On Orbit

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The Future Legacy of Alabama's 'Rocket City' May 25, 2021

Show notes

Before it became known as "Rocket City," Huntsville, Alabama was more of a one stop-sign town. Things changed after World War II, when the U.S. Army recruited German scientists and other leaders to move to the area and develop rocket technology. Over the next 60 years, Huntsville would grow into the state's second largest city, and home to a new generation of innovative space companies like Aevum.

The transformation of Rocket City had a profound influence on Aevum CEO Jay Skylus' upbringing. "The city created a workforce of engineers that had to think about design and technology in ways they haven't before," he explains. "Space can establish local innovation economies because the task of building in space fundamentally requires outside-of-Earth thinking."

In this second of the On Orbit podcast's two-episode space cities focus (the first covering Quebec, Canada and the Lightspeed project), host Jeffrey Hill catches up with Jay Skylus five years after they first met in 2016 — when Aevum was still a brand-new startup in stealth mode — to talk about the company's rapid success as a space logistics and automated launch systems company serving commercial, government, and military customers. Jay explains the role that the city of Huntsville played in that success, and talks about the decision Aevum must make on whether or not to leave the nest as it grows into a national business.

Quebec's Space Economy Jumps to Lightspeed May 11, 2021

Show notes

By investing in cities, the commercial space industry can work wonders for local economies by creating new jobs, attracting new talent, and establishing long-term, future-facing tech hubs. That's exactly what Canadian satellite operator Telesat plans to do for the province of Quebec.

This past February, the government of Québec agreed to invest 400 million Canadian dollars ($316 million) in Telesat's new Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation in return for a $1.6 billion investment into Québec's high-tech economy. Telesat will move most of Lightspeed's manufacturing and operations to the Canadian province — a project that includes the establishment of a new network operating center; a satellite control center; a cybersecurity operations center; an engineering lab; an advanced landing station; and the creation of hundreds of new jobs.

In this episode of On Orbit, Telesat Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager Stephen Hampton sits down with host Jeffrey Hill to discuss why Telesat decided to find a government investment partner and how it came to choose Quebec. We also talk about the returns on government investment and the expected impact Telesat Lightspeed will have on both the local and national Canadian economy.

(Space) Graphic Design is My Passion Apr 27, 2021

Show notes

Our latest episode of the On Orbit podcast is all about design. Not spacecraft design, or satellite engineering, but graphic design in the space industry.

Visual and graphic design elements play an important, yet often overlooked role in our community's ability to communicate. For an industry that basically lives at the cutting edge, the look and feel of it can sometimes be a little stagnant — lots of blacks, blues, and grays. Most people will tell you that this is due to either the strict and rigid requirements and culture of end-users, or the reliance on design contractors who don't know exactly how space technology works.

That said, the industry is actively trying to change its look to attract new customers to commercial space services. To provide some perspective on this, we invited two space-focused graphic design experts who explain how visual design in the industry is evolving as access to space is expanding.

Both guests are full-time designers who came to the space industry from the world of fashion design. Our first guest is Erin Bonilla, creative director and co-founder of Harbinger Creative. Erin has been a graphic design expert for NASA for several years and talked to On Orbit host Jeffrey Hill about how the agency has worked to keep its already iconic branding fresh and relevant.

We are also joined by Jordan Klein, creative director at satellite antenna systems developer NXTCOMM. Jordan talks about the revolution in design that is happening among ground systems companies and explains how to keep product and visual design appealing for one of the most rigid and traditional customer segments – government and military.

Eric Berger, Elon Musk, and the Stars of SpaceX's Origin Story Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

Eric Berger, a soft-spoken Ars Technica journalist, meteorologist, and lover of all things space-related, has spent a lot of time with Elon Musk during the past few years. While watching the billionaire SpaceX founder closely as he sat in on board meetings and gathering with his family on flights to Texas, Berger discovered the formula behind the company's two-decade ascension to space industry dominance.

It starts with Musk — an enthralling, passionate, laser-focused, relentless, moody, and sometimes difficult leader, with a unique gift for engineering. His greatest talent, according to Berger, may be his ability to locate and surround himself with the "right" people — those who mix well with his personality and can keep up pace for long periods of time. The people who helped Musk send his first Falcon rockets into space come into clear focus in Berger's new book "Liftoff," a widely-praised chronicle of SpaceX's establishment in the early 2000s.

On this episode of On Orbit, Berger brings us behind the scenes of writing Liftoff. He explains the influence that people like Tom Mueller and Gwynne Shotwell (who just become Via Satellite's most recent two-time Executive of the Year winner) had on SpaceX's success, and who he enjoyed speaking with the most while conducting research. Berger also shares some insights that weren't included in "Liftoff," as well as thoughts on who might lead SpaceX after Musk.

Farmer Charlie's Space-Powered Smart Agritech Platform Mar 30, 2021

Show notes

Betty Bonnardel and I share a unique connection to the Alps. In 2015, I traveled to Northern Italy's Dolomites to research my family history. Before coming to the United States, my ancestors tended small apple orchards and vineyards carved into the side of steep mountains. At the same time I was conducting this research, Betty Bonnardel was visiting apple orchards on the French side of the Alps — a trip that would inspire the creation of her new space-based smart agritech startup, Farmer Charlie.

A 25+ year space industry veteran and chair of SSPI's U.K. chapter, Betty found a passion to bring state-of-the-art, low-cost connectivity to farms that grow crops for sustenance and local distribution. This connectivity will provide farmers with vital information about their fields — information that is impossible to access using traditional farming methods passed down through generations. By providing this access to space, Betty believes farmers can grow healthier, higher-quality crops and sell their produce at a better price.

