Space Business Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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 Terran R, have 1200 employees and raised over $1bn in funding. My guest is their President & CFO Mo Shahzad and we talk about all things Relativity but also a little about the launch market in general. Enjoy!

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• SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 2:30 Relativity Space summary 5:13 Mo's career incl. switching to the space sector 7:00 Acting as a "translator" 13:00 Discussing difficulties with clients 17:38 Hiring 22:00 Steps on the way to Mars 28:32 Production and flight cadence 31:18 Pricing 34:00 Relativity in the broader launch market 38:31 Rideshare 40:50 Ancillary products 43:30 Vision 45:48 Interesting things in commercial space 49:00 Sci-Fi

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 talk about why the timing is right for an Indian space incubator, what the incubation program looks like, and many other things. For full disclosure, E2MC, the space venture fund where I am partner, is also part of KickSky. If you have any interest in Indian space, don’t miss this episode! 

If you are:

- an Indian startup interested in applying to KickSky - interested in becoming a mentor at KickSky - interested in joining KickSky's investor network please go to https://www.kicksky.space

Follow us:

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

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

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

• SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 2:19 Ankit's background and the Indian space ecosystem 13:34 Space Sector in India - Government & commercial 17:34 Kicksky's structure and program 26:22 Mentoring 31:16 Demo-day and practical examples 37:12 Experience of being an incubator 40:01 Future plans 43:08 Apply to Kicksky 43:37 Sci-fi

In-space manufacturing is what we are discussing in this episode, and we have a really cool and qualified guest: Jessica Frick is a researcher at Stanford’s XLab, the extreme environment microsystems lab. They recently held a workshop on semiconductor manufacturing in microgravity, just published a white paper about it (linked below), and are now setting up an institute focused on manufacturing advanced materials in microgravity. Enjoy!

The Institute for In-Space Manufacturing of Advanced Materials

https://rb.gy/b4661j

White paper: Semiconductor Manufacturing in Low-Earth Orbit for Terrestrial Use

https://osf.io/preprints/osf/d6ar4

Follow us:

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• SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:20 Intro to XLab & Jessica 4:37 Jessica's origin story & motivation 8:54 Semiconductor manufacturing primer 14:15 In-space manufacturing for Earth 15:58 Which part of semi manufacturing makes sense to do in space 17:30 Advantages of microgravity  18:50 Could it be done on Earth? 20:25 Advantages of microgravity (cont'd) 26:20 Semiconductor materials besides silicon 28:50 Why larger crystals are better 35:45 Why now? 38:45 Safety & astronaut intervention 40:30 Microgravity platforms besides the ISS 41:40 Importance of subject matter expertise 45:00 Origin of the idea for the new institute 54:55 Current ISS equipment 55:55 The Institute for In-Space Manufacturing of Advanced Materials 1:02:00 How to get involved 1:04:25 Sci-fi

Satellite IoT, or internet of things – we have another episode on this topic. Which devices or machines can we connect via satellite communications, how and why? Our guest is Omar Qaise, the founder & CEO of Luxembourg-based OQ Technology, a prominent satellite IoT startup that has already several satellites in orbit. Enjoy!

Follow us:

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

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

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

• SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:19 Elevator Pitch 3:33 Devices outside of coverage that would benefit 6:33 How are people monitoring such devices right now? 8:01 Cost 10:55 Working with off the shelf hardware 12:33 Regulations 15:27 Go to market 18:48 Energy specific use cases 19:56 Go to market: push vs. pull 21:14 Coverage and constellation size 22:13 Lower latency use cases 23:57 Types of satellite 24:55 Direct to device vs direct to mobile 26:12 Receivers 28:20 Wearables 30:04 Cybersecurity 32:26 Most exciting future use cases 36:10 Future of the satellite IoT market 42:03 Origin story 44:08 Vision for the OQ 45:10 The Space Ecosystem in Luxemburg 47:10 Saudi Arabia 49:15 What else is exciting in the space sector? 51:12 Sci-Fi

Space & bio – we finally have the 2nd episode in our subseries on this topic. Dorit Donoviel is the Director of the Translational Research Institute for Space Health. TRISH is an institute that is cooperating with NASA and conducting a fascinating range of research regarding human health in space. Our discussion touches on many topics, ranging from challenges to human physiology in microgravity all the way to the question of whether we can use gene editing to adapt ourselves to the space environment. Enjoy!

SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO

Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

Follow us:

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

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

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

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

Timestamps 0:00 Intro 2:35 TRISH 3:50 Staying healthy in space 7:36 Health concerns in microgravity 12:07 Eye and brain issues 13:40 Artificial gravity 15:40 Licensing 18:46 Moon & Mars 22:50 Medical equipment and treatment in space 27:00 Surgery 29:22 Positive effects in space 33:03 Longevity in space 34:50 Gene editing 39:28 Reproduction in space 43:33 Research projects if more funding was available 45:23 Food production 47:31 Astronaut health monitoring 50:00 Beyond R&D 53:55 Organ-on-chip models 56:33 How one can get involved in TRISH 1:00:17 Sci-fi

Light sails – really thin sails that are propelled by photons flying around in space – have been proposed as an alternative propulsion method to travel the cosmos for a long time. Now, there is a startup company in France working to commercialize them. Their co-founder & CEO, Andrew Nutter, is our guest this week. Enjoy!

SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO

Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

Follow us:

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

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

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

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

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 2:01 Elevator pitch 2:49 Origin story 4:22 History of light sails 8:59 Planetary Society mission 11:12 Folding the sail 14:20 Hazards in space 16:04 Further specs of Gama's sail 17:56 Velocity and Acceleration Specs 22:23 Oumuamua 24:01 Use cases 30:16 Dragsail application 34:41 GTM & missions 37:51 Deep space demonstration 39:25 Timeline & long term vision for the company 42:24 Business Model 45:35 What else is interesting in space? 47:30 Sci-Fi

The ground segment for satellites is obviously an important part of the space ecosystem. Giovanni Pandolfi is a co-founder of LeafSpace, one of the prominent startups in this field.  https://leaf.space/

Enjoy!

SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO

Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

Follow us:

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

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

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

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

Timestamps 0:00 Intro 2:05 Elevator Pitch 3:09 Leafspace's origin story 6:04 Finding a business opportunity in the space sector 8:22 Biggest challenges starting straight out of university 11:30 First commercial push 12:51 Initial approach 16:10 Not being held back by the legacy way of doing things 17:30 Antenna building vs. buying 19:00 Product & customer experience 22:01 Kinds of applications that Leaf Space can support 25:05 AWS 30:13 Ten-year vision for Leaf Space 32:45 Vision for the broader ground segment sector 37:08 Frequency bands 40:03 What else in space is interesting? 41:30 Sci-Fi

India's space sector is really blasting off (pun intended!). Among other things, the country just became only the fourth one to soft land on the Moon. So it's only fitting that we'll have more Indian space companies and people as guests. Our first one is Tushar Jadhav, founder and CEO of Manastu Space, a propulsion startup from Mumbai that recently announced a $3MM financing round (for full disclosure, E2MC, the space VC fund where Raphael is a partner, is an investor in that round). Please enjoy hearing about Manastu and space in India!

SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO

Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

Follow us:

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

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

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

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

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 3:14 Elevator pitch 3:55 Green satellite propultion 9:20 Why was hydrazine originally chosen? 11:15  The current system 15:09 Hydrogen peroxide 18:31 Chemical propulsion vs electrical propulsion  23:01 Manastu's product & business model 25:45 In-orbit demonstration 26:27 Main customer group 27:26 Export control 28:23 Scaling up & adding on services 30:52 Vision for the company 31:45 Origin story 35:38 Indian Space Ecosystem 44:16 What's next? 46:15 Sci-fi

My guest this week is Loren Grush. You may know her already as a space journalist, currently at Bloomberg and previously at The Verge. She also just published a book: “The Six” is telling the story of America’s first women astronauts - and that is what we’re talking about in this episode. Enjoy!

Loren's book "The Six": https://www.simonandschuster.biz/books/The-Six/Loren-Grush/9781982172800

SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO

Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

Follow us:

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

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

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

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

Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 2:00 Loren's background 2:53 Being a NASA kid 6:24 Support from the community 7:50 Loren's new book 9:02 Why this topic? 10:45 Challenges of women in the space sector 16:00 The Mercury 13 18:00 Surprising findings in research for the book 19:17 Competitiveness among The Six 22:20 A favorite one? 23:50 Legacy of The Six 25:21 Normalizing women in space 29:17 Female Astronauts 32:44 International Female Astronauts 34:10 Future books 36:17 How can we improve the gender imbalance in the space sector? 40:23 Final message for women looking to join the space sector

Our guest this week is building a lunar rover. Jaret Matthews is the CEO & Founder of Astrolab, based in Hawthorne, CA. He was previously at SpaceX and also at JPL, where he worked on Mars rovers. Come join us to hear all about planetary rovers!  https://astrolab.space/

SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO

Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

Follow us:

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

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

Instagram -  www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

• 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

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

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

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro 2:21 Elevator Pitch 3:11 "Last Mile" on the Moon 5:27 Flex rover in the context of other rovers 9:10 Payloads 11:30 Scaling challenges 13:46 Autonomy 15:33 "Off-road" capability 19:23 Vehicle specs 22:23 Vehicle lifetime and surviving on the Moon 29:34 Spare parts 33:06 Infrastructure 34:22 Main use cases 38:27 Vision for mobility landscape on the Moon 41:37 The motivation behind Astrolab 46:46 What else is interesting in the space sector 48:15 What could be the "first killer app" for the Moon? 50:07 Sci-Fi