The DownLink Podcast

Officer Workforce Plan - The Space Force Told Them, “Begin With A Clean Sheet Of Paper”

The U.S. Space Force asked the Rand Corporation to come up with a new officer workforce framework, “conceived independently of the existing [U.S. Air Force] structure.” This novel proposal, which aims to balance space mission requirements and the careers of officers, has been delivered. Laura Winter speaks with two of the Rand Corporation authors, Larry Hanser, a senior behavioral scientist, and Jennifer Li, a senior management Scientist; and Chris Stone, Senior Fellow for Space Deterrence-National Institute for Deterrence Studies; and Brent Ziarnick, an associate professor of space power at the Air Command and Staff College.

Space Systems Command Wants More Face Time

U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command, looking for faster ways to tap into and acquire developmental technologies coming from new space market entrants, is looking to break down barriers from inside a Virginia office park. Laura Winter speaks with U.S. Space Force Col. Rich Kniseley, Senior Materiel Leader and head of the Space Systems Command Commercial Space Office; and Salvatore Pascale, Lead Project Manager with Virginia Tech Research Corporation.

The U.S.-China Moon Race Heats Up

This week China announced that it intends to put taikonauts on the moon no later than 2030, the U.S. Department of State released a new diplomatic strategy for space, and Spain signed the U.S.-led Artemis Accords. To unwrap this week’s events and provide a primer for what is at stake some 385,000 kilometers away on the lunar surface, 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”; and from the Aerospace Corporation Senior Vice President of the Civil Systems Group Jim Myers, and Tech Fellow Sam Visner, who is also the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

This week Microsoft reported that the Chinese hacking group penetrated Guam’s telecommunications systems. Because of the U.S. territory’s location and military bases, telecommunications there means a mix of platforms that includes space. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Stone, Senior Fellow for Space Deterrence-National Institute for Deterrence Studies and author of the book “Reversing the Tao: A Framework for Credible Space Deterrence”; and Brendan Mulvaney, Director of the Air University’s China Aerospace Studies Institute.

DIU’s “Bucky” Butow, Space Innovation, and the Industrial Base

This week’s is the third episode in a month-long series looking at various, cross-cutting aspects of the state of the space industrial base. Laura Winter speaks with the Defense Innovation Unit’s Director of the Space Portfolio Steve “Bucky” Butow, who is intimately involved in growing the Space Industrial Base through government contracts and informing policy. In uniform he is Brig. Gen. Butow, Commander of the California Air National Guard where he leads 4,900 Airmen assigned to five wings and a headquarters staff.

Software Drives Printed Rocket Motors, GSaaS, and New Calls for Collective Cyber Security for Space

This is the second episode in a month-long series looking at various, crosscutting aspects of the state of the space industrial base. Space and cyber leaders in the United States and Europe are now looking to create systems of collective cyber security for the 21st Century, covering assets on orbit, on the ground, and in production. The push to develop cyber-security information-sharing alliances is intensifying, as software, the cyber warrior’s attack surface, is increasingly driving the printing of space components, including solid rocket motors. Laura Winter Speaks with Samuel Visner, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center; and Erin Miller, who is the Space ISAC’s Executive Director.

Want a Cutting Edge Space Space Force? We’ve Got To Talk About Bank Failures.

This is the first episode in a month-long series looking at various, sometimes neglected, aspects of the state of the space industrial base. This week in Washington, D.C. much of the focus has been on military readiness, sustainment, the state of the military industrial base, and whether the U.S. is ready to meet today’s requirements and those five, 10, 15 years in the future. What has not garnered due attention is how the U.S. financial system together with a reliance on venture capital can make or break the space companies that are developing the very technology the military says it needs to deter aggression or fight when the time comes. Laura Winter speaks with George Pullen, MilkyWay Economy’s Chief Economist; and with Jess Harrington, a Consultant at McKinsey & Company, who focuses on the intersection of the commercial space sector and the federal government.

A Missing Lunar Lander, A Mutual Defense Treaty, And “China… China… China”

This week’s episode focuses on the very latest space domain developments coming out of the Far East. Laura winter speaks with Jonathan Ward, a China scholar, founder of the Atlas Organization, and book author, who has a new tome out this week titled, “The Decisive Decade: American Grand Strategy for Triumph Over China”; and Joshua Carlson, a “Blue Water” space power writer, managing editor of the online magazine Dauntless, and author of the book, “Spacepower Ascendant: Space Development Theory and a New Space Strategy”.

SpaceX, Raytheon, And How Not To Land In Space Force CSO’s “Frozen Middle”

This week’s episode is coming out of Space Symposium, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. With much of the civil, commercial, and military space leadership in attendance, U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman put commercial space leaders on notice: embrace speed, risk, and technological difficulty or be relegated to the “frozen middle.” Laura Winter speaks with Dave Broadbent, President of Raytheon’s Space & C2 division, and Casey DeRaad, NewSpace New Mexico’s CEO, who was in Boca Chica, Texas for the test launch of Elon Musk’s Starship-Super Heavy launch system.

A Moon Landing And a Test Launch - Two Events That Could Change Almost Everything

The White House says it wants, “to achieve the goal of enabling human transportation and settlement within the solar system.” There are two, possibly seismic, events about to happen in the space ecosystem that could help: The ispace moon landing and SpaceX’s first orbital flight test of its Starship super-heavy rocket. To understand what this could mean for the civil, commercial, and defense space sectors, Laura Winter speaks with Chris Quilty, Founder of Quilty Analytics; George Pullen, MilkyWay Economy’s Chief Economist; Chris Stott, a serial space entrepreneur, and the Chairman & CEO, Lonestar Data Holdings; and Peter Garretson, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and co-author of the coming book “The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy”.