Breakthrough Orbital Platforms, with Tejpaul Bhatia (CEO of Axiom Space)

This week on Valley of Depth, we’re joined by Tejpaul Bhatia, the newly appointed CEO of Axiom Space — a company building one of the first commercial space stations and leading private human spaceflight missions to low Earth orbit. The company is gearing up for Ax-4, Axiom’s fourth mission to the ISS, which will fly astronauts from Poland, Hungary, and India under the command of Axiom astronaut Peggy Whitson.
 

In his first interview (and podcast) as CEO, Tejpaul shares what the leadership transition means for Axiom, why he sees the company as a “forever business,” and how he plans to scale its station, suits, and astronaut programs into a thriving orbital economy. We also get into:

• Tejpaul’s journey from startup founder to Axiom CEO
• The state of the space station market and the case for demand
• What investors misunderstand about orbital infrastructure
• Axiom’s shifting revenue mix and modular station roadmap
• His take on the CLD program and U.S. industrial strategy
• How Tejpaul thinks about scaling trust, culture, and ambition in space

• Chapters •

00:00 Intro

00:59 Tejpaul's transition into the CEO role

03:25 Tejpaul's background before Axiom

08:03 Reaction to being offered CRO role

10:50 Previous CEO's departure

12:57 Preserving vs evolving at Axiom

14:23 Initial priorities as CEO

19:06 Free-flying space station market

24:37 Number of future space station operators

27:06 Science projects vs commercial viability

32:44 Current and future revenue streams

38:11 Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Destination (CLD)

41:21 Moving beyond NASA dependence

45:45 Technical roadmap

47:19 Astronaut program pricing

53:21 What investors miss about stations

56:04 Capital requirements and fundraising

01:00:07 Cost of first station

01:01:35 Axiom & SpaceX relationship

01:04:40 Tejpaul's personal interests

• Show notes •

Axiom’s website — https://axiomspace.com/

Axiom’s socials — https://x.com/Axiom_Space

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace

Ignition’s socials — https://twitter.com/ignitionnuclear / 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/

Tectonic’s socials  — https://twitter.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/

Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/

• About us •

Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies.

• Payload: www.payloadspace.com
• Ignition: www.ignition-news.com
• Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com