The Space Hour

Space technology company Umbra has recently launched a new business line aiming to deliver high-resolution Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites. Through the mechanisms of how the company is structured, it's been able to bring down the cost of those satellites. To learn more about how they do that, I got the chance to speak with Jason Mallare, Vice President of Umbra. 

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Next month, the Association of Commercial Space Professionals will be hosting the Space Nuclear Policy Summit in Washington D.C. It aims to get the two sides together, both nuclear and space, to help with some lingering questions. The future of space travel is going to require the aid of nuclear power, beyond the technical requirements for that are the regulatory and fiscal matters to deal with first. To get a preview of the discussions that will take place, we welcomed back Bailey Reichelt who is the co-founder of Aegis Space Law and Interim President of ACSP, as well as Caryn Schenewerk, president of CS Consulting.

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The company KBR may not be the most well know commercial space company for those outside the business, but it's one of the larger firms that does a ton of work with NASA. Which is how it ended up being selected as NASA’s Agency-Level Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year. To find out more about the firm and what this award means for it, I spoke to Todd May, Senior Vice President of KBR’s Science and Space Business.

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Starting things off today with the folks at DARPA and their very low earth orbit satellites, known as VeeLEOs, which have become important in a variety of surveillance and imaging applications. Trouble is, they're so low, they don't stay up very long without propulsion to keep them up. Eventually they run out of fuel. That's a problem the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is trying to solve with a program known as Otter. For details, DARPA program manager Sarah Popkin joined Federal News Network's Tom Temin in studio to discuss.

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Federal Space projects require a lot of different organizations to take care of the many, many technical needs, whether for defense or exploration purposes. The problem is, many of those niche companies don't exactly have long standing relationships with federal and defense agencies. To help facilitate those relationships, companies like BMNT which is a defense tech innovation firms to make sure these partnerships actually produce what they intend to. To learn more, I spoke with Ellen Chang, who is a vice president with BMNT.

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Though they are still grounded on earth, the observatories that stay looking at the sky are vital to exploring space and finding every nook and cranny in the universe. One of them, Carnegie Observatories does just that from its world famous Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. I recently got to speak with Dr. John Mulcahaey, who is director and chair of the observatories, about the work they all do.

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You can't overlook the role venture capitalists have played in the rise of the commercial space industry. In an industry that relies on failed tests, there needs to be those sponsors who are alright with not seeing a quick return on investment. So what does it take to make those smart investments and what goes into the decision-making process? For answers to those questions, I spoke to Ethan Batraski who is a partner with the firm Venrock.

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NASA has a history of firsts. Now it has a new first. A first chief artificial intelligence officer. Joining Federal Drive Host Tom Temin last week was that very chief AI officer, Dave Salvaginni 

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An academic course, endorsed by the Defense Department and delivered by accelerator company BMNT, aims to help science and engineering students develop their ideas into companies. It's called Hacking for Defense. One startup, called Pharos Aerospace, hopes to help both Defense and commercial satellite operators deal with space debris. For more, Federal News Network's Tom Temin spoke with former University of Chicago students Victor Tyne and Brian Klein.

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The company MSI-DFAT, has a unique specialty. It blasts very loud sound at satellites and spacecraft that mimics the incredibly loud and harsh rocket launch noise environments for launch certification. It's an important step in making sure these multibillion dollar pieces of equipment are going to be able to make the journey to the final frontier. I recently had a chance to speak with two of the company's leaders, Alex Carrella CEO of the MSI-DFAT, and Bradley Hope, who is the U.S. Area Sales Manager.

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