Space Florida is the state's aerospace finance and development authority, dedicated to strengthening Florida's position as a global leader in aerospace research, investment, exploration, and commerce. As the state's premier aerospace entity, Space Florida is committed to attracting and expanding the next generation of space industry businesses.

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Rob Long, president and CEO of Space Florida. He was named to the position last year following the retirement of Frank DiBello.

Rob has over 25 years of leadership experience in the aerospace industry. His expertise spans launch operations, logistics, and spaceport management. His strategic vision aims to position Florida as a global hub for aerospace commerce.

"We are definitely engaged from the start-up side, we do a lot with capital accelerator programs, we work with Florida Venture Forum and other similar organizations to male sure we're involved in some of those early aerospace companies. Small mid-cap companies to the largest Fortune 500 companies. We have the ability to deal with all of those," Long said.

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Kevin Stadnyk, co-founder and CEO of Obruta Space Solutions.

Obruta Space Solutions is a Canadian company specializing in space robotics and technologies. Their mission revolves around enabling satellite servicing and addressing the challenges of space debris removal. The company does not build hardware for those tasks, but rather develops the software that will eventually allow such spacecraft to operate autonomously.

The company is developing a rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (RPOD) system. With this "RPOD Kit", Obruta enables orbital service providers to perform services such as on-orbit refueling, life-extension, and debris removal—services which exponentially increase a space asset's value. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are currently conducting ROPD experiments in preparation for free-flying test in the future

"There will be humans in the loop for the initial and foreseeable future in some capacity," Stadnyk said. "Similar to self-driving cars, the end goal is reaching full autonomy, but we know that it's not realistic to start this whole technology by being fully autonomous. It's just won't be safe enough, it won't be reliable enough."

Kevin holds two degrees in aerospace engineering and a background focused on satellite attitude control, orbital mechanics, and space debris removal technologies.

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Matt George and Josh Foerschler of Burns & McDonnell, a design/build company with expertise constructing facilities for the space industry.

Josh Foerschler is Business Development Lead for space-related facilities, and Matt George serves as a project manager for space-related facilities at Burns & McDonnell.

The company's portfolio includes a 125,000 sq.ft. facility for Intuitive Machines, which recently landed a spacecraft on the Moon. Incorporated into the design are advanced manufacturing and production spaces, 3D printing areas, machine shops, research and development laboratories, clean rooms, and large-scale spacecraft assembly areas. Unique to the facility are mission control rooms to track and manage lunar missions, and a propulsion test facility to assess lunar lander engine capabilities. The space also includes offices, meeting areas, conference rooms and other amenities for both Intuitive Machines and its partners/tenants.

"We built them basically an engine testing verification facility on Houston spaceport. They call it "The Flame Range" or "The Rocket Petting Zoo"," Foerschler said.

The Innovative Launch, Automation, Novel Materials, Communications, and Hypersonics Hub (iLAuNCH) program is a collaboration of regionally based institutions, led by the University of Southern Queensland with The Australian National University, and the University of South Australia.

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Dr. Joni Sytsma, Chief Technology Officer of iLAuNCH.

The effort is part of the Australian Government’s Trailblazer Universities Program delivered by the Department of Education. Through this program, the Australian Government will build new research capabilities, driving commercialization outcomes and investing in new industry engagement opportunities.

"I like to think I'm building the science fiction future," Dr. Sytsma said. "And my science fiction future has space cities, and space travel as an everyday thing."

A total of $370.3 million will be invested from 2022–2026 to build additional capacity to focus on the problems that matter to the nation by driving research excellence and real-world impact.

Six Australian universities will become leaders in research commercialisation, with dedicated investment in priority areas. Each Trailblazer university will receive $50 million, which will be matched by university and industry partner contributions.

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with James Perry, Executive VP of ASTERRA, a company providing data-driven solutions for water utilities, government agencies, and the broader infrastructure industry. Their expertise lies in leak detection, infrastructure analysis, and soil characteristics monitoring.

Based in Israel with offices in San Diego, CA, ASTERRA develops innovative tools to enhance water management and infrastructure resilience using geospatial data. The company provides a number of industries with intelligence and insights from beneath the surface of their largest installations. Without breaking ground, ASTERRA uses patented algorithms and artificial intelligence to detect leaks, assess pipes, and locate moisture near major installations.

James Perry has spent over thirty years driving disruptive innovation. In both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies, James’ key mission is market adoption and to achieve a deeper foothold into new markets. James currently serves as the VP for Business Development at ASTERRA, based in San Diego, CA. In his free time James likes to sail out of the Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego and held the position of Commodore in 2016.

