The Space Hour

Federal Space projects require a lot of different organizations to take care of the many, many technical needs, whether for defense or exploration purposes. The problem is, many of those niche companies don't exactly have long standing relationships with federal and defense agencies. To help facilitate those relationships, companies like BMNT which is a defense tech innovation firms to make sure t...

Though they are still grounded on earth, the observatories that stay looking at the sky are vital to exploring space and finding every nook and cranny in the universe. One of them, Carnegie Observatories does just that from its world famous Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. I recently got to speak with Dr. John Mulcahaey, who is director and chair of the observatories, about the work they all do....

You can't overlook the role venture capitalists have played in the rise of the commercial space industry. In an industry that relies on failed tests, there needs to be those sponsors who are alright with not seeing a quick return on investment. So what does it take to make those smart investments and what goes into the decision-making process? For answers to those questions, I spoke to Ethan Batra...

NASA has a history of firsts. Now it has a new first. A first chief artificial intelligence officer. Joining Federal Drive Host Tom Temin last week was that very chief AI officer, Dave Salvaginni  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

An academic course, endorsed by the Defense Department and delivered by accelerator company BMNT, aims to help science and engineering students develop their ideas into companies. It's called Hacking for Defense. One startup, called Pharos Aerospace, hopes to help both Defense and commercial satellite operators deal with space debris. For more, Federal News Network's Tom Temin spoke with former Un...

The company MSI-DFAT, has a unique specialty. It blasts very loud sound at satellites and spacecraft that mimics the incredibly loud and harsh rocket launch noise environments for launch certification. It's an important step in making sure these multibillion dollar pieces of equipment are going to be able to make the journey to the final frontier. I recently had a chance to speak with two of the c...

We begin today talking about the weather. Well not the actual weather itself, but the hardware needed to track it. Recently, NASA selected Lockheed Martin to build he nation's next generation weather satellite constellation, Geostationary Extended Observations, or GeoXO. It's a contract with an estimated value of just over $2.25 billion. To find out what the GeoXO mission is all about, I spoke to...

There are a lot of regulatory boxes you need to check to get your space project underway. This can be hard for companies with smaller budgets and legal resources. To help, the firm Aegis Space Law has created a regulatory calculator tool to help commercial space companies understand which regulations apply to them. To learn more, I got the chance to talk to Bailey Reicheldt who is a partner at Aeg...

The Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, and NASA are collaborating with eight American universities for the second year of the Mission Concept Program. The program provides universities with assistance in helping students gain skills focused on early satellite mission design, through mentorship and guidance from space professionals. I had the chance to speak with two folks who are a part of th...

George Mason University will be the site of the recently approved Landolt NASA Space Mission. The mission will kick off in 2029 by launching a light into the sky that will help scientists determine the brightness of starts so they can more accurately study how fast the universe is growing. Leading the mission is GMU associate professor Peter Plavchan, who joined me earlier to discuss. See Privacy...

Voyager Space has entered into an agreement with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to help develop an airlock for the Mars Transit Vehicle, also referred to as Deep Space Transport. It's a 12-month study that will look at the applying the concept of Voyager's Bishop Airlock design, currently being utilized on the International Space Station, towards a future mission to Mars. To learn more, I spo...

The professional organization AFCEA International has launched its 139 national chapter right in Orlando, Florida. It's meant to help facilitate connections for members of the space industry with government agencies. It's even calling it the Space Coast Chapter. To learn more about how this came together and what the chapter has planned, I spoke to Tony Brown, who is Director of the Products/Softw...

The more nations launch satellites into space, the more crowded the orbit layers become. Especially in the burgeoning low earth orbit. NASA has a Space Environment Sustainability Advisory Board to help guide policy for an area of space that's starting to look like the Beltway at rush hour. The board has defined the problem in terms of five challenges. Federal News Network's Tom Temin got more from...

You hear a lot about zero trust controls in government tech circles, especially here on Federal News Network. Could this approach to cybersecurity which requires constant verification before access to a system, be applied to protecting space assets. The U.S. Space Force certainly seems to think so. It recently granted a a $17 million contract to the company Xage Security to help the branch achieve...

So we're trying to send folks back to the moon and potentially mars. However, the longer people are out there, the longer they could potentially come down with something. Yes much like the fisherman and pioneers back in the day, even the most simple of conditions can become dangerous when you're far away from home. So obviously technology will be needed to help prevent, diagnose and treat anything...

The concept of nuclear power kinda makes sense for space travel doesn't it? Taking a small amount of material and being able to harness energy from it to create a vast amount of heat, electricity, and power. I'm not breaking any news with that thought, as there have been and are currently a lot of smarter people that are trying to make that idea a reality. One of them is Robert O'Brien, who was re...

Beginning today with the ISS National Lab. It's the government funded organization which manages all non-NASA research and investigations. It recently announced a new funding opportunity for in-space production applications, which can leverage the unique space environment to develop, test, or mature new products and processes. To find out more about the potential here and it's role overall in U.S....

I had the pleasure of hosting a panel on the potential uses of AI in space featuring: MAJ Chris Krueger, USA - PhD Student, Designing Trustworthy AI Systems Fellow, The George Washington University Ms. Chandra Donelson - Space Data and Analytics Officer, U.S. Space Force Mr. Michael Nemerouf - Senior Engineering Specialist, Engineering and Technology Group, The Aerospace Corporation See Privacy Po...

NASA has made it's latest grant awards for its Bridge Program, ran buy the agency's Science Mission Directorate. The program aims to improve diversity in the science and engineering communities, as well as NASA's workforce itself. I wanted to hear more about this program and some of the projects it's sponsoring this go round, and I did so by speaking with Padi Boyd, who is the director of the Brid...

You may remember our interview last year with Collins Aerospace. A subset of RTX, it's working with NASA to develop the next generation spacesuit. Well the company has hit a new testing milestone, recently demonstrating its capabilities in a zero-gravity environment. One of those who got to give the suit a test drive was Danny Olivas, chief test astronaut and director of mission systems at Collins...

Two commercial space companies have agreed to work together on enhancing national security capabilities in the commercial space domain. Voyager Space and Palantir are using their abilities to help support and protect new technologies to be used on the International Space Station, and the soon to come Starlab commercial space station. I wanted to find out more about what this agreement means and ge...

We all share life on this big blue rock, and we all share the space around it as well. So in order to get the most out of it from a business and defense aspect, the U.S. is going to need allies. So how are the relationships between the U.S. and strategic partners when it comes to space-related goals? The RAND Corporation was recently tasked with looking into that very topic. To learn more about wh...

Our next guest is a career NASA researcher who's focused on the nearby planets and their geologic behavior. Now she's director of the Planetary Science Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Lori Glaze. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

Whether you know it or not, the U.S. is definitely in a new space race. The destination is the same, but the purpose is a little different. Russia. China and the states are looking to get back to the moon first to attempt to harvest the potential water located there. But that's just one aspect of current affairs. To get a clearer picture, I spoke with Ellis Brazeal and Brett Richards, both of whom...

NASA is taking a page from big time TV streaming services as it revamps its multimedia offerings. This month, the agency relaunched its longstanding NASA TV service – it’s now called NASA plus. There’s a new mobile app to go with it. Rebecca Sirmons is executive producer for NASA TV, she joined Federal News Network's Jared Serbu us now to talk more about it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com...