The DownLink Podcast

In this part two episode of The Downlink’s coverage of the State Of The Space Industrial Base Conference And Workshop, organized by New Space New Mexico, Laura Winter speaks with Jim Keravala, CEO, Chief Architect and Chairman of the Board of Off World. Keravala, like other commercial space leaders involved in anything from cargo delivery to support NASA’s Artemis program, to space domain awareness, and even mining the moon and asteroids, is preparing his organization to go to the lunar neighborhood and set up shop. He and others wonder whether the Department of Defense is going to join them in the cis-lunar region to sustain friendly commercial activity, and are concerned about the future if it doesn’t. You can listen to part one here: https://defaeroreport.com/2022/06/06/the-downlink-jun-06-22-should-americas-military-go-to-the-moon/

Commercial space companies involved in anything from cargo delivery to support NASA’s Artemis program, to space domain awareness, and even mining the