Space Forward - An Interdisciplinary Podcast

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

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

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

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

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?

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?

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?

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?

In this episode we discuss Earth's first on-orbit satellite inspection service, Australian startup HEO Robotics, on a quest to "Make Space (Assets) Transparent". We dive into how they pivoted from Asteroid Mining to Space Situational Awareness, the methods they used to find Product-Market Fit, and future possibilities to scale their business to the Moon, asteroids, and beyond! Joining us for this conversation, we have an enthusiastic leader in space technology research, development, and innovation, Dr. William Crowe, Founder and CEO of HEO Robotics. William holds a Bachelor's of Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and PhD in Space Flight Dynamics from the University of New South Wales Sydney. CONTENT 00:01:44 Intro 00:02:35 May the force be with you / Star Wars Planetary Exploration 00:03:03 Low cost Asteroid Mining 00:04:59 The right time of funding / Competition out of business 00:06:04 Pivoting from Asteroid Mining to Space Situational Awareness / Finding Product/Market Fit 00:08:16 Observing Oumuamua? 00:11:11 Operational vs technical constraints 00:13:12 Flybys / Slingshots / Change of Economics of Launch 00:15:18 Shift from Academia to Start-up 00:17:42 Accelerators/Incubators / Lean Start-up & Academic becoming Founder 00:20:05 Sizing the problem / Investigating the problem / Trends that helped to raise the company 00:22:47 How to expand the value chain / Extending the business / Use Cases 00:28:25 The technology of swarm constellations / Starlink 00:33:05 Experimentation Framework & Prototyping 00:38:08 Licensing 00:39:08 LEO, HEO or Lunar Orbit? 00:40:08 The solutions customers want 00:42:34 SpaceX & Blue Origin 00:44:05 Australian Space Agency & Space Market 00:47:25 Why Space

In Episode 10, we talk to astrophysicist Avi Loeb about what he thinks we might find in the observable universe. Will it be biosignatures that will reveal extraterrestrial life? Or technosignatures, evidence of a past or present alien technology? Join us as he discusses his latest book “Life in Cosmos: From Biosignatures to Technosignatures”, the possibilities of self-replicating, artificial intelligent von Neumann probes, and the absurdness - or not - of eating aliens! Professor Avi Loeb is the Director of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He received his PhD in plasma physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and worked as a theoretical astrophysicist at Princeton Institute of Advanced Study. Loeb is a New York Times bestselling author, chairs the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, and founded the current Galileo Project advancing the search for extraterrestrial life. CONTENT 00:01:36 Intro 00:05:14 Life in cosmos | Text book 00:07:11 Technosignatures | Oumuamua 00:11:51 Von Neumann Probe | Golden Record 2.0 00:14:05 Alien A.I. 00:15:58 Eating aliens 00:19:54 Smart kids on the block 00:25:21 Self-reflection

This episode is the second part of our talk with Harvard Professor Avi Loeb. We discuss ― Life In The Cosmos ― an academic textbook he co-authored with Manasvi Lingam which provides an analysis of the latest scientific methodologies for detecting life beyond our planet. It's an updated version of an original book written in 1966 by astrophysicists Carl Sagan and Iosif Shklovsky. We dive into the Kardashev Scale, a theoretical model for classifying stages the development of intelligent alien civilizations based on energy consumption, and the potential of applying a modified version, based on a more indirect but proportional scale of wasted heat or entropy production, toward today's search for extraterrestrial intelligences (ETIs). Learn more about Avi's work with Breakthrough Starshot, a proposed flyby mission to our neighboring solar system Alpha Centauri, and how his recently funded Galileo Project will help to demystify Unexplained Aerial Phenomena. Join us as we survey the latest endeavors to detect alien technosignatures, and explore whether monkeys may one day compose Shakespeare's Hamlet on a typewriter. Professor Avi Loeb is the Director of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He received his PhD in plasma physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and worked as a theoretical astrophysicist at Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. Loeb is a New York Times bestselling author, chairs the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative, and founded the current Galileo Project advancing the search for extraterrestrial life. CONTENT 00:00:35 Intro 00:02:21 Kardashev scale 00:07:01 Building Noah's Ark in Space 00:12:35 Breakthrough Starshot 00:16:36 How to Decelerate as you get to Proxima B 00:22:05 A Masterpiece: Monkeys Typing Hamlet 00:22:39 Technosignatures: detecting Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) 00:26:44 The Galileo Project

