End-to-End Space Transportation, with Bill Weber (Firefly Aerospace)

Today’s Pathfinder episode brings in Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, hot on the heels of the U.S. Space Force’s VICTUS NOX mission success. Bill shares insights on the prep work that propelled the mission, with a nod to his past life helming a public company. The discussion offers a glimpse into the meticulous planning and execution required in modern space missions. 

In addition, Mo and Bill chat: 

• Firefly's next-generation launch vehicle
• Working with Northrop Grumman
• Supply/demand dynamics of the launch market
• How hard it is to reach orbit

And much more… 

This episode is brought to you by SpiderOak, a US-based software company that builds space cybersecurity products and solutions for civilian, military, and commercial space operations. Learn more at https://spideroak.com/

• Chapters • 

00:00 - Introduction

01:47 - Bill's background and how he got into the industry

08:12 - What is Firefly?

10:05 - Why is Firefly focusing on end-to-end transportation?

14:53 - Metrics of the Alpha launch vehicle

17:38 - Customer traction

20:19 - How hard is it to reach orbit?

22:30 - Being consistent on the easy stuff

26:12 - SpiderOak Ad

26:59 - The Victus Nox Mission

33:25 - Working with Northrop Grumman

36:50 - Reusability in the MLV

38:54 - Raising a Series C in today's market

41:44 - A PE-backed company

45:08 - Will Firefly go public?

47:52 - Is the launch market crowded?

47:59 - What is happening to public aerospace stocks?

48:27 - When do you think space companies will be ready for IPOs?

49:22 - Areas of the market that are overhyped and underhyped

50:22 - Breakthrough technology to pay attention to

51:05 - Company outside of Firefly that you're rooting for

• Show notes • 

Firefly's website — https://fireflyspace.com/ 

Firefly's socials — https://twitter.com/Firefly_Space 

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

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

Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes

• About us •

Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 15,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world. Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers.

Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing three media properties across multiple platforms: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern (https://newsletter.payloadspace.com/) 2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com) 3) Polaris, our weekly policy publication, hits inboxes Tuesday (https://polaris.payloadspace.com/) 4) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (https://parallax.payloadspace.com/)