The DownLink Podcast

The wake of the U.S.-led bombing campaign of Iran - Operation Epic Fury - has rattled markets around the world and inspired some public equity investors to adjust their positions and to more critically assess space companies with a speculative return on investment. Laura Winter speaks with Lou Whiteman, a space investor and a Motley Fool stock analyst covering aerospace and defense.

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Paris-based Skynopy’s virtual Ground Station As A Service promises of faster data speeds and a network of partner ground stations has earned it contracts with AWS, Eutelsat, Airbus, and the French Defense Innovation Agency’s Aerospace Lab. Laura Winter speaks with Pierre Bertrand, co-Founder and CEO of Skynopy.

While the Supreme Court has ruled that President Donald Trump’s use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose tariffs is unconstitutional, experts warn that the administration has other means to extract from American businesses and consumers what would amount to import taxes. Space businesses are not immune, but they do have opportunities to shield their bottom lines. Laura Winter speaks with Bailey Reichelt, Founder and Attorney at Aegis Law; and Nick Baker, Managing Director of Transfer Pricing practice, and co-Lead of the Trade and Customs practice at Kroll.

This week U.S. President Donald Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak about how to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. This episode explores recent space-related developments in Israel, Iran, and more generally the rest of the Middle-Eastern region. Laura Winter speaks with Lawrence Rubin, co-director of the Georgia Tech DC Program and an associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.

Finally, the U.S. Congress passed and U.S. President Donald Trump signed off on the U.S. Space Force’s $26 billion 2026 budget. And, the Space Force Association has a new CEO. Laura Winter speaks with U-S Air Force Brigadier General (Ret.) Damon Feltman, CEO, Space Force Association (SFA), who was the Mobilization Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Space Operations, Strategy, Plans, Programs, Requirements, and Analysis; and with Steve Jordan Tomaszewski, Vice President of Space Systems at the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA).

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”.