The Space Hour

We begin today looking at one of the most overlooked challenges in space: astronaut time. NASA estimates a single crew hour in orbit can cost more than $150,000, yet much of that time still goes to unpacking cargo, moving supplies, and routine maintenance. A new startup, Icarus, wants to change that. They’re developing adaptable, AI-enabled robots that can handle the repetitive and risky task...

Satellites quietly power so much of modern life — from the way we communicate to how our food is grown — yet most of us rarely think about how vulnerable they can be. As more satellites crowd into orbit, the risks are rising. Deloitte has introduced Silent Shield, a new system designed to spot cyber intrusions and anomalies in near real time. It’s already been tested aboard the “Deloitte-1” satell...

Space may finally be getting its energy revolution. Star Catcher Industries, the company building the first orbital power grid, just set a new world record for wireless optical power transmission — surpassing DARPA’s benchmark — by delivering more than 1.1 kilowatts of energy to standard solar panels at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. I had the pleasure of speaking with Andrew Rush, CEO and co-f...

The world of air and space is expanding fast, and the legal frameworks that govern it need to keep up. The University of Mississippi School of Law is launching the nation’s first fully online Master of Science in Air and Space Law, designed to train professionals to navigate the complex legal and regulatory landscape of aviation, drones, and space operations. I had the chance to speak with the per...

IBM and NASA have just unveiled Surya, a groundbreaking open-source AI model designed to forecast solar activity with unprecedented accuracy. It's trained on nearly a decade of high-resolution solar data and represents a major leap forward in space weather prediction — a field that’s becoming increasingly vital as our reliance on satellites, GPS, and telecommunications grows. For a chance to discu...

Tim Ryan, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and has nearly 30 years in space operations and national security strategy, Tim is now helping Guidehouse advance its space mission capabilities for the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. I recently had the chance to speak with him about how space is becoming a more connected, contested domain — and what it takes to stay ahead. S...

I recently had the honor of speaking with Joy White, she is freshly retired after a remarkable 40-year career in federal service — most recently as the Executive Director of U.S. Space Systems Command, the top-ranking civilian in the organization. Joy led a global workforce of over 15,000 personnel and oversaw a $15.6 billion portfolio delivering agile, resilient space capabilities for national de...

There is certainly a lot of hardware falling in Low Earth Orbit at the moment. So much so that many are looking at leveraging new technologies for ways to decommission satellites, or even simply move objects out of the way to ensure there are no disastrous collisions. One new company that has taken on this challenge, Kall Morris Inc., who say they've recently successfully completed the first comme...

A new partnership between Globalstar, a satellite company, and the U.S. Army, looks to test and improve satellite technology that can be used for secret and secure communication in military operations. Specifically, they want to see how well new low-visibility satellite devices work in difficult environments where traditional communication systems might not be available or reliable. To find out mo...

Budget cuts seem to be the name of the game for this Congress, and NASA and other U.S. space exploration plans. Though things remain in the air and there are some opponents to it, the 2026 budget proposal from the Trump administration calls for steeper cuts than many expected. For a breakdown of that proposal, I spoke with Maria Lily Shaw, Senior Consultant at Novaspace, a consulting firm tha...

Space enthusiasts and hopefully listeners of this show know the term LEO, or low Earth orbit gets tossed around a lot, but what about VLEO, that's very low Earth orbit. Well you may begin hearing that phrase more and more. Orion Space Solutions announced the successful completion of a test readiness review (TRR) for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Ouija program VLEO...

Contained within the plans to slash government spending, NOAA, that is the National Oceanic and Administrative Administration's, particularly its Office of Space Commerce and its TraCCS system, is one of the targets. That's a problem for the many organizations in the commercial space industry who've come to rely on it. That's why a coalition of space industry associations have all come together to...

As advancements are made in space, so to are they made in the nuclear armament fields. Maintaining global nuclear security you could say is one of the most important jobs for our international leaders, but with the two areas becoming more and more intertwined, it might help to have those in the nuclear security field learn more about space. That's what the Secure World Foundation is hoping to acco...

Radiation hardening, is the process of making electrical components resistant to high levels of radiation. It's an important part of developing space equipment obviously. Doing it however requires the proper tools and facilities, and there's a new one out there. Auburn University's Applied Research Institute has recently been given a contract through the Missile Defense Agency to create a new...

It seems like a strange thing to wonder, but I was curious of the role that science and research plays in military space operations, particularly for the U.S. Space Force. I found the perfect person to help with that question. Dr. Stacie Williams is Chief Science Officer, who was able to lay out to me the focus of her role and why STEM is still one of THE most important aspects of U.S. space domin...

Starting today at an unlikely place, the U.S. Army. With the branch recently celebrating its 250th anniversary, it's also entering a new chapter, one that involves more space activity. In fact, it's creating a new military occupational specialty for enlisted personnel supporting Army space operations – the 40D, Space Operations Specialist. To find out more about it and other plans of actions the b...

There's almost too much data for humans to consider when making decisions now during space missions. Operators can become bogged down in analyzing all the avenues of information at their disposal. Enter artificial intelligence and machine learning. The application here could help make those decisions for them, especially as missions take place further and further away from the Earth itself. For mo...

Back in March, the ASPIRE ONE Lunar Record successfully landed on the moon. It was a part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services within the Artemis program. The experiment involves putting a digital record of life here on Earth, on the moon. Think of it as a time capsule for anyone to possibly find in the future and see what life was like here during this time. A fascinating idea to say the l...

New research from Wokelo, a Gen-AI-powered investment research platform, reveals that the space economy and commercialized space tech are quietly becoming investor hot spots, with funding rounds accelerating and valuations soaring. It exceeded $3 billion in funding in 2021 and continues to attract investors, even from characters you may not have seen venture off into this area before. To explain,...

Now in it's 5th year of existence, the U.S. Space Force continues to make advancements and investments in defense network connectivity and joint space operation. The availability of data gathered in space has grown exponentially during that time period as well. In order to be able to access it and maintain operational capabilities, it requires a lot of interoperability. One company working on that...

The space industry is a unique arena. Though highly competitive, there is a ton of collaboration between different companies and stakeholders. One of the reasons for that is due to organizations like The Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or SPACE ISAC for short. It just announced a new feature for it's participating members, access to Accelerating Space Capabilities 100, which serves...

The non-profit organization Universities Space Research Association recently welcomed in a new leader. Dr. Elsayed Talaat is now serving as the organization's President and CEO. You've probably heard that acronym brought up on this program before, because it has served as a great catalyst for research projects and educational initiatives within the space community. and therefor, a good source for...

For the second year in a row, the Space Beach Law Lab kicks off this week right off the coast of Long Beach, California. It will feature dozens of space law experts, provided needed insights. Since we all know, as more money pours in to the commercial space industry, that means a need for more legal experts. To learn more about the event I had the pleasure of talking to Drea Bernardi who is a foun...

Cloud cover can be a disruptor for satellites trying to get a good view of Earth, no matter how big your constellation is. One company though is executing a workaround.  It launched a new satellite on a SpaceX transporter this past winter, with the capability of seeing through the clouds and darkness, using advanced radar technology. That company is ICEYE, and it actually starting using this techn...