Manifest Space with Morgan Brennan

As commercial space has taken off in the 21st century, so too has popular interest in. As demand for talent rises, advocacy organizations like the Aerospace Industries Association are focused on converting that interest into a bigger talent pipeline. CEO Eric Fanning joins Morgan Brennan from the Reagan National Defense Forum to discuss space policy, national security concerns, and education.

Stratolaunch’s giant airplane conducted its first-ever captive-carry flight with a fueled hypersonic test vehicle. The 12th flight for the company’s Roc launch platform, the mission brings the startup closer to the first powered flight of the Talon-A. CEO Zach Krevor joins Morgan Brennan to discuss the recent milestone, hypersonic flight’s total addressable market and the acquisition of the now-defunct Virgin Orbit’s Boeing 747 aircraft.

Venture capital is creeping back into the space sector, with Ursa Major raising $138 million in Series D and D-1 rounds. Capital from the likes of RTX Ventures, BlackRock, Explorer 1 Fund & more will help the rocket propulsion startup to produce engines for rocket launches, hypersonic vehicles – and enable expansion into a new defense-focused market. Founder & CEO Joe Laurienti joins Morgan Brennan to discuss defense tech, the case for 3-D printed rocket engines, and more from the Reagan National Defense Forum.

With geopolitical tensions strained, Morgan Brennan sits down with Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall from the Reagan National Defense Forum to discuss AI on the battlefield, the race to secure space & more.

Mike Massimino, serving as a NASA astronaut until 2014, has a slew of accomplishments: the first human to tweet from space, the last astronaut to work inside the Hubble Telescope and the speculated inspiration for George Clooney’s role in “Gravity.” He’s now out with a book, titled Moonshot, with the greatest lessons learned from his experiences. Massimino joins Morgan Brennan to discuss the book and the what experiences in space can bring to daily living on earth.

While space is awe-inspiring and technologically groundbreaking, is it investable? Venture capitalist Tess Hatch, who has invested in space startups like Rocket Lab and Spire Global, is pausing her commercial space investments and setting sights on a related industry: defense tech. She joins Morgan Brennan to make the case for the strategic pivot and venture outlook.

Commercial space regulation law is on the House of Representatives’ docket — but what needs to be regulated? The White House and House Science, Space and Technology Committee have both unveiled their proposals for simplifying government oversight of the commercial space sector; with two different takes on how to approach the space. Morgan Brennan sits down with Caryn Schenewerk, former SpaceX & Relativity Space counsel, to discuss the playbook for regulation as it stands.

After a complex mission failure involving its Electron rocket in mid-September, Rocket Lab now expects to resume launches as soon as the end of November. An launch by year-end is pivotal for the company as it looks ahead to 22 Electron missions on the manifest in 2024. Morgan Brennan sits down with co-founder & CEO Peter Beck to discuss the upcoming mission cadence, the latest on Neutron, space systems & launching hypersonic drones for the Pentagon.

After striking a partnership with satellite communications company Iridium, Qualcomm has backed out of the deal. Scrapping its SnapDragon satellite plans, Qualcomm noted in a statement that smartphone makers have “indicated a preference towards standards-based solutions” for satellite-to-phone connectivity. Iridium CEO Matt Desch joins Morgan Brennan to share his insights, the next steps for Iridium & the case for the satellite-connected smartphone market.

Iridium Communications is celebrating 25 years since its first entrance into commercial service. Since emerging from a Motorola research lab in the 1980s, going through bankruptcy in 1999 & expanding service into satellite, what’s next for the company? CEO Matt Desch, chief executive at the company for nearly 18 years, joins Morgan Brennan to discuss the evolution of the satellite communications industry, competition with SpaceX’s Starlink & its partnership with Qualcomm.