Space Business Podcast

Software for satellites. We are overdue to talk about it – it’s important and it could be a big business opportunity, for reasons you’ll hear about in this episode. My guest is Alvaro Alonso Ruiz, co-founder of the French startup Leanspace who raised a EUR6MM seed round last year. Enjoy!

Follow us:

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

Timestamps

0:00 Elevator Pitch 

4:30 Satellite ground segment software

5:36 Origin story

10:27 Product cycle and use case

14:43 Third-party vs. in-house software

18:50 Fusing data 

20:45 ChatGPT

21:25 Data security

24:13 Target market and customers

28:57 New approaches to aerospace manufacturing

31:26 Leanspace approach

33:58 Vision

37:05 Biggest risks

39:25 Strasbourg

41:20 Sci-Fi

Space in Israel! My guest is Uri Oron, the Director General of the Israel Space Agency. We talk about various aspects of the Israeli space ecosystem, including what "infrastructure" is required to build it out successfully. Enjoy! Follow us:

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

 

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

2:38 Guest background

6:58 The Israeli deep tech legacy

8:59 ISA vs. other space agencies

14:44 Building the infrastructure for a space economy

18:19 Education and science

23:42 Supporting the startup ecosystem

27:15 Generating space awareness

33:19 Working alongside private initiatives

35:15 Space law

36:52 Interacting with the non-space side of the economy

39:23 A message to space enthusiasts

Asteroid mining – do I really need to say anything else to get you excited and curious about listening to this episode? My guest is Matt Gialich, the co-founder and CEO of AstroForge, an LA-based startup. Over a decade on from when the last asteroid mining companies started, AstroForge successfully raised a sizable seed round last year. Asteroid mining is back - hear all about it in this episode, enjoy!

Follow us:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

Instagram - brand new! @raphael_space www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

 

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

2:17 Elevator pitch

4:44 Do we really have to mine in space?

7:02 Background and Origin Story

11:51 Previous asteroid mining companies

13:51 Hitching a ride to the Moon

15:14 Lowering mission costs

16:18 Spacecraft specs

17:38 Technology limitations

19:45 Mission objectives and timeline

21:18 Extraction tech

21:56 Approaching an asteroid

23:23 Power budget

25:40 Scaling up

26:49 Potential vs. current (on Earth) PGM cost

30:13 Business model

31:44 Regulations

33:24 Geopolitics

34:24 Funding

35:57 Vision

36:41 Biggest risks and challenges 

37:40 Current focus

39:00 Mining other things besides PGM

40:00 Sci-Fi

Nima Shahinian is a Norwegian industrial designer planning on going to space, and he has already started some of the training, which he will tell us about. He has now even put together a whole project and team in Norway that is working on taking a group of people to space, including several candidates with disabilities. Hear all of about it in this episode – and, since he is a designer, we also talk about space design! Enjoy!

Nima's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astro_nims/

Follow us:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

Instagram - brand new! @raphael_space www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

 

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

2:43 How did Nima become an astronaut candidate?

4:51 Nima's Design work

6:20 Space design

8:16 Best space suits

10:00 Family's take

11:20 Forming a project team

12:54 Timeline and origin

18:01 First mission

20:50 Financing the Project

24:33 Iranian women in space

26:26 The Next Step project

30:15 Potential candidates

33:13 Plans for the mission

38:30 Nima's space training to date

41:48 Helping Project Next Step

44:03 Vision for the project

45:57 Sci-Fi

How about accessing space not with rockets, but with basically a big gun that shoots stuff into space? You may be surprised to hear that that is actually not a new idea. Our guests this week, the founders of a startup called Wave Motion are working on an updated version of it. Unsurprisingly, there is strong dual use element, too. We’ll talk about all that and more in the episode. Enjoy!

Follow us:

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

Instagram - brand new! @raphael_space www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

  Timestamps 0:00 Intro 2:24 Elevator Pitch 3:31 Rocket equation tyranny 5:35 Wave Motion launch tech 7:45 Historical space gun projects 12:21 "G-hardened"pPayloads 13:06 Architecture 14:46 Payload Capacity 16:35 Ground Infrastructure 18:45 Launch Cadence 21:12 Product Sequencing 27:10 Managing time and projects as a small team 29:36 Getting a Naval Research Contract 33:42 Geopolitics 35:00 Orbital launch costs 35:35 Roadmap 40:19 Origin of name 41:37 Other opportunities in space 42:45 Sci-Fi

This is our second conversation with a crew member of the dearMoon project. Just as a reminder, dearMoon will be a circumlunar Starship mission, to which Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku "MZ" Maezawa has invited 8 artists to join him. One of those lucky 8 is the photographer, filmmaker and whale swimming guide Karim Iliya. We talk about his expectations and objectives for the mission. Enjoy!

https://karimiliya.com/

Follow us:

https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

Instagram - brand new! @raphael_space www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

2:58 Hawaii, Iceland and the Moon

4:41 The most fascinating thing about the Moon

06:04 How Karim got interested in Space

8:22 The future of space exploration

11:52 Initial application for dearMoon

14:23 Taking photos in microgravity

18:42 Summary of Karim's work

22:26 Thoughts before going to Space

25:12 What would aliens photograph on Earth?

