customers in materials, biotech, pharma, and cosmetics

33:08 – Common misconceptions about simply flying experiments to space

35:02 – How G-Space changes go/no-go decision-making for space experiments

37:51 – Key takeaway for researchers and advanced manufacturers

38:21 – How to learn more and closing thoughts on scalable microgravity manufacturing

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com

Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Francho Garcia, Co-Founder & CEO of Arkadia Space, to discuss green chemical propulsion. Arkadia Space is developing hydrogen peroxide-based propulsion systems for satellites, launchers, capsules, and space vehicles above 100 kilograms. The company is focused on replacing toxic legacy propellants with affordable, flight-proven chemical propulsion for maneuvering, RPO, lunar missions, and future space infrastructure.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction to Arkadia Space and green propulsion02:12 – Founding story and lessons from PLD Space04:40 – Hydrogen peroxide propulsion history and advantages07:50 – Mission profiles enabled by Arkadia’s propulsion systems10:00 – Chemical versus electric propulsion in future space markets12:28 – Arkadia’s in-space demonstration and flight heritage15:50 – Building a space technology company in Spain19:26 – European space ecosystem growth and funding challenges21:00 – Customer segments across satellites, capsules, launchers, and spaceplanes23:33 – High-maneuverability spacecraft, refueling, and replenishment27:02 – Competitive landscape and Arkadia’s differentiation29:45 – Hydrogen peroxide as a future refueling standard31:31 – Nuclear propulsion and chemical propulsion mission roles34:08 – Launch bottlenecks and the need for SpaceX competition37:11 – Why building a scalable rocket company is difficult39:18 – Scaling Arkadia’s propulsion manufacturing42:33 – Large orbital platforms and the coming infrastructure era45:52 – Key takeaways for Arkadia and the space sector48:28 – Upcoming commercial contracts and closing remarks

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com

Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Jacob Portukalian, Co-Founder & CEO of Cascade Space, to discuss deep space communications. Cascade Space is building a commercial alternative to NASA’s Deep Space Network using arrays of smaller parabolic dishes. The company aims to expand communications capacity for lunar, Lagrange point, asteroid, and Mars missions.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction and Cascade Space overview00:53 – Building a commercial alternative to the Deep Space Network02:32 – Founding story and the AstroForge connection05:15 – Why deep space communications differ from low Earth orbit08:16 – Signal loss, noise, and the physics of long-distance communications11:36 – Cascade’s dish-array approach versus single large antennas15:00 – Near-term demand from NASA and lunar missions21:17 – Y Combinator, founder-market fit, and early fundraising32:07 – Government demand, commercial missions, and future deep space markets36:04 – Infrastructure costs, deployment speed, and scaling strategy41:16 – How parabolic dishes, feeds, and digital beamforming work46:14 – Site selection, fiber, power, and RF interference challenges51:16 – Upcoming Cascade milestones and lunar downlink goals52:47 – Key takeaway: the scale of deep space communications54:23 – Contact information and closing

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com

Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Advisor Doug McAdams to discuss the nuclear fission renaissance and space nuclear power. The conversation covers naval nuclear propulsion, small modular reactors, advanced fuels, nuclear supply chains, and the role of fission in space power and propulsion. Doug also discusses where nuclear may matter most for defense, lunar infrastructure, Mars missions, and future space transportation.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction and Doug McAdams’ background

02:10 – The Navy nuclear program as an early deep tech model

05:20 – Nuclear submarines, deterrence, and undersea operations

09:20 – Naval reactors as early small modular reactors

12:05 – Uranium enrichment, HALEU, and fuel supply chains

14:45 – Autonomous underwater vehicles and nuclear power

16:25 – Life aboard a nuclear submarine and reactor operations

17:50 – Nuclear safety, public perception, and reactor design

22:40 – Future submarine architectures and unmanned systems

26:10 – Space nuclear power compared with naval reactors

30:05 – Early space reactor deployment and orbital demonstrations

32:50 – Nuclear electric versus nuclear thermal propulsion37:20 – Commercial space use cases for nuclear reactors

39:10 – Fusion propulsion and Mars transit concepts

41:45 – Fission today, fusion tomorrow, and industry timelines

43:45 – AI data centers, power demand, and the fission renaissance

46:05 – NRC regulation, Naval Reactors, and parallel approval paths

48:20 – Nuclear supply chain winners and manufacturing bottlenecks

54:30 – Investor areas to watch: fission, space nuclear, and fusion propulsion

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com

Balerion Senior Associate Aidan Daoussis sits down with Matt Loszak, Founder & CEO of Aalo Atomics, to discuss nuclear power for AI data centers. Aalo is developing mass-manufactured nuclear power plants designed around the energy demands of AI data centers. The conversation covers reactor manufacturing, fuel supply, regulatory pathways, deployment models, and the broader role of nuclear power in expanding energy abundance.

Timestamped Overview

00:00 – Introduction to Aalo Atomics and its focus on AI data centers

02:29 – Building a reactor facility at Idaho National Lab

06:13 – Nuclear safety, iteration, and factory-based quality control

09:23 – Why nuclear is seeing renewed support from customers, government, and investors

12:43 – Matt Loszak’s path from software entrepreneurship to nuclear energy

16:22 – Factory-first reactor manufacturing and Aalo’s XMR approach

23:29 – Deployment model for data centers and order-to-electrons timeline

27:34 – Operations, maintenance, PPAs, and OEM partnership models

31:07 – Fuel strategy using LEU and uranium dioxide instead of HALEU or TRISO

34:27 – Energy abundance, AI, industry, and long-term societal implications

38:38 – Scaling bottlenecks across supply chain, turbines, pumps, and heat exchangers

43:14 – Nuclear regulatory changes and DOE-to-NRC pathways

47:44 – How timing, culture, and execution shape nuclear company success

50:34 – What has been harder than expected and how Aalo built its team

53:17 – Investor questions around supply chain, economics, and execution

54:58 – Closing takeaway: Aalo’s data center focus, hiring, and fundraising

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com