Cold Star Project

While working at SpaceX as Senior Mission Integrator Engineer, John Tucker has also made what is becoming the central data platform for the space industry: NewSpace Hub. The platform collects and organizes both company and space sector investment activity. In this interview on the Cold Star Project, host Jason Kanigan asks John about the process of putting NewSpace Hub together. We discuss: How di...

Following a three-and-a-half decade UK defense career culminating in managing RAF Fylingdales and in the role of Aerospace Battle Manager, Ralph "Dinz" Dinsley founded Northern Space and Security (NORSS). In this discussion with Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan, Dinz lays out the case for moving space situational awareness from military to civilian management.   Dinz answers: What is “Peace an...

Joan-Pau Sanchez, PhD, is a lecturer in space engineering at Cranfield University. He was one of the first to publish a Near Earth Orbit asteroid map.  With host Jason Kanigan of the Cold Star Project, Dr. Sanchez discusses: what some of the “new rich families of exploitable orbits which may enable radically new mission applications and services” are his thoughts about the current alarm of “c...

Michael Maloney of Satellite Design for Recovery returns to the Cold Star Project, and we're continuing our discussion of the problems in space traffic management. While many people think STM is already figured out, the truth is this is a phantom idea. Current systems are cobbled together and do not represent a serious solution to the problem.   With host Jason Kanigan, Michael discusses: wha...

University of Kansas Doctoral candidate (Physics and Astronomy) Florian Gautier is on the Cold Star Project to discuss several of the research projects he's been involved in. With host Jason Kanigan, Florian describes his aerospace engineering and astrophysics education journey from Europe to North America and opportunities to work on: Student CubeSat project at ISAE-SUPAERO to develop 12U cubesat...

Dr. Simone Paternostro (Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy), is an analog astronaut through the Austrian Space Forum and manages ISS payloads with the ESA. On the Cold Star Project, host Jason Kanigan asks Simone:   How did you get involved with the Austrian Space Forum and Dr. Gernot Groemer? What is an analog astronaut? How do you go about selecting (or being assigned), preparing for a...

Dylan Taylor, founder of space investment firm Voyager Space Holdings, has a perspective on growing companies that's different from traditional venture capitalists. Voyager takes a majority share ownership and the long view, unrestrained by typical fund life windows. Dylan is on the Cold Star Project, and host Jason Kanigan asks him:   Does Voyager take over the day-to-day management of its a...

Dr. Graham Lau aka The Cosmobiologist is my guest on this episode of the Cold Star Project. We dig into: his co-hosting of the Ask An Astrobiologist Show  the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science his work as a research scientist, and the future application of his knowledge of sulfur cycling in glacial environments with Jovian moon investigation the public's view on science fiction, and what...

Brant Arseneau, partner at 9point8 Capital, Board Member of Spaced Ventures and Mentor at Creative Destruction Labs is on the Cold Star Project. With host Jason Kanigan he answers: What is your opinion on the current state of raising capital for space startups? How does capital typically form in a nascent industry? Is the space industry different from other industries? Can you explain the challeng...

Joseph Paris of Xonitek and founder of the Operational Excellence Society is on the Cold Star Project to discuss OpEx and his book State of Readiness. With host Jason Kanigan, JP explores:  What OpEx means to him, and it's not Lean Six Sigma, TQM or TPS The definition of "State of Readiness" and its implications for industry  How his strategic view of Operational Excellence came about, a...

Nicholas Loise has quite the resume, headed by his current role as Fractional Sales & Marketing Leader, Founder/Owner, Sales Performance Team. It includes being President of Glazer Kennedy Inner Circle - GKIC/Magnetic Marketing, involved with GKIC 8 years; Owner of a Direct Response Agency and Outsourced Sales Leader Company; Adjunct Professor of Marketing, North Park University; MBA from Nort...

ManSat Chairman Chris Stott returns to the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan to talk further about satellite spectrum and space advocacy. Activist-authors Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, the economics of space, space scholarships and more are our topics.   ManSat website: http://www.mansat.com/   SpaceIsle website: https://www.spaceisle.com/   SSPI website: https://www.sspi.or...

