SEDScast

Kris Lehnhardt is a medical doctor working at NASA JSC in the Human Research Program. Kris leads the science side of the XMC team, which develops medical systems that enable future human exploration beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). In our discussion, we cover the fundamentals of designing human-rated spacecraft, how NASA has changed its approach over the years, and what we need to do to keep humans healthy when going beyond LEO for long durations.

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Ryan McLinko is the cofounder and CTO at Astranis. Astranis develops small GEO communications satellites which provide internet to remote areas. Astranis is set to bring their first customer satellite online over Alaska by the summer of 2021. Ryan holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in astronautics, both from MIT. He also serves on the SEDS USA Board of Advisors.

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Therese Jones is the Senior Policy Director at the Satellite Industry Association. SIA is a trade association which represents most of the major satellite manufacturers. Therese works with SIA members to develop policy positions and communicates these positions to federal bodies, such as the FCC and lawmakers. Therese holds a PhD in Policy Analysis from RAND and a Master’s degree in Astrophysics from UC Berkeley. She is also the founder of the AIAA Diversity Scholarship and holds a seat on the SEDS USA Board of Advisors.

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Will Pomerantz is Vice President of Special Projects at Virgin Orbit. He is also a prominent figure within SEDS, serving as chair to the Board of Advisors and as a trustee to the endowment fund. In addition to those positions, Will co-founded the Brooke Owens Fellowship and remains deeply involved as an advisor and mentor.

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Rob Meyerson is a longtime leader in the space industry, serving as the President and Chief Executive of Blue Origin from 2003 to 2017. During this time, Rob was responsible for growing the company from 10 people to over 1,500 and fulfilling the vision of company owner Jeff Bezos. Prior to joining Blue, Rob worked on space shuttle parachutes at NASA JSC and reusable launch vehicles at Kistler Aerospace. Today, Rob runs space consulting firm Delalune Space, which works with companies in the technology and financial sectors that are entering the space economy. Rob also serves on the Board of Advisors for Hermeus, and he is the executive producer of the AIAA ASCEND Conference.

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This episode serves as a quick introduction to SEDScast. It explains how SEDScast functions and what you can expect in future episodes.

This is a test episode