
Space Business Podcast
Space is rapidly growing into an exciting ecosystem for business. In this podcast we hear from entrepreneurs, executives, investors and others about the many opportunities that exist. This podcast is produced by the Space Business Institute in partnership with the International Space University.
Latest episodes

Apr 27, 2024 • 59min
Space Business Podcast #124 - Johannes Torpe: A Designer domesticating Space
Johannes Torpe is a well-known Danish designer who, among many other things, was the Creative Director at Bang & Olufsen, and once owned a space-themed night club called NASA. He is passionate about what he calls “domesticating space” – bringing space closer to people at large, beyond the existing space community. We met at Spacecom in Orlando earlier this year and finally had a chance to schedule a podcast episode to talk about all this. Enjoy!
https://www.johannestorpe.com/
Golden space suit event: https://www.designindaba.com/videos/conference-talks/danish-designer-johannes-torpe-power-design-create-universes
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:36 Johannes's background
6:05 Golden space suit entry
11:15 Connecting people to the Space Renaissance
18:42 Domesticating Space
21:50 The Space Mountain Case and Space "Retroism"
27:22 Potential ways of inspiring people
31:06 Hotels & Resorts
34:15 "Edutainment"
37:07 NASA Nightclub
42:36 Space & the arts
47:57 Current space-related projects
53:49 Sci-fi

Apr 18, 2024 • 59min
Space Business Podcast #123 - José Manuel Rodríguez, PLD Space: Launch
PLD Space is a Spanish launch startup. Last October, they successfully completed a suborbital test flight of their Miura-1 rocket. We talk about that flight, their future plans on the way to orbital launch, the launch market at large, and many other things, with my guest, PLD’s CFO, José Manuel Rodríguez. Enjoy!
https://www.pldspace.com/en/
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:20 Elevator Pitch
6:05 European access to space
9:17 Business Model
13:17 Specs
18:10 Rocket engines
19:20 Production capacity
20:54 Scaling up
23:41 Europe vs. other markets
25:50 Customers
28:50 Gaining trust with customers
33:27 User guide
35:40 Launch market
39:10 Sovereign launch
42:08 Spaceports
44:18 Orbits
47:00 Future milestones
49:45 Team
53:38 Other interesting space activities
55:30 Sci-Fi

Apr 12, 2024 • 43min
Space Business Podcast #122 - Alexandra Vidyuk, Space Ambition & Aloniq VC
Space Ambition is a very popular space blog on Substack, with over 11000 subscribers. Its founder Alexandra Vidyuk is our guest this week. She is also a space tech investor at Aloniq VC. We talk about both of her roles. Enjoy!
Space ambition blog: https://spaceambition.substack.com/
Aloniq VC: https://www.aloniq.com/
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:08 Alex's activities in the space sector
3:10 Space Ambition origins
5:48 Transitioning into the space sector
7:23 What is Space Ambition?
9:04 Topics
11:42 "Spotlights"
14:30 Insights from Spotlights
17:30 Women in Space
20:20 Dream guest
21:61 Insights of space tech investors
22:58 Other space media
25:13 Getting into space investing
27:28 Other deep tech areas vs. space
29:33 Interesting areas in space
31:33 Investor perspectives
35:53 The Singapore Space Ecosystem
38:58 Sci-fi

Apr 9, 2024 • 1h
Space Business Podcast #121 - Aaron Kemmer, Max Space: Inflatables
Inflatable space modules is what we are talking about in this episode, and that is Max Space’s product, a company that just came out more publicly at Space Symposium. My guest for the episode is CEO & co-founder Aaron Kemmer, who some of you may remember from his previous role as a co-founder of the in-space manufacturing company Made in Space. Aaron and I talk about his motivation to set up Max Space, and how their inflatables can be used for example as habitats, research labs, manufacturing sites and even as sports and entertainment venues in space.
For full disclosure: Max Space is a portfolio company of E2MC, the space venture capital fund founded by our host Raphael Roettgen.
https://getmaxspace.com/
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:26 Max Space
3:32 Rationale for starting Max Space
7:22 Inflatables
9:26 Space in space
13:13 In-space experiments
15:51 Business model
18:13 Customization for use cases
21:13 User guide
22:27 Life support and space hazards
26:48 End of life planning
30:18 Inflatables beyond Earth orbit
35:50 Volume
36:44 Fitting windows & other structures
40:00 Inflating
41:00 First module in space
43:12 Major to-dos and milestones
46:25 Regulatory process
47:52 Long-term vision
51:20 Other exciting things in the space industry
55:07 Sci-fi

Apr 3, 2024 • 1h 5min
Space Business Podcast #120 - AdAstra - Space Talent Advisory
We are talking about the space job market in this episode. My guests are Seyka and Brian Mejeur, the founders of AdAstra, a space talent advisory or headhunting firm. Besides talking about the trends in the space job market in general, we also discuss some advice specifically for job candidates and for space founders. Make sure to listen in!
AdAstra website:
https://adastra.us/
Legacy vs. Startup Talent - article by Brian Mejeur:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/legacy-vs-startup-talent-brian-mejeur-apu2c/?trackingId=cxpwmH5ndwd5B9AjK0yI4w%3D%3D
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps
0:00 Episode intro
2:07 Intro to AdAstra
2:37 Life before AdAstra
6:29 Market demand & scope of roles
8:29 Advice for startups
10:51 Startup culture vs legacy culture
14:42 Advice for job candidates
17:32 Pre-filtering
21:22 Interview process
25:45 Getting candidates from non-space companies
29:40 Bottlenecks
35:12 Restrictions on international candidates
40:51 Gender imbalance in the space sector
45:40 Subsector trends
48:10 Roles & skills trends
50:25 Regional Trends
52:30 Compensation packages
57:40 Protecting clients
59:35 Space sector general interests
1:02:24 Sci-fi