Chairman & CEO of the ManSat group of companies Chris Stott is on the Cold Star Project, and our main topic is satellite spectrum. Where does the authorization for satellite communication frequencies come from, and how is it distributed? With host Jason Kanigan, Chris discusses: the definition of "satellite spectrum" how ManSat got the authority to distribute satellite spectrum, and from whom?...

Managing Partner of space venture capital firm SpaceFund Meagan Crawford is on the Cold Star Project. With host Jason Kanigan she explains: how SpaceFund defines "space company", and why that matters what the surprising thing most often missing from pitch decks is that founders should make sure they include what the realities are of the exit landscape for space companies her recommendations to spa...

Dr. Marek Ziebart, Professor of Space Geodesy at and Director of University College London's Space Geodesy and Navigation Group, is on the Cold Star Project to discuss space object tracking and situational awareness.   Dr. Ziebart is a fellow of the Fellow Royal Astronomical Society, journal reviewer, and winner of several awards including 2018 Tycho Brahe Award from the Institute of Navigati...

General Partner at Starbridge Venture Capital and President of the Moon Society Michael Mealling is on the Cold Star Project. Michael has long been both a technical and business leader in the space field. Our main aim in this episode is to clear up the question of What Kind Of Space Companies Do Venture Capitalists Invest In?   With host Jason Kanigan, Michael Mealling discusses: how venture...

Dr. Christopher Newman is Professor of Space Law and Policy at Northumbria University. We're talking about an important but not oft-seen issue in space, which is a part of many areas such as space situational awareness: environmental protection.   The first thing you're likely to notice is that phrase, like many things in space, does not quite mean what you first thought. It is farther reachi...

E2MC space venture capital firm founder Raphael Roettgen is on the Cold Star Project for this inaugural episode of Season Three. With host Jason Kanigan he explains: what lead him to space as a career focus, and specifically investing in space how he finds prospective space investments what segments of space he finds especially interesting at this time how he makes up his mind about whether to inv...

Dr. Paul van Susante comes with the heritage of the Colorado School of Mines, but is a professor at Michigan Technological University. He is well-known in the Lunar and Mars construction & ISRU field, contributing to CLASS and as co-Investigator on several experiments.   On the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan we discuss: what properties and result of the lunar regolith Paul is f...

Founder & Principal at Space Law & Policy Solutions Michael Listner is on the Cold Star Project. He's also author and editor of The Precis, a space law quarterly briefing letter. Our subject of discussion is Realpolitik and space law, and I ask Michael about: where he finds himself most often with another interpretation, either conceptually or with the letter of the law, with other space l...

Gary Calnan, co-founder & CEO @ CisLunar Industries out of Denver CO, is on the Cold Star Project. They're on a mission to create industrial capabilities in cislunar space that will enable sustainable space exploration and a permanent human presence beyond Earth. To make this a reality, their goal is to create the Space Foundry: the first in-space capability for recycling metal already in orbi...

Dr. Troy Howe joins host Jason Kanigan on the Cold Star Project to discuss the ways Howe Industries is using NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) grants to innovate in space.   We cover:   What is Howe's SPEAR project and the NIAC-supported objectives  - How the NIAC grant proposal process works What project milestones look like   How a new thermocouple design by Howe could...

PhD candidate and Co-Chair of the 2019 Caltech Space Challenge Fabien Foyer is my guest on this episode of the Cold Star Project. This is a fascinating event and I wish I could have had the chance to participate, but I'm far too old. Fabien describes the Challenge, which is free and open to students all over the world. Links:   Website: http://www.spacechallenge.caltech.edu/   YouTube Le...

Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Tech speaks at the first "Make Space Boring" virtual conference. His topic is lowering the awful 40%+ partial plus full mission failure rate of small satellites.    The recordings of the rest of the event and speakers is available at https://coldstartech.com/msb2conf   Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Founder & CSO of AAC Clyde Space Craig Clark is on the Cold Star Project, and our topic is how Clyde has strongly contributed to the pioneering of the UK small satellite industry. With host Jason Kanigan, Craig shares: what the most important thing he learned from 11 years as a team leader at Surrey Satellite Tech was a snapshot of the UK space industry...where he believes its principle expert...