Space Business Podcast
Business & Finance
About
Space is rapidly growing into an exciting ecosystem for business. In this podcast we hear from entrepreneurs, executives, investors and others about the many opportunities that exist.
Episodes
- #168 | Space-based Solar Power | Marc Berte, Overview Energy
Space-based solar power – it’s a hot and electrifying topic again (sorry for the pun!) What is the state of the art? What are the commercial use cases? How do the economics look? We’ll dive into this and more with our guest Marc Berte, CEO…
- #167 | Japan Space Ecosystem | Francois Poncin, SPACETIDE
Japan: This week we are getting an introduction to the Japanese space ecosystem. My guest is Francois Poncin. He is the Chief Operating Officer of the SPACETIDE Foundation, which does many things, but one of them is organizing what is argu…
- #166 | Satellites 2.0 | Patrick Haddox, Samara Aerospace
Samara Aerospace is a San Francisco-based space startup that has come up with a very interesting new tech solution for pointing satellites accurately and quickly. Now they are developing a satellite bus based on this technology. Our guest…
- #165 | Launch Services | Robert Sproles, Exolaunch
Exolaunch is a company that is an integral part of the space ecoystem. They sit in the middle between people wanting to launch satellites and the launch/rocket companies. They have already helped get many hundreds of satellites to space. C…
- #164 | Earth Return | Ryohei Kobayashi, Elevation Space
Elevation Space is a Japanese startup working on downmass – bringing things back from space to Earth – leveraging Japan’s strong heritage in reentry and recovery technologies. CEO and co-founder Ryohei Kobayashi in our guest. Enjoy! 🕰️ Ti…
- #163 | Spaceports | Ketil Olsen, Andøya Space
The most beautiful launchsite in the world – that is my description for this week’s episode. Andøya Space is a space launch center in Northern Norway. It is kind of what you would imagine if Disney’s Frozen had a rocket launch site. Jokes…
- #162 | A New LEO Broadband Constellation | Rafel Jordá Siquier, Open Cosmos
Open Cosmos, a European space scale-up, has cemented a reputation as a reliable provider and operator of satellites for various mission types. Now they have secured priority spectrum to build a new LEO broadband satellite communications co…
- #161 | The Dell of Satellites | Ian Cinnamon, Apex Space
Apex Space is a Los Angeles based satellite bus manufacturer. They want to productize satellite buses and build them at scale for government and commercial customers. Our guest is co-founder and CEO Ian Cinnamon. Enjoy! 🕰️ Timestamps: 0:0…
- #160 | 2026 in Space Preview | Raphael Roettgen, E2MC
This is my preview of what the year 2026 may hold for the Space sector - including in launch, lunar, space applications, science, government, finance, events, etc. 🕰️ Timestamps: 00:00 Podcast Intro 00:57 Intro: Preview of 2026 in the Spa…
- #159 | SpaceX IPO | Aaron Burnett, Mach33
There has been a lot of recent talk about a potential SpaceX IPO. I sit down with Aaron Burnett, co-founder and CEO of Mach33, to discuss. Mach33 and Ark Invest collaborate on an open-sourced SpaceX financial model. Enjoy! 🕰️ Timestamps:…
- #158 | Optical Comms As-a-Service | Jordan Vannitsen, Odysseus Space
Space lasers again! Odysseus Space from Luxembourg focuses on providing optical communications solutions between Space and Earth as a service. If you seem to notice that is not the first episode on optical communications, you’re right – I…
- #157 | Keeping Satellites Stable | Alessandro Stabile, Magma Space
Magma Space is a U.S. startup with advanced technology to help keep satellites stable / jitter-free, which is more important to satellite communications and remote sensing than you may realize. We have Magma's CEO & Co-Founder Alessandro S…
- #156 | Hyperspectral Earth Intelligence | Awais Ahmed, Pixxel
Pixxel is a prominent earth observation startup originally from India and now present in the U.S., too. They are focused on so-called hyperspectral imaging. CEO & Co-Founder Awais Ahmed is our guest. 🕰️ Timestamps: 0:00 Podcast Intro 01:2…
- #155 | Real-time Geospatial Intelligence | Michael Bartholomeusz, Novi Space
How can you get real-time intelligence from space rapidly and cheaply? Novi Space is a startup from Virginia that uses its own hardware and on-orbit edge processing to do just that. Their CEO Michael Bartholomeusz is our guest this week. �…
- #154 | Optical Communications | JF Morizur, Cailabs
Cailabs is a French laser company and one thing they are doing are optical communications between Earth to Space. This has a number of advantages over radio frequency communications, which is why it is being adopted by customers, for examp…
- #153 | Earth Intelligence| Prateep Basu, SatSure
SatSure is an Earth intelligence company from India, processing satellite imagery to generate insights for various industry verticals. Co-founder and CEO Prateep Basu is our guest. Enjoy! 🕰️ Timestamps: 00:00 Podcast Introduction 01:10 El…
- #152 | Space Robots | Ethan Barajas & Jamie Palmer, Icarus Robotics
