Episodios

  • E1 | Seeking beyond the rocket equation - the prospect of space elevators

    E1 | Seeking beyond the rocket equation - the prospect of space elevators
    Jan 31 2021
    This episode has at its core the implications of Tsiolkovsky’s rocket equation, which figures the hard limits of rocket-based payload transportation to Earth’s orbit. Furthermore, rockets are expensive, up to failure, risky and carry too little payload. Making rockets more efficient reminds analogically of Henry Ford’s classic: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”. One of the non-rocket approaches to get a fast, cheap, safe and repeatable transport to orbit is the Space Elevator concept which we are going to cover in the episode with our guest, the amazing Josh Bernard-Cooper, a University of St Andrews Physics and Philosophy student, International Space University alumni and Research Assistant at the International Space Elevator Consortium. CONTENT 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:00 The basic concept of a space elevator 00:12:00 Google X, NASA 00:16:00 Motivation to build elevators 00:24:00 Design concepts 00:32:00 Speed of the climber and radiation 00:34:00 Main Challenges 00:37:00 Space debris and elevator collaps 00:38:00 Best place on Earth to install the elevator 00:40:00 Beta test the elevator on Moon and Mars? 00:41:00 Optimal Altitude for beta best 00:44:00 How many people are involved? 00:47:00 Non-rocket launcher ideas 00:49:00 Fundings, Prizes, Sponsors 00:52:00 Elevator in 10 years? 00:57:00 Realists vs Futurists 00:59:00 Why a lead blanket is useful in the Elevator
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    1 h y 2 m
  • E2 | A Space for Humanity - Ethics and Governance for Living together in the Space Age

    E2 | A Space for Humanity - Ethics and Governance for Living together in the Space Age
    Mar 9 2021
    In this intense episode we dig into the main issues preventing international and intercultural collaboration here on Earth which will prevent us from becoming a prosperous, inclusive, and peaceful multi-planetary species. In search of solutions, we begin with the power of law and then blast over to the ongoing space race between private actors and developing countries, uncovering who is really in power. Shattering conventional narratives along the way, we explore a supracultural code of space ethics, a way to ensure that space and its benefits for life on Earth remain accessible for all of humanity. Our guest taking us on this journey of discovery is the bleeding-edge scientist Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty, Professor of Space and Society at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at the University of Arizona. CONTENT 00:00:53 Intro 00:01:56 Explorers 00:07:54 The Power of Law 00:11:57 Crime at the International Space Station 00:14:17 Lobbying 00:17:38 Who is really in power? 00:19:04 Level playing field 00:20:45 Rich get richer and people get wiser 00:21:55 UNCOPUOS 00:24:55 Property Rights & Protection / Support by your country 00:27:38 Scarcity / Limited resources in Space 00:29:22 Have we learned from colonization? 00:32:02 Universal cosmological feeling / Oneness / Overview Effect 00:37:33 Supracultural code of space ethics / Consensus ad idem / a meeting of minds 00:40:33 Solving the ills of society before we deal with fanciful things like space exploration? 00:44:14 Poverty and inequality are the root of every problem / human rights principles 00:48:52 Universal Principles / Natural Law 00:55:20 Space World Utopia vs reality / Bipolar world 00:57:10 Shattering the narratives / Kumbaya / Sexiness of Space 00:59:33 Space Law enforcement 01:01:41 The school for the Future of Innovation in Society
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    1 h y 10 m
  • E3 | The physics of space travel - Engineering vs Breakthrough Physics?

    E3 | The physics of space travel - Engineering vs Breakthrough Physics?
    Mar 18 2021
    In this episode, we’ll take you on a deep dive into the physics of space travel. Are we merely grappling with a challenging engineering problem or will new breakthroughs, an entirely new physics be required in order to utilize space to its fullest potential? We will discuss this question with our guest, Professor Martin Tajmar, renowned Austrian Physicist, Professor and Chair of Space Systems at the Technical University of Dresden, and hurray, a Fellow International Space University Alumnus, a member of the family. Martin has worked at NASA, ESA, in South Korea, and the Austrian Institute of Technology, performing research on electric and miniaturised propulsion and on breakthrough propulsion physics. Professor Tajmar is the author of the book: “Advanced Space Propulsion Systems” and has received critical acclaim from the scientific community for his research on Electric Propulsion. CONTENT 00:01:28 Intro 00:06:45 International Space University 00:08:26 The physics of space propulsion 00:10:36 The limits 00:13:36 Nuclear propulsion 00:18:50 Breakthrough propulsion 00:21:05 Option 1 | Inertial mass 00:22:40 Option 2 | Negative mass 00:26:10 Space X 00:38:08 Nukes for space propulsion 00:42:49 Option 3 | Negative mass self-acceleration 00:44:56 Option 4 | Zero-point Energy 00:45:26 Electric propulsion 00:51:20 Future
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    1 h y 16 m
  • E4 | Investing in Space Start-Ups - Best Practices

