Troubleshooting Space Engineering with AstroForge’s Jose Acain

In this episode of High Bit, Jose walks us through the challenges of troubleshooting a complex problem encountered during the pre-launch testing of a space-bound asteroid mining refinery. Using a real-life example, he illustrates the application of a fishbone diagram and the necessity of methodical problem-solving, even under extreme time pressure.

Topics:

1:41 What is AstroForge?

7:13 How Jose Met His Cofounder Matt Gialich

13:18 Using a Fishbone Diagram to Find the Root Cause of a Problem

15:01 The "Holy Shit" Moment When a Launch Does Not Go According to Plan

20:37 Validating All the Points of Failure to Get to a Solution

26:25 Lessons Learned from Working Under Time Pressure

High Bit is a new podcast hosted by Initialized Capital managing partner Brett Gibson about the art of technical problem-solving.

A high bit is the most significant part of the binary representation of a number. In programming language, it is commonly referred to as the most important thing you need to understand about a problem.

We spoke with our first four guests about just that. In each episode, we’ll break down a gnarly engineering problem and hear how the builder’s ingenuity and inventiveness led to a successful outcome.

High Bit is produced by Initialized Capital and hosted by Brett Gibson. Our showrunner is Candy Cheng. Episodes were shot and edited by Jordan Berns. Production support by Kevin Heinz and BTB Video Production.