SPACE ROBOTS! We are are talking about this exciting topic again in this episode. Icarus Robotics is a NY-based space robotics start up that just raised its $6M seed financing round. Co-founders Ethan Barajas and Jamie Palmer are our guest…
- #151 | Advanced Composites | Trevor Smith, Atomic-6
Atomic-6 is an advanced composites solutions manufacturer providing products such as satellite solar arrays and Space Armor(TM), based in Atlanta. Founder & CEO Trevor Smith is our guest this week. 🕰️ Timestamps: 00:00 Podcast Intro 02:02…
- #150 | Methane Monitoring | Daria Stepanova, Airmo
Monitoring greenhouse gases, including from Space. That’s our topic this week. We therefore have another earth observation startup on the show as our guests: Airmo from Germany. They’re developing an innovative instrument including LiDAR t…
- #149 | Mini-Brains in Space | Prof. Alysson Muotri, UC San Diego
Mini-brains in space. Did you know that we can study something called brain organoids, effectively mini-brains, in the special conditions in space, on the International Space Station, and that such studies may help us with diseases like Al…
- #148 | Making Space Safe & Sustainable | Tim Solms, Slingshot Aerospace
How can we make operating in space safe & sustainable for everyone? Given the risks we face up there, like space debris and adversarial actors. This is where a company like Slingshot Aerospace comes in with its sensors, data, and insights…
- #147 | Space & Biology | Paul Kamoun, SpacePharma
Space & Biology – we have another episode on this exciting intersection of deep tech themes. My guest this week is Paul Kamoun from SpacePharma. He also organizes an entire conference on space bio, called “Health from Space” every year. We…
- #146 | Space Financing | Justin Stevens, Overlap Holdings
Is the space sector actually financed in the right way? That’s probably the main question I’m discussing with my guest Justin Stevens, founder and CEO of the investment firm Overlap Holdings. He spent 18 years at Apollo Global Management,…
- #145 | Commercial Space - Uncensored | Pierre Lionnet, ASD-Eurospace
My guest this week is Pierre Lionnet, Director of Research at Eurospace, who has followed the global space sector for over 30 years. We discuss a range of topics including e.g. SpaceX, the launch sector in general, and national space polic…
- #144 | Downmass Logistics | Sebastian Klaus, ATMOS Space Cargo
My guest this week is Sebastian Klaus, Co-Founder & CEO of Atmos Space Cargo, who discusses his company’s mission to unlock downmass logistics with an innovative and reusable space capsule, paving the way for in-space manufacturing, defens…
- #143 | Mining the Moon | Glen Martin, XMC
My guest this week is Glen Martin, Co-Founder & CEO of Extraterrestrial Mining Company (XMC), discusses his company’s bold mission to mine Helium-3 on the Moon and its potential to revolutionize energy and tech on Earth. 🕰️ Timestamps: 00…
- #142 | Commercial In-Space R&D and Manufacturing | Raphael Roettgen, E2MC Ventures
This episode kicks off a new series on in-space R&D and manufacturing, exploring its potential (e.g. for sectors like pharma and semiconductors), its current status, and its challenges, among other topics. At the end of this episode, Rapha…
- #141 | In-Orbit Servicing | Adel Haddoud, Infinite Orbits
My guest this week is Adel Haddoud, Founder & CEO of Infinite Orbits, a French in-orbit servicing company. We discuss their technology, business model, and vision, as well as the broader market for satellite servicing and space sustainabil…
- #140 | Mining Asteroids | Daynan Crull, Karman+
Asteroid mining is making a comeback. It may sound futuristic, but some startups are betting on a viable and economic path to making it a reality and investors are taking notice. One of those companies is Karman+, and this week, I’m joined…
- #139 | Space to Grow | Matthew Weinzierl & Brendan Rosseau
Space to Grow is a new book on the space economy. Its authors, Matt Weinzierl, a professor at Harvard Business School, and Brendan Rosseau, also formerly of Harvard and now in strategy at Blue Origin, are my guests this week. Enjoy! Space…
- #138 | European Micro-Launch | Stanislas Maximin, Latitude
My guest this week is Stan Maximin, Founder & Executive Chairman of Latitude, a French micro-launch company. We discuss Latitude's rocket, target customers, and vision, as well as the wider launch market in Europe and globally. Enjoy! 🕰️…
- #137 | Self-Assembling Space Habitats | Ariel Ekblaw, Aurelia Institute & Foundry
Ariel Ekblaw is an MIT aero-astro engineer who founded the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative, and developed a new technique to build large-scale space structures. She now runs the Aurelia Institute, a non-for-profit dedicated to b…
- #136: Space Piracy | Hugh Taylor & Marc Feldman
Space Piracy is a new book about the prospect of organized crime in the space sector, anything ranging from hacking for ransom payments all the way to, some time in the future, actual piracy. The book’s co-authors, Marc Feldman and Hugh Ta…
- #135 | 2025 in Space Preview | Raphael & Friends