    E4 | Investing in Space Start-Ups - Best Practices
    Apr 1 2021
    In this episode we seek to understand the decision-making environment in which Space Business Angels operate and the mindset they follow when making investment decisions, exploring best practices, and getting an industry outlook from those with skin in the game. We talk about risk mitigation, selling shovels instead of digging gold, drivers of scale, investing horizontally vs vertically, why Luxembourg produces above the average space companies, and the role of EBAN Space. Our guest today is Fabrice Testa, Chairman of EBAN SPACE, the space branch of Europe's leading early stage investors network, and Co-Founder of both the Luxembourg Space Tech Angels and Maana Electric. An Aerospace Engineer by training, Fabrice is a space business angel, serial entrepreneur, co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of Maana Electric which aims to be the utility company of the solar system, starting with solar panels on the Moon. He has supported start-ups in growing and scaling their ideas as a mentor, coach, and in several other key capacities. CONTENT 00:01:59 Intro 00:07:57 Logistic growth curve and similarities to the IT industry in the late 1970s/80s/90s 00:12:18 Categorisation of the space market 00:19:39 What are the early segments of the market that need to grow 00:25:16 Drivers of scale / Total Addressable Market 00:30:16 Advices to founders 00:34:03 MBAs vs Engineers / Immediate Value to the customer 00:39:09 VCs and their investment periods 00:45:02 Skin in the game 00:47:31 CAPM / Risk assessment 00:52:39 Outliers / Risk of failure 00:56:40 The different risk variables of Business Angels and Venture Capital 01:00:48 Is it better to be a Business Angel or a VC? 01:03:16 Vertical vs horizontal space industry portfolio 01:07:50 Increasing chances to find outliers 01:11:46 Empty company containers full of money (SPAC) 01:18:28 Where is the next Rocket Valley / Satellite Valley? 01:21:45 What is Luxembourg doing right? 01:24:12 The role of EBAN Space / Next Steps 01:30:53 Humans want to explore
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    1 h y 36 m
  • E5 | Space Commerce - The ecstasy of gold

    E5 | Space Commerce - The ecstasy of gold
    Apr 15 2021
    In this episode, we’ll be diving right into the dynamics of the space sector, space commerce, space business, space industry, space market, and the fundamental forces driving their development. It’s a great pleasure to welcome Matthew Weinzierl, an associate Professor in the Business, Government, and the International Economy Unit at Harvard Business School. Matthew has worked for McKinsey & Company, and the US government as an economist on The White House Council of Economic Advisors. While much of Professor Weinzierl’s early research focused on the optimal design of economic policy, in particular taxation, he has recently launched an array of projects focused on the commercialization of the space sector and its economic implications. Matthew, together with his Harvard Business School team, have published multiple case studies just this past year: on Space X and Economies of Scale along with Made in Space and the business of In-Space Manufacturing, all of this along with an article emphatically proclaiming: “The Commercial Space Age is Here” in the Harvard Business Review. CONTENT 00:00:00 Intro 00:02:50 Harvard Business School Case Studies Part 1 00:04:30 Niels Bohr & and defining the space market, space commerce, space business 00:05:59 Two different economies: Space for Earth, Space for Space 00:09:57 Deconstructing the space sector & Self Organization of markets 00:12:24 Rockets don’t scale | Space Elevator 00:15:18 Scaling and populating space 00:17:35 Who is paying for it and why? 00:21:18 Analogies to historical IT and Telecommunications market development 00:23:44 Industrial Economics in space 00:30:31 Spire Global | Going from globalisation to solar-system-ization 00:32:31 Blockchain, NFT, Smart Contracts for products from space 00:34:37 Is there a need for an international Space Trade Institution? 00:36:04 HBS Case Study Part 2 | Made in Space 00:38:24 Space Killer Apps Part 1 00:39:25 Closed Loops, 3D-Printers, and The Star Trek Replicator 00:41:34 Is there a business case for Resource Extraction in space 00:44:19 Space Killer Apps Part 2 00:45:48 Up-and-comers in the space sector 00:47:10 Space Economics in the context of rational human behavior 00:50:00 Strongest disagreement between the space economists 00:51:36 Why space at all?
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    54 m
  • E6 | The Start-up of Space Marketplaces