"What we're able to do is break down the ecosystem of maintaining water supply where leakage is causing non-revenue water challenges," Perry said.

GITAI Robotics is a space robotics startup that aims to provide safe and affordable labor in space while reducing operational costs by two orders of magnitude. The company is developing highly capable, safe, and reliable robots for ISAM (In-space Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing) services, including building and maintaining satellites, as well as space stations, lunar bases, and cities on Mars.

The GITAI Robotics S-2 robotic arm was recently transported to the International Space Station for a demonstration mission, and the company was also selected for the DARPA 10 program last month.

Nakanose said that the arm can be useful in relieving highly-trained from repetitive chores such as cleaning and routine maintenance. "Of course its important, but we can replace that kind of daily chores ... or dangerous operations ... with robots, robotic technologies," he said.

How does what happens in space affect your everyday life? The Ex Terra podcast is dedicated to introducing you to many of the interesting people involved in the commercial space industry, and taking you behind the scenes with many of the companies making significant contributions to the new space economy. The podcast is available on Anchor, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Audible, Breaker, Overcast, Pocketcasts and Radio Public.

Young entrepreneurs will be the future of space commerce, just as they are in most industries.On this edition of the Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Madison Feehan, who is leading multiple space commerce efforts … one that is involved in looking at ways to build on the Moon, and the other working on advanced space robotics and STEM education.

"In Junior High School I created a 3D CAD model prototype for a Mars habitat that was created using 3D printers. That didn't actually take off." Madison Feehan

At just 20 years old, Madison is the COO of Space Copy, and the co-founder and CFO of Moon Trades.

Space Copy is the first multi-purpose interplanetary manufacturing device that combines lunar regolith sampling, spectral data analysis, and 3D printing into one mechanism. Space Copy works to reduce the costs of frequent payload service missions, and well as reduce the amount of pollution and debris emitted by continuous resupply missions sent to the lunar surface to sustain long-term human presence by providing an in-situ resource utilization technology to be used directly on the Moon and Mars to create supplies needed to sustain human life.

"In Junior High School I created a 3D CAD model prototype for a Mars habitat that was created using 3D printers. I actually submitted it to NASA to see if anyone was intersted in developing the theory into an actual technology. That didn't actually take off," Madison said. "And when I was 16 I was approached by the same NASA office that I had previously sent that project off to, and they offered me a contract position to review some innovations for science instruments that were being developed for terrestrial and Lunar use."

Moon Trades is a global consortium designing lunar robotics for mining and AI space education for STEM enthusiasts.

In her "spare" time, Madison advises young people considering STEM and space careers.

Madison is a graduate of Harvard Business School ('22) - Entrepreneurship Essentials (2021), Negotiation Mastery (2022), Disruptive Strategy (2022); Comprehensive Certificate of Specialization in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Harvard Business School Online, class of 2022.

The Ex Terra Podcast has been named one of the Internet's top 15 Space Business Podcasts by Feedspot. We hope you'll subscribe to stay up to date on Space Commerce through our interviews with leaders in the industry.

On a programming note, this is our final podcast to 2023. We'll return in January. We wish you all an outstanding holiday season.

Arcfield was launched as a stand-alone company in 2021, but it has a long history in the aerospace industry dating back to 1957. The company was created to serve a single purpose: to solve the most complex and demanding national security and space-related challenges.

"We do an analysis every year of what our mission partners need, both government and commercial." Kevin Kelly, Arcfield

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Kevin Kelly, CEO of Arcfield.

Recently, Arcfield announced the acquisition of Orion Space Solutions, a company that applies fundamental space physics knowledge to solve real-world problems encountered in the space environment.

"We do an analysis every year of what our mission partners need, both government and commercial. We identify what those gap areas are. If it has capabilities that we feel we need to make part of Archfield's enterprise, we can either buy it or build it," Kelly said.

Kevin Kelly has been an active leader in the defense and intelligence industry for more than 30 years with proven success leading and managing companies through growth activities. He is passionate about innovation and ensuring that a company leverages its people, processes and technologies to its maximum potential to deliver for its customers.

Prior to Arcfield, Kevin was the CEO of LGS Innovations, a privately held independent technology company that was eventually acquired by CACI International in March of 2019. After its acquisition, Kevin oversaw the company’s integration into CACI through the company’s creation of a new high-tech sector (National Security and Innovation Solutions Sector), where Kevin would ultimately serve as president. In this role, Kevin oversaw the operations of a $2B business consisting of the technology and products portions of several key acquisitions; namely LGS Innovations, SIX3 Systems, TICOM Geomatics, and L3 NSS.