This is my preview of what the coming year 2025 may hold for the Space sector - including in launch, satcom, earth observation, lunar exploration, in-space manufacturing, science, government, finance, events, etc. For the second half of th…
- #134: On-Orbit Services | Chris Blackerby, Astroscale
Astroscale is a prominent space company from Japan, focused on a variety of on-orbit services incl. active space debris removal. My guest is their Group Chief Operating Officer, Chris Blackerby. 🕰️ Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 01:41 -…
- Space Business Podcast #133 - Mike Grace, Longshot Space: Building Space Cannons
My guest this week: Mike Grace, Founder and CEO of Longshot Space. Longshot is developing a kinetic launch system, using a multi-injection gas-powered cannon to send payloads to orbit at significantly reduced costs. Mike explains the engin…
- Space Business Podcast #132 - Karthik Gollapudi, Sift: Complex Hardware Telemetry
My guest this week, Karthik Gollapudi, led the software team for SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. In this role, he realized the importance of monitoring complex hardware systems in order to detect faults or ideally prevent them before they even ha…
- Space Business Podcast #131: John Conafay, Integrate: Complex Hardware Team Collaboration
Integrate is a venture-backed startup from Seattle who are building a platform to facilitate teams collaborating on developing complex hardware, such as space hardware. Integrate’s co-founder & CEO John Conafay is here to talk about how th…
- Space Business Podcast #130 - Stephen Matier, Maritime Launch: Spaceports
Spaceports should become a bigger business going forward if all goes well in the space sector and we will have ever more rockets launching from ever more locations. This is why some private companies are now getting into this market. One o…
- Space Business Podcast #129 - Kelly Weinersmith, Co-Author: A City On Mars
A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through? – That is the title of a book published in late 2023 which then became an instant NY Times bestseller and went on to win a 2024 Hugo Awar…
- Space Business Podcast #128 - Jordi Barrera Ars, Open Cosmos: Satellites as Shared Infrastructure
Open Cosmos is a prominent European new space startup providing and operating satellites. They recently won a EUR60MM contract to build a remote sensing constellation for the Greek government, beating out strong and established competitors…
- Space Business Podcast #127 - Will Crowe, HEO: Non-Earth Imaging
HEO, a space startup from Australia, uses sensors on-orbit to identify, characterize and monitor space objects at scale. Objects such as debris, but also active satellites. You can imagine there are a number of civil and defense use cases…
- Space Business Podcast #126 - Mo Shahzad, Relativity Space: Launch
Relativity Space, from Long Beach, California, is probably one the best-known launch startups in the world. They had a partially successful launch of their Terran One rocket last year, are now working towards the launch of the much larger…
- Space Business Podcast # 125 - Ankit Anand, Kicksky
This week we are talking about KickSky, the first incubator for Indian space startups, which is having the demo day of its first cohort on 8-May. I am talking to Ankit Anand, Partner of Riceberg Ventures and a co-founder of KickSky. We tal…
- Space Business Podcast #124 - Johannes Torpe: A Designer domesticating Space
Johannes Torpe is a well-known Danish designer who, among many other things, was the Creative Director at Bang & Olufsen, and once owned a space-themed night club called NASA. He is passionate about what he calls “domesticating space” – br…
- Space Business Podcast #123 - José Manuel Rodríguez, PLD Space: Launch
PLD Space is a Spanish launch startup. Last October, they successfully completed a suborbital test flight of their Miura-1 rocket. We talk about that flight, their future plans on the way to orbital launch, the launch market at large, and…
- Space Business Podcast #122 - Alexandra Vidyuk, Space Ambition & Aloniq VC
Space Ambition is a very popular space blog on Substack, with over 11000 subscribers. Its founder Alexandra Vidyuk is our guest this week. She is also a space tech investor at Aloniq VC. We talk about both of her roles. Enjoy! Space ambiti…
- Space Business Podcast #121 - Aaron Kemmer, Max Space: Inflatables
Inflatable space modules is what we are talking about in this episode, and that is Max Space’s product, a company that just came out more publicly at Space Symposium. My guest for the episode is CEO & co-founder Aaron Kemmer, who some of y…
- Space Business Podcast #120 - AdAstra - Space Talent Advisory
We are talking about the space job market in this episode. My guests are Seyka and Brian Mejeur, the founders of AdAstra, a space talent advisory or headhunting firm. Besides talking about the trends in the space job market in general, we…
- Space Business Podcast #119 - Luke Fischer, SkyFi: EO data
We are back talking about Earth observation. Specifically about how to make accessing and using EO data user-friendly. Our guest this week is Luke Fischer, co-founder & CEO of Sky-Fi, an Austin-based startup that is essentially an EO marke…