    E6 | The Start-up of Space Marketplaces
    May 4 2021
    In this episode, we talk about the rise of Space Marketplaces and how the Satsearch Product Knowledge Graph helps solve problems for marketplace users. We ask, what kind of Acquisition Loops work in the space sector, how does their Experiment Framework look like, and should space marketplaces scale vertically or horizontally? We talk about unit economics, defensibility, and how Satsearch bootstrapped its way forward with the support of the ESA Business Incubation Center. Our guest is Narayan Prasad, co-founder, and COO of Satsearch, a global marketplace for the space industry, incubated by the European Space Agency. Narayan is a multiple degrees academic in space-related sciences, a vivid member of the Indian space community - an Indian in Germany living space entrepreneur. CONTENT 00:01:25 Intro 00:09:18 Bootstrapping 00:12:47 Getting the Supply-side 00:16:09 Investment Thesis | Problem to solve 00:24:53 Experimentation Framework 00:27:34 Cold Start Problem | Two-sided Network Effects 00:34:12 Entry Barriers & Pricing 00:35:54 Marketplace Liquidity 00:38:17 Helping suppliers to find Product-Market-Fit 00:39:19 Acquisition Loops | Buying Traffic 00:47:02 ESA BIC Support 00:49:17 The Rise of Marketplaces 00:51:51 Small Niche Market becomes big 00:57:44 Clean Space Initiatives 01:01:42 Vertical vs Horizontal Integration 01:04:46 Product Knowledge Graph 01:08:10 Defensibility | Moats 01:12:35 Most Striking Learnings 01:17:32 India Space Program 01:22:21 Unfair Advantages 01:25:46 Why Space and Why Now?
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    1 h y 31 m
  • E7 | Democratizing access to space with MIT

    E7 | Democratizing access to space with MIT
    May 24 2021
    In this episode we talk about MIT's Lunar Knowledge Graph called Lunar Open Architecture and MIT’s intriguing research on a crowd-sourced, sharing-economy-like, tokenized satellite constellation. A sat-constellation-as-public-utility. The MIT’s Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative has the goal “to invent, create, and deploy ideas that seem exotic and impossible today, but could be commonplace in ten years.” Our guest today is the research lead of MIT’s Lunar Open Architecture project, Mehak Sarang. Mehak is a trained physicist and a Research Associate both at Harvard Business School and MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative, and an active member of the Open Lunar Foundation, Moon Dialogs, and the SGAC EAGLE Team. CONTENT 00:02:14 Intro 00:07:44 MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative 00:12:50 Lunar Open Architecture 00:19:47 Knowledge Graph / GraphQL / Automated Reasoning 00:26:04 Stakeholder Interests of NASA, SpaceX, and others 00:32:32 Database Open Access 00:35:35 How to contribute? 00:37:03 Sharing Economy in Space | Blocksat 00:44:39 Satellite constellation for the people by the people 00:53:53 Time to market 00:56:17 What is needed to start up Blocksat? 01:00:13 Federated Satellite Applications 01:03:26 What’s next at MIT Space Exploration Initiative 01:05:33 Next Harvard Business Review Case Study on ISS 01:11:49 Why space, why space now?
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    1 h y 15 m
  • E8 | The breakthrough of gram scale space crafts

    E8 | The breakthrough of gram scale space crafts
    Jun 4 2021
    In this episode we will explore the bleeding edge of satellite and satellite constellation miniaturization. These awe inspiring craft commonly known as Chipsats, Wafersats, Sprites, Monarchs, Kicksats, Starchips, or even just “Smart Dust” are facilitating the rapid miniaturization of space craft following an exponential trajectory stipulated by Moore's Law, no doubt enabling new incredible possibilities and discoveries just around the corner. We talk about the unique physics and associated challenges that these low-mass vehicles face in space, how incredible engineering is overcoming them, and how the Breakthrough Starshot project will tackle the very difficult problem of sending a spacecraft interstellar to Proxima b. Our guest today is Professor Zachary Manchester, who studied physics and aerospace engineering at Cornell University earning his BS and PHD respectively. Zac undertook his Postdoc at Harvard and became Assistant Professor at Stanford University, and later at Carnegie Mellon University where he now heads the Robotic Exploration Lab. He received critical acclaim for his Kickstarter.com crowdfunded Kicksat project - deploying an armada of chipsats in LEO and has published together with Mason Peck and Avi Loeb and is member of the Breakthrough Starshot Research team, who are working on an interstellar spacecraft mission to Proxima-b. CONTENT 00:02:36 Intro 00:05:51 Inspiring Moments | Working with Professor Mason Peck 00:06:47 What are Femtosats, Attosats, Zeptosats, Yoctosats, Chipsats? 00:11:29 Regulatory Constraints | Collision Risks 00:15:12 Cubesat & Chipsat costs 00:20:00 Most valuable uses cases and applications 00:25:50 Chipsat Communication 00:28:28 Length Scaling 00:32:16 Thermal Equilibration 00:34:12 Attitude Determination and Orbit Control 00:43:36 Bio-inspired Constellation Management 00:53:15 Limits of Miniaturization | Smart Dust 00:56:00 Breakthrough Initiative | Starshot 00:59:45 Starshot Payload 01:07:39 Is Earth going to look like a Death Star? 01:08:59 Nuclear Propulsion 01:15:00 Most advanced Breakthrough Propulsion 01:16:18 The Origins of the Chipsat Idea | Kickstarter Campaign 01:30:42 Next Research Projects 01:35:09 Hard Problems to solve 01:38:58 Science Fiction becomes Science Fact 01:40:20 Why space and why space now?
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    1 h y 42 m