The Journal of Space Commerce Podcast

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. "We are definitely engaged from the start-up side, we...

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Kevin Stadnyk, co-founder and CEO of Obruta Space Solutions . "There will be humans in the loop for the initial and foreseeable future in some capacity. Similar to self-driving cars, the end goal is reaching full autonomy." Kevin Stadnyk Obruta Space Solutions is a Canadian company specializing in space robotics and technologies. Their...

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. "We built them basically an engine testing verification facility on Houston spaceport. They call it "The Flame Range" or "The Rocket Petting Zoo". Josh Foreschler, Burns & McDonnell Josh Foerschle...

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 innovat...

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 Ma...

Last year saw the largest number of rocket launches, the largest mass to orbit ever achieved, and a wide variety of space missions by a growing number of countries and companies. In short, it’s getting busy up there. So how can we keep ourselves safe and free from collision and conflict? Robin Dickey is a space policy and strategy analyst at The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and...

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...

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...

Sateliot is the first satellite operator to offer IoT or Internet of Things connectivity over standard 5G Narrow Band-IoT. Their constellation serves as cell towers in space, expanding mobile operator coverage and providing global connectivity to unmodified commercial terrestrial devices wherever they are. "Everything is going to take some time to be in the hands of everyone everywhere. But i...

Space launches have become very common, in fact, multiple times a week is now the norm. Each launch takes a well choreographed set of operations to get payload to space. But what goes on behind the scenes to make this happen? On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Laura Crabtree, CEO of Epsilon3 . Current mission tools are neglected in a program lifecycle, creating ineffici...

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Justus Parmar, founder of Fortuna Investments . Parmar founded the private investment firm in 2015 to develop long-term partnerships with changemaking entrepreneurs in emerging industries. Fortuna specializes in venture capital investments and has raised over $500 million for more than 125 companies since its founding. Space is one of...

Phantom Space Corporation was founded to change the way satellites and other assets are transported into space, through space, and ultimately back to Earth. The company's approach of offering of launch, propulsion, and satellite solutions enables a widening demographic to access space, space technology, and space data. This time on The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Mark Lester, COO o...

In this third and final installment of our series looking at geopolitics in Asia and Space Commerce, Tom Patton talks with Dr. Namrata Goswami about space commerce in India, and the influence of political and economic factors in the country. India has been on a roll in space, most recently with the landing of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft at the south pole of the Moon. India is also actively suppor...

A Conversation with Global Security Consultant Dr. Namrata Goswami In this second in our series of podcasts on international relations and space commerce, Tom Patton talks with Dr. Namrata Goswami about the current state of China's space program. "Today, China has about 140 space startups. Several of them have already launched to orbit." Dr. Namrata Goswami China has over the past se...

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Global Security Consultant Namrata Goswami concerning US-Russia policy and how it ties into space commerce. This is the first in a series of three podcasts with Ms. Goswami, looking at our relationships with Russia, China and India related to space commerce. "I do not see someone like Elon Musk being able to succeed or innovate in...

There is a great deal of work being done in the arena of manufacturing in space. Many of the companies working to place private space stations in orbit say that manufacturing is one of the functions that can make them commercially viable. Aboard the ISS, several additive manufacturing … or 3D printing … processes have been studied. On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Rya...

Like all businesses, space companies face challenges in recruitment and professional development. How do companies in the industry address those issues? On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Christopher Allen, co-founder and COO of Nova Space, which has just introduced a new program to help in that area. Nova Space Inc. offers organizations placement services from true spa...

The government and defense sectors are crucial to space commerce. Government and defense contracts are regularly awarded to private space companies to supply technology related to propulsion, communications, Earth observation and a host of other verticals. "We're put in a point in time where we need to think about non-traditionals that are extremely important. Because non-traditionals are...

The US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released its revised US Space Economy Statistics for 2012–2021. The new data builds on previous estimates that were released in January 2022 by incorporating new source data and improved methods. On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Dr. Tina Highfill, an award-winning research economist with the US Commerce...

A superconducting magnetorquer is an innovative idea for controlling spacecraft without the use of fuel. On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Max Arshavsky, CEO of Zenno Astronautics , a New Zealand startup developing just such an attitude control system, and other space applications. The Zenno system is the first superconducting magnetorquer for spacecraft attitude contr...

A remarkable technological advancement is revolutionizing the way we maintain and extend the lifespan of satellites in Earth orbit. Welcome to the world of on-orbit satellite servicing, where cutting-edge technology and expertise converge to overcome the challenges of maintaining and upgrading satellites in space." According to the website Orbiting Now, there are 7,854 satellites currently in...

One of the challenges for spaceports is attracting new business to be able to sustain operations. At Spaceport America , that is the job of Dr. Francisco Pallares, the newly-appointed Director of Business Development. Dr. Pallares joined the New Mexico Spaceport Authority from Sul Ross State University and was the former Deputy Director for Economic Development at the City of Las Cruces prior to a...

Veteran space industry insider Jim Cantrell, author of "Breaking All The Rules: The Inside Story of the New Space Race", got into the space business rather by accident. "I really never wanted to be in the space business when I was young." Jim Cantrell A flier posted at his college got the self-proclaimed southern California gear head involved in a project to design a Mars rover...

For the longest time, space launch systems were single use. Now, the focus is shifting towards fully resuable rockets such as those in development by Stoke Space. "We're really looking to try to maintain as much of the historical look that it had before." Kelly Henning. On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Kelly Henning, COO of Stoke Space. The company is wo...

Digital engineering is a relatively new field that is having a big impact on space commerce. On this edition of the Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Greg Porter, Senior Systems Architect at Sev1Tech , which provides IT modernization, cloud, cybersecurity, engineering, training and program support services to U.S. government agencies and major commercial organizations. Headquartered in the W...