Space Business Podcast

My guest this week is Alex Haro, co-founder and CEO of Hubble Network, which is building a low Earth orbit satellite constellation that any Bluetooth chip can talk to directly, with nothing more than a software update. We get into how a Bluetooth "whisper" can be heard from orbit, Hubble's B2B model, early traction and the path to 60 satellites, use cases from asset and package tracking to livestock, wildfire detection and even butterflies, how Hubble compares with AirTags, privacy and unauthorized tracking, and the company's next milestones after its $200 million Series C. Enjoy!

0:00 — Cold Open

🔗 Hubble Network

🔗 Alex Haro

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Something a little different this week: a science fiction special! My guest is Mary Robinette Kowal, the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Lady Astronaut series and The Spare Man. We talk about getting the space science right in hard sci-fi, how AI, politics and spirituality show up (or don't) in science fiction, and how talking with her cat Elsie through word buttons has changed the way she thinks about first contact with aliens. Enjoy!

0:00 — Cold Open

0:25 — Intro

2:25 — Elevator Pitch

3:00 — The Spare Man: A Murder Mystery in Space

5:39 — Borrowing Story Structures from Other Genres

9:21 — World-Building in Sci-Fi and Fantasy

11:52 — Hard Science Fiction and Working with Experts

16:51 — Hardest Technical Topic: Rocket Crashes

18:59 — Real-World Space Tech vs. Fiction

21:02 — Why Are There Still Hotshot Pilots?

22:28 — AI in Science Fiction

27:42 — Politics and Writing the Future

32:18 — Utopias vs. Dystopias

35:06 — Spirituality in Space

37:14 — Advice for Aspiring Writers

38:57 — First Contact and Talking to Aliens

39:47 — Talking with Elsie the Cat

48:26 — Favorite Science Fiction

49:59 — Mary Robinette's Next Book

https://maryrobinettekowal.com/

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Momentus is one of still relatively few space companies listed on a stock exchange.  Their offerings include satellites, hosted payload services, and last mile transportation for other people's satellites. CEO John Rood is our guest this week to tell us all about that, and also what it is like to be a publicly-listed space company. Enjoy!

1:29 — Elevator Pitch

2:11 — Momentus Satellites and Orbital Service Vehicles

3:02 — Spacecraft Market Positioning

5:40 — Market Differentiation

9:58 — Technology Roadmap

11:49 — Proximity Operations

14:10 — Government vs Commercial Customers

19:45 — Common Mistakes with Government Customers

24:27 — Space Truck Deep Dive

39:03 — Launch Market

42:52 — Product Roadmap

54:48 — Favorite Science Fiction

https://momentus.space/

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We have another episode on remote sensing, and my guest is Mark Keremedjiev from a startup called Orbital Sentry. Mark tell us why persistent monitoring from geosynchronous orbit makes sense for use cases including wildfires.

0:00 — Introduction

1:11 — Welcome & Elevator Pitch

2:13 — The LEO Data Access Problem

4:29 — Wildfires & a Dynamic World

6:05 — XPRIZE for Wildfire Detection

8:29 — LEO Limitations

11:23 — The GEO Solution

13:40 — Costs & Improvements

16:00 — Declining Costs

17:20 — The Spatial Challenge

21:09 — Temporal Resolution

22:34 — Defense Applications

27:09 — Data Strategy

31:48 — Go-to-Market

37:27 — Sensor Technology & In-Space Compute

41:45 — 10-Year Vision & Favorite Science-Fiction

🔗 Orbital Sentry

https://www.orbitalsentry.ai/

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 Space lasers - we are talking about space lasers again -- for optical communications rather than more sinister purposes, at least for the moment. Our guest this week is Rohit Jha from Singapore-based startup Transcelestial. Optical communications are becoming an even bigger topic than they have been before, in part thanks to orbital data centers. We talk all about that, and much more, in the episode. Enjoy. 

1:38 — Elevator Pitch

4:47 — Laser History & Why Now

8:05 — Tech Stack

9:36 — Terrestrial Product for Telcos

11:58 — Go-to-Market

18:22 — Defense Product

23:26 — Space Product

27:52 — Commercial Space Strategy

36:09 — Supply Chain

42:35 — Orbital Data Centers

49:29 — Singapore

50:57 — Future Plans

55:05 — Science-Fiction

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Lucie Low is the Chief Science Officer of Axiom Space, a prominent space company developing its own space station and conducting private astronaut missions, among other activities. Lucie and I talk about what interesting use cases are for in-space research and manufacturing, what remains to be done to make it a large-scale reality, and other related topics. Enjoy!

https://www.axiomspace.com/

0:00 — Intro

1:15 — Lucie's Background

2:57 — What Does a CSO Do?

4:03 — Why Research in Space?

7:33 — Favorite Use Cases

8:10 — Neuroscience Use Cases

10:38 — R&D vs. Manufacturing

14:30 — Microgravity Applications

17:11 — Key Remaining Challenges

20:26 — Autonomous Research vs. Humans

24:16 — Challenging Use Cases

33:00 — Keytruda

35:27 — Inbound vs. Outbound Customers

36:20 — Unlimited Funding Use Case

41:05 — How Researchers Can Work with Axiom Space

44:36 — Funding Sources

47:19 — Expanding to Europe

49:13 — Favorite Sci-Fi

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 Nebex is a new exchange for the global space sector. It just came out of stealth recently, but it already raised a $30 million seed round led by Google Ventures. The co-founder and CEO, Tejpaul Bhatia, is our guest for this episode. Enjoy.   

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 — Podcast Intro

1:45 — Elevator Pitch

3:01 — The Problem: Cross-Border Space Friction

15:06 — Real-World Examples incl. Axiom

34:04 — The Product: Exchange vs. Marketplace

37:40 — Business Model

50:41 — Regulation, Market Making

55:48 — Product Timeline & Alpha Launch

55:59 — Onboarding Space Founders

1:01:13 — What Else Is Exciting in Space?

1:03:57 — Nebex Name Origin

1:06:45 — Favorite Science-Fiction

🔗 Nebex

🏠Website:

https://www.nebex.com/

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TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 — Podcast Intro

1:01 — Elevator Pitch

3:18 — Brian's Background & Origin Story

8:43 — The Satellite: Design & Technology

13:57 — Heat Shield & Unique Subsystems

15:57 — Reusability & Refurbishment

22:36 — Market: Use Cases for Reusable Satellites

20:53 — Regulatory Environment

29:41 — Business Model: Space as a Service

35:00 — First Mission & Roadmap

37:28 — Lessons from SpaceX, Kuiper & Loft

40:03 — Founder vs. Employee Mindset

41:20 — What's Exciting in Space + Sci-Fi Picks

🏠Website:

https://www.luxaeterna.com/

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This week we’re talking about satellite navigation. All of us are using it every day mostly in its best-known form, GPS. Now there is a startup company trying to make satellite navigation much better. What that means, and how they’re doing it are among the topics I’m discussing with Brian Manning, CEO and co-founder of Xona Space Systems. Enjoy!

🕰️ Timestamps: 

🔗 XONA SPACE SYSTEMS

🏠Website:

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Space-based solar power – it’s a hot and electrifying topic again (sorry for the pun!) What is the state of the art? What are the commercial use cases? How do the economics look? We’ll dive into this and more with our guest Marc Berte, CEO & Founder of Overview Energy. Enjoy!

🕰️ Timestamps: 

🔗 OVERVIEW ENERGY

🏠Website:

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