Australia and the United States have been close allies for more than seven decades, but with the old rules-based world order disappearing, Australia needs to shape and fund its national defense and space ambitions to fit the times. Laura Winter speaks with Malcolm Davis, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, who focuses on space policy, security, strategy, and capability development.

While President Donald Trump cites the Golden Dome missile defense shield program as the reason for seeking sovereignty over Greenland, congressional appropriators complain they have too little knowledge on the program’s progress. It’s been 12 months since the presidential executive order kicked-off the Golden Dome effort. Laura Winter speaks with Todd Harrison, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Washington, D.C.’s favorite defense budget Yoda.

Traders and investors are feeling whipsawed this week, but those who hold notes in space companies are seemingly immune. Space companies, especially infrastructure business cases, are seeing steady and huge gains in value. Laura Winter speaks with The DownLink regulars Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Space; and George Pullen, Partner and Chief Economist at MilkyWayEconomy.

Ground stations, built by proxies of China’s People's Liberation Army and Russia’s Roscosmos, can be found across Latin America, including three on Venezuelan military bases. Recent operations in and around Venezuela demonstrate that these strategically important adversarial space assets are now in the cross-hairs of the Trump Corollary. Laura Winter speaks with Namrata Goswami, Professor of Space Security, Schriever and West Space Scholars Program, Johns Hopkins University, and co-Author of the book “Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space”.

President Donald Trump issued a course-setting presidential executive order on Thursday that looks more like the national space strategy for which many, in and out of government and across a myriad of space-related sectors, have been waiting. Laura Winter speaks with Peter Garretson, a Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, who is also the author of three books, the latest of which is “Space Shock: 18 Threats That Will Define Space Power”.

At the Space Force Association’s Space Power Conference, major announcements were few, but there were clues pointing to imminent strategic developments. Laura Winter speaks with U.S. Space Force Col. (ret.) Charles Galbreath, Director and Senior Resident Fellow for Space Studies at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence (MI-SPACE).

The CEO of Muon Space predicts that artificial intelligence coupled with laser communications “ could ultimately become entirely transformative on blowing open things like the earth observation market.” Laura Winter speaks with Jonny Dyer, CEO and co-Founder of Muon Space.

This week German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet approved a whole-of-government strategy to be ready for war in space. This announcement and strategy comes just 55 days after German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced that Germany is going to spend roughly $41 billion dollars to develop offensive and defensive on-orbit capabilities. Laura Winter speaks with Torsten Kriening, CEO and Publisher of SpaceWatch.Global, and host of the Space Cafe podcast.

The Department of Defense roll-out of the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program has far-ranging implications for the defense industrial base, including the space sector, that includes all prime contractors and sub-contractors. Laura Winter speaks with US Air Force Retired Col. Steven Shirley, the Executive Director of the National Defense ISAC, and former Executive Director of the DoD Cyber Crime Center (DC3).

While the U.S. government remains shut and the NASADQ is getting hammered, Chad Anderson of Space Capital, a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests exclusively in space-based technologies, says the space market “has fundamentally matured”. Laura Winter speaks with Chad Anderson, CEO, Founder, and Managing Partner of Space Capital.