In this episode, Space Forward talks to Peter Platzer about the foundation and journey of Spire Global. Not-just-a-satellite company, Spire has a textbook-like business model that allows for extraordinary asset utilization and several risk-adjusted revenue streams, positioning them as a leading data analytics and weather prediction company. Spire notably owns the entire value chain ― from building and operating their multipurpose nano-satellite constellation, to providing object tracking and weather prediction services around the globe, 24/7. Tune in now to hear about the ups-and-downs of starting a commercial satellite company, Peter's purposeful business philosophies, and humanity's adventure into space to solve problems here on Earth. Peter Platzer is the CEO of Spire Global. A former Boston Consulting and Deutsche Bank quant trader who studied physics in Vienna, Peter holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is a fellow International Space University Alumni. Space Forward deconstructs the efforts of humankind's expansion into space, focusing on the hard problems inherent to facilitating our interplanetary future. Through insightful conversations with forward-thinking visionaries, this podcast explores the actionable steps required to make our space future a reality, breaking down complex ideas into first principle concepts. CONTENT 00:01:22 Intro 00:02:10 Call to adventure | Lead, inspire and create the business of space for the benefit of all 00:03:46 Refusal of the call | Harvard Business School & Wallstreet 00:04:02 Supernatural aid | Peter Diamandis & The Singularity University 00:04:48 Crossing the first threshold | International Space University & meet the founder crew 00:06:38 Metamorphosis | Moore's Law & the foundation of Spire Global 00:09:45 Road of trials | Weather prediction & finding product-market fit 00:12:04 Meeting with the goddess | Raising money & trusted mentors 00:17:46 Rejections 00:18:15 Confront what slows one down | do something one can only do from space 00:20:30 Captain Ahab & not waiting for Godot 00:22:37 Apotheosis | Breakthrough 00:28:30 The ultimate boon | Building satellites 00:30:00 The hard thing about hard things | The struggle on hiring 00:33:35 Magic flight | Losing satellites in the mail 00:33:40 Crossing the return threshold | Lessons learned 00:36:27 Master of two worlds | Findings 00:38:37 Freedom to Live | Big data and analytics

In this episode, we talked to team members from the International Space University's Space Studies Program about their project Eternal Echo, an assignment to design a durable and decipherable message for an intelligent species elsewhere in the cosmos. The project is an updated version of the Golden Record, a gold-plated copper disk of sounds and images created by Carl Sagan, Frank Drake, Ann Druyan, Timothy Ferris, Jon Lomberg and Linda Salzman and affixed to both Voyager spacecrafts launched in 1977. We talked to team members Eanna Doyle, Guillaume Dieppedalle, and Paul Stewart about the task of Messaging Extra Terrestrial Life (METI), the future of humanity, and the need for open access science to improve life on Earth now.

We discuss with Professor Thomas Blaschke the possibilities and challenges of processing Big Earth Data for addressing real world solutions. From predicting destructive landslides and urban traffic jams, to tracking illegal deforestation and human rights abuses, Dr. Blaschke's decades of research work has contributed to a better understanding of humanity's impact around the globe. Tune in to discover the latest advancements in building our Digital Earth and the potential for developing a new field of academic inquiry, Astroinformatics! Dr. Thomas Blaschke is Deputy Chair of the Department of Geoinformatics at the University of Salzburg, Head of Research Studio iSPACE, and Director of the Doctoral College GIScience. He's been a guest professor and visiting scientist in Germany and the US including a Fulbright professorship at California State University. His research interests include methodological issues of the integration of GIS, remote sensing and image processing to support systems that address human-ecological relationships and imbalances. His academic record yields 320+ scientific publications, and was awarded to the world's top 2% of the most impactful researchers in his research field. He works closely with ESA's Copernicus and Galileo program and as a business angel focused on Geoinformatics and Earth Observation science-based start-ups.