The DownLink Podcast

Space Power: President-Elect Trump Expected To Supercharge U.S. Space Ambitions

This week President Donald Trump, with the help of billionaire SpaceX founder Elon Musk, became the 47th President-Elect of the United States, for a second non-consecutive term. Space power advocates believe Trump, with the added influence of Musk by his side, will speed-up mission timelines that include the moon and Mars, and put monetary and political capital to work to establish and secure an American-led space economy. Laura winter speaks with the former Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Pennsylvania Rep. (ret.) Robert Walker, now Founder and CEO of moonWalker Associates; U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. (ret.) Steve Kwast; now Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of SpaceBilt; and Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and much respected NASA and Defense Department budget diviner.

Space Money: Report - DoD At Risk of Losing New Commercial Space Suppliers And Capabilities

The Department of Commerce has just released some interesting economic indicators that lean positive, and there are expectations that the Federal Reserve Board will again lower interest rates. Despite this good news, it may be some time before new venture capital invests in space technology, leaving some companies that have capabilities the Department of Defense wants, starved for cash and at risk. Laura Winter speaks with Sam Wilson, Director, Strategy and Program Support, Center for Space Policy and Strategy, The Aerospace Corporation; and Sarah Georgin, former Project Lead, Strategic Foresight Team, The Aerospace Corporation.

Space Competition: Threats and Trends A Year After October 7th

In the year since Hamas launched its brutal attack in Israel, tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as technologies, and security alliances have evolved in the space domain of operations. Laura winter speaks with Namrata Goswami, an independent scholar on space policy and great power politics and co-author of the book “Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space”; and Hector Falcon, Space and Cyber Intelligence Integrator, Space-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space-ISAC).

Space Power: A National Guardsman’s View On Why A Pentagon Plan Is A “Lose-Lose Proposal”

Last week Air Force Gen. Steven Nordhaus assumed responsibility as the 30th Chief of the National Guard Bureau, inheriting a politically thorny issue: a piece of legislation that, if passed into law, would transfer Air National Guard space units into the Space Force. This episode is about why some, possibly upwards of 80 percent, of the men and women who make up these units will not join the Space Force, which could leave the branch short of some critical capabilities. Laura Winter speaks with Lt. Col. Andrew Gold, Director of Strategic Plans, Colorado Air National Guard, and a space operator, who recently finished a deployment to Africa commanding the 138th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron.

Space Tech: Talking To The Far Side of the Moon

On the Moon China’s ahead in the race to stake claims for lunar resources by the not-so-simple fact that it can communicate with its equipment on the far side, near the south pole. This week’s episode is about how ispace’s Mission 3 could change the state of the race and establish the very communications network that will be necessary to create a lunar economy and secure it. Laura Winter speaks with Tyler Mundt, Mission Director, ispace; Marchel Holle, U.S. Government Relations Lead, ispace; Greg Johnson, Director of Business Development, Swedish Space Corp.; and George Pullen, Chief Economist, Milky Way Economy.

Space Money: Q3 Take - “Money Doesn’t Care”

The Fed lending rate reduction was nice, but is it enough pressure on investors to empty their money market accounts and invest in space companies, even if it’s answering a defense-related demand signal? Laura Winter speaks with The DownLink regulars, Chris Quilty, Founder of Quilty Space; and George Pullen, Chief Economist at Milky Way Economy.

Space Competition: How To Better De-Risk Adversarial Threats To Space Systems’ Value

This episode was recorded before a live audience at the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s Value of Space Summit, convened in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The discussion focuses on threat trends, the lack of insurance cover for certain types of attacks; and how to better secure the value of space systems. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Kunstadter, President at Triton Space; Tomas Peña, Chief Technologist for Cyber Operations at L3Harris Technologies; and Sam Visner, the Space-ISAC Chairman.

Space Policy: Space Force CSO - “What We Were Is Not What We Must Become”

The U.S. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman announced on Tuesday that the Space Force has started to take over recruitment and training of uniformed and civilian Guardians, from “Mother Air Force”, to create a separate “space-minded” force to meet the nation’s requirements in the friction-filled era of “great power competition.” Laura Winter speaks with the Space Force’s first Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Maj. Gen. Kim Crider (ret.), who is a Founding Partner of the space consultancy Elara Nova.

Space Tech: Is It A Bird? A Plane? Actually It’s A Drone

Space Force acquisitions officials have said for years that they want tactically-responsive commercial-off-the-shelf solutions that can be easily configured for military uses. The founders of BlackStar Orbital Technologies say their drone, a satellite-space plane hybrid, will answer the call, at a competitive price point. Laura Winter speaks with the BlackStar Orbital's co-Founders, CEO Christopher Jannette and CTO Kit Carson.

Space Money: Starliner, A 737 Max Felony, and a New Boeing CEO

With Boeing’s Starliner human-rated capsule safely on the ground, the Crew Flight Test mission has ended, but with incidents and without its crew, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. Boeing, a major supplier of space vehicles and services to NASA and the U.S. Space Force, is at a crossroads with a new CEO in charge. What should Boeing do? Laura Winter speaks with Richard Aboulafia, Managing Director at AeroDynamic Advisory; Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Clayton Swope, Deputy Director of the Aerospace Security Project and Senior Fellow in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).