Marcos Franceschini, the CEO and co-founder of Californian optical satellite communications start-up Skyloom and E2MC’s Raphael Roettgen talk about optical communications and Skyloom’s plan to deploy small relay satellites in geostationary orbit, in order to help bring the ever growing amount of space data back to Earth.

Matt Desch, the CEO of Iridium, and I discuss topics like the LEO satellite communications 20 years ago and now, the internet of things, and his first-hand experience with the dangers of space debris.

Our guest on this episode is Canadian actor Cas Anvar. Science Fiction fans will know him by his role in the hit TV Series The Expanse, where he plays the Martian pilot Alex Kamal. Our conversation touches on such diverse topics as science fiction previewing real life inventions, The Expanse as an example of hard sci-fi, his visit to Blue Origin, humankind’s relationship with our planet, the Overview Effect, and his own plans in space.

Our guest on this episode is Mark Kugel, a co-founder and the Chief Commercial Officer of German space start-up Yuri. The company’s main mission is to help its clients conduct research experiments in microgravity, for example on the International Space Station. If you work in a field that could benefit from microgravity research, e.g. the life sciences or materials sciences, you may be surprised at the cost of these missions today, in a good way.

Our guest on this episode is Erol Soyer, the chief commercial officer of Swiss start-up Picterra, which is a so-called downstream earth observation company. Picterra does not operate its own satellites but analyzes third-party satellite data for its customers. As you will hear, its algorithms are able to detect a surprising variety of things on Earth, from space.

This 5-minute trailer episodes explains what the Space Business Podcast is all about.