27:58 Absence of life in Space

30:00 The moment Karim found out he was selected

36:00 Research and preparations for the mission

37:54 Remaining key questions

40:37 Special items to bring along on the mission

 

Did you ever wonder what the experience of flying on Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard rocket is like? I certainly have. So I invited one of their recent crew members, Victor Hespanha from Brazil, onto the podcast. He takes us through the entire experience -before, during, and after the flight- in great detail. You get a good sense of what the experience is like, so don’t miss it! Please do note that English is not Victor’s first language and he is currently still learning it. He was incredibly kind to speak to us anyway and get out of his language comfort zone. So please keep it in mind when he is occasionally searching for the right word.

Victor's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hespanhavictor/

Follow us:

https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

Instagram - brand new! @raphael_space www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

2:50 How did Victor end up going to space?

4:14 The Crypto Space Agency (CSA)

5:38 The CSA sweepstakes

6:35 Victor's initial reaction

7:57 Biggest fears

10:30 Family reaction

11:51 Marcos Pontes, the first Brazilian Astronaut

12:32 Preparing for space flight

15:24 Wife's reaction

16:19 Corn Ranch astronaut village

17:38 The bar at Corn Ranch

19:34 Formal training and bonding with the crew

23:00 The night before the launch

25:30 The final briefing and the day of the launch

28:00 Countdown and liftoff

29:40 Microgravity

33:50 Seeing Earth from Space

35:05 Memorable moments

37:10 Descending from Space

39:35 After-mission protocol

43:00 Special items

44:21 Aftermath

45:50 Coming back to Brazil

49:22 Post-Space life

Daniel Bock and Istvan Lőrincz are the co-founders of Morpheus Space, an innovative electric propulsion company based in Germany and the U.S. I met them for the first time at IAC in 2019 when they won the pitch competition and since then they have done really well, including announcing a US$28 million Series A last September. Please enjoy listening to them talk about their technology and their entrepreneurial journey!

Follow us:

https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

Instagram - brand new! @raphael_space

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

 

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

2:31 Elevator pitch

4:12 The origin of "Morpheus Space"

7:40 Perceived market gap

9:54 Is propulsion for collision avoidance all just a PR stunt?

11:36 Satellite collision data

13:25 Propulsion modeling

17:05 Business model

20:51 Talking to customers

21:48 Propulsion

28:29 Scaleability

30:36 Product constraints and challenges

33:25 Morpheus Space other line of products

36:21 How to prioritize

39:05 Partnership with Kayhan Space

41:11 Vision for the company

42:35 Other interesting things in the Space sector

45:45 Sci-Fi

This is our annual preview of some of the things to watch out for in the space sector in 2023!

Follow us:

https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

Instagram - brand new! @raphael_space

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

03:46 Launch

8:28 Human Space Flight

12:01 Science exploration missions

12:51 Satellite communications & EO

13:44 Finance

14:57 Exciting Events in 2023

15:32 Education and Outreach

I’m guessing many if not most of you are aware of the dearMoon project. Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, or MZ, is inviting 8 artists to join him on a circumlunar flight on Starship. One of the 8 selected crew is American documentary filmmaker Brendan Hall. He is our guest on this episode and we discuss everything from his motivation to apply, over the selection process, to his objectives for the mission, and even some of the things he may take along. dearMoon has everyting to be one of the most fascinating human spaceflight missions ever and this episode is our first look at it – don’t miss it.

dearMoon crew website: https://dearmoon.earth/

Brendan's website: http://www.brendanhall.com/

Follow us:

https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

Instagram - brand new! @raphael_space

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• There is now a certificate for those wanting to enter the space sector: https://www.spacecertificate.com
• Do you want to specifically learn about investing in Space? Join the pre-release of Raphael's new live-taught course on Maven:  https://maven.com/space-business-institute/investing-course

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Support us at https://www.patreon.com/spacebusinesspodcast

Timestamps

0:00 Intro 3:02 Where Brendan was when he found out he was selected as a crew member 5:30 Mindset through the selection process 6:55 Weighing risks and responsibilities 13:39 Where to point the camera lens 16:21 Microgravity 18:10 Initial selection process 23:15 Further steps of the process 26:21 Crew synergies 29:57 Ideal outcome of the mission 32:18 National parks 36:06 The night sky and the Moon 38:42 Special places on Earth 41:00 Humanity's future on the Moon 42:27 Sci-Fi 44:08 What Brendan has been up to since finding out he was on the crew 46:40 Things to bring along on the mission