Feb 27, 2024 • 54min
Space Business Podcast #119 - Luke Fischer, SkyFi: EO data
We are back talking about Earth observation. Specifically about how to make accessing and using EO data user-friendly. Our guest this week is Luke Fischer, co-founder & CEO of Sky-Fi, an Austin-based startup that is essentially an EO market place and app store. Luke tells us all about SkyFi and his view on the state of EO in general. Enjoy!
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:35 Elevator pitch
3:40 EO data use now
8:08 SkyFi's product
11:42 A vision for space imagery
14:30 Business development
17:50 Business model & use cases
20:20 Customer service
21:30 Market education
23:20 Government impact
25:30 Trends, future tech & market gaps
28:10 Regulatory restrictions
31:50 Consolidation potential impact
37:20 User friendliness
39:40 Interesting customer behavior & use cases
43:40 Next milestones for SkyFi
46:10 Ten-year vision
49:15 SkyFi is hiring
50:15 What else is interesting in the space sector?
51:25 Sci-Fi

Feb 19, 2024 • 54min
Space Business Podcast #118 - Sho Nakanose, Gitai: Space Robotics
Two words: space robotics. Gitai, founded in Japan and now headquartered in the U.S. wants to significantly bring down the cost of labor in space -in orbit, on space stations, on the Moon, even on Mars- with its robotic technology. My guest is Gitai’s founder & CEO, Sho Nakanose.
Gitai website (incl. careers): https://gitai.tech/
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:31 Elevator Pitch
3:50 Gitai's origin story
6:18 Pitching the company 7 years ago
9:08 Shifting perceptions
11:13 Gitai's products
13:50 Engineering approach
19:12 Use cases
24:50 Customers
26:40 First lunar use case
28:00 First lunar demonstration
30:07 Next major milestones
32:35 Business model
33:45 Vision for the Company
35:00 Cost target
36:45 Future missions
38:45 Mass production & supply chain
41:25 Humanoid robots
45:25 Terrestrial business options
48:40 Gitai is hiring!
50:00 What else is interesting in the space sector
51:38 Sci Fi

4 snips
Dec 29, 2023 • 27min
2024 in Space - Preview
This is our annual preview episode, about some of the key things which may happen in the space sector in 2024.
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:40 Preview episode initial remarks
2:27 Launch
10:07 Spacecraft
10:43 Human spaceflight
14:12 Lunar
15:55 Science
17:17 Government
18:05 Satellite Communications
18:48 Earth Observation
19:20 OSAM
20:44 Finance and Funding
24:00 Events and Education
24:58 Poll on most exciting space events in 2024

Dec 16, 2023 • 1h 9min
Space Business Podcast #117 - Jessica Frick, Stanford XLab, In-Space Manufacturing of Advanced Materials
In-space manufacturing is what we are discussing in this episode, and we have a really cool and qualified guest: Jessica Frick is a researcher at Stanford’s XLab, the extreme environment microsystems lab. They recently held a workshop on semiconductor manufacturing in microgravity, just published a white paper about it (linked below), and are now setting up an institute focused on manufacturing advanced materials in microgravity. Enjoy!
The Institute for In-Space Manufacturing of Advanced Materials
https://rb.gy/b4661j
White paper: Semiconductor Manufacturing in Low-Earth Orbit for Terrestrial Use
https://osf.io/preprints/osf/d6ar4
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:20 Intro to XLab & Jessica
4:37 Jessica's origin story & motivation
8:54 Semiconductor manufacturing primer
14:15 In-space manufacturing for Earth
15:58 Which part of semi manufacturing makes sense to do in space
17:30 Advantages of microgravity
18:50 Could it be done on Earth?
20:25 Advantages of microgravity (cont'd)
26:20 Semiconductor materials besides silicon
28:50 Why larger crystals are better
35:45 Why now?
38:45 Safety & astronaut intervention
40:30 Microgravity platforms besides the ISS
41:40 Importance of subject matter expertise
45:00 Origin of the idea for the new institute
54:55 Current ISS equipment
55:55 The Institute for In-Space Manufacturing of Advanced Materials
1:02:00 How to get involved
1:04:25 Sci-fi

Nov 24, 2023 • 54min
Space Business Podcast #116 - Omar Qaise, OQ Technology: Satellite IoT
Satellite IoT, or internet of things – we have another episode on this topic. Which devices or machines can we connect via satellite communications, how and why? Our guest is Omar Qaise, the founder & CEO of Luxembourg-based OQ Technology, a prominent satellite IoT startup that has already several satellites in orbit. Enjoy!
Follow us:
Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/
Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/
Learn more about space & the space economy:
SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/
The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:19 Elevator Pitch
3:33 Devices outside of coverage that would benefit
6:33 How are people monitoring such devices right now?
8:01 Cost
10:55 Working with off the shelf hardware
12:33 Regulations
15:27 Go to market
18:48 Energy specific use cases
19:56 Go to market: push vs. pull
21:14 Coverage and constellation size
22:13 Lower latency use cases
23:57 Types of satellite
24:55 Direct to device vs direct to mobile
26:12 Receivers
28:20 Wearables
30:04 Cybersecurity
32:26 Most exciting future use cases
36:10 Future of the satellite IoT market
42:03 Origin story
44:08 Vision for the OQ
45:10 The Space Ecosystem in Luxemburg
47:10 Saudi Arabia
49:15 What else is exciting in the space sector?
51:12 Sci-Fi