During this episode of On Orbit, I spoke with Betty about the challenges of delivering space-based connectivity to local farmers, such as convincing farmers to trust new and unfamiliar tools, the lack of connectivity infrastructure in these regions, and getting tech partners to invest in direct communication with individual end users.

We've talked about the benefits of smart agriculture in past episodes on a much larger scale. In this interview, Betty shares incredible stories about how her space technology platform has already improved the lives of individual farmers in Africa and Europe.

Farmer Charlie is currently looking for partners in software and app development and satellite service. If you're interested in helping Betty's cause, visit Farmer Charlie's website, read the case studies and contact the team directly.

Pack Your Bags! We're Going on a Space Vacation! Mar 16, 2021

Show notes

Space vacations are a real thing! If you want to see the Earth from a brand new perspective, and experience weightlessness like a real astronaut, and you have a few million dollars to spare, you can sign up right now! Space Adventures will take you to Low Earth Orbit and beyond on a SpaceX Falcon 9. Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin will also start opening up space tourism lines in the near future.

But, what is the space tourism experience really like? Is it safe? How long is the trip? Will they serve food? Do I have to go through astronaut training? Do I have to be a multimillionaire to afford all this?

On this episode of On Orbit, I'm joined by two space experts who try to answer all of my silly space tourism questions. The first interview is with NASA planetary science mission expert Laura Seward Forczyk, also founder of space consulting firm Astralytical, and the author of Rise of the Space Age Millennials.

Laura and I have a fun and informative conversation about how space companies have been working to create the ideal, safe leisure space travel experience. She outlines the preparation process for passengers, which varies based on the length of each trip. What was most informative for me was her explanation of how the experience of taking off and landing will be different between different rockets and for different people.

The second interview is with E2MC Ventures Founder Raphael Roettgen, space advisor to institutional investors and governments, author of European best-seller "Hoch Hinaus," and space tourism investor (Space Perspective). He's also the host of Space Business Podcast, which I highly recommend if you like On Orbit!

Raphael and I discuss the economics of the space tourism market. We answer these questions: How many people would sign up for a space vacation right now? How many people could afford it? How many more people would be interested if the price was lower (in the thousands range)? What are the safety risks and who is liable when accidents happen?

Learn everything you need to know about your future space vacation in this unique and exciting episode of On Orbit!

Mourning a Lost Satellite: How In-Space's Doug Liddle Bounced Back from a Tragic Launch Failure Mar 02, 2021

Show notes

Satellite builders form a unique bond with their spacecraft. In-Space CEO Doug Liddle described his start-up's first satellite, Faraday-1, as a 'precious child' that he raised for 18 months before turning it over to the launch gods. This past July, the gods proved to be especially cruel to Liddle and the In-Space team, as the satellite was lost during a failed launch on Rocket Lab's Electron rocket. In this episode, Liddle takes us behind the scenes of the Faraday-1 loss, and explains how he was able to pull himself, and his team together to bounce back from the incident.

The Creative Process of Virgin Orbit's Storyteller, Kendall Russell Feb 16, 2021

Show notes

Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne spacecraft is like a Russian matryoshka doll. A plane takes off carrying a rocket, which is carrying a satellite payload. Once in air, the rocket then takes off from the plane and flies toward space. When it reaches orbit, the rocket dispenses its satellites to their intended destinations…

Watching this all happen on the ground is Kendall Russell, Virgin Orbit's communication officer, who will spend the next few moments trying to figure out how to explain this complicated process to journalists and space watchers around the world. Three years ago, he was writing about launches as historical records, cataloging the who, what, where, when, why, and how for the Via Satellite news feed.

Via Satellite executive editor Jeffrey Hill returns as the host of On Orbit and sits down with Russell for a chat about creative and effective storytelling in the space industry. Russell talks about his transition from news reporter to media relations, his big adventure moving west for his new job, meeting and working with Richard Branson, and how the space industry can take cues from other forms of mass media in its efforts to appeal to the larger public.

Khristian Jones Chats Patti Grace Smith Fellowship Feb 02, 2021

Show notes

Khristian Jones is a senior aerospace engineering student at Wichita State University, and one of the co-founders of the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship.

The Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, an official spin-off of the Brooke Owens Fellowship, provides Black undergraduate students with paid summer internships at aerospace companies and nonprofits. The fellowship was launched in 2020, and is named after Patti Grace Smith, an aerospace industry leader who ran the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation.

In this episode, we talk to Khristian about what sparked her passion for STEM, and how the Patti Grace Smith fellowship is empowering Black excellence in aerospace.

2020 in Review and the Decade Ahead With Euroconsult's Maxime Puteaux Jan 20, 2021

Show notes

In this episode, Maxime Puteaux, principal advisor at Euroconsult, gives us the rundown of satellite trends in 2020, as well as what he sees happening in the decade ahead. Puteaux reviews a forecast of satellite manufacturing and launch services, pegged to a recent Euroconsult report on the subject.

Looking back at 2020, Puteaux notes it was the first time in a single year that more than 1,000 satellites were launched — 70% of those were from SpaceX's Starlink — a number will become a new standard, driven by the replacement of the commercial constellations. Moving forward, Euroconsult expects 50% of the demand for new satellites to be concentrated by four of the mega constellations for broadband, but a third of the market will still be retained by Geostationary (GEO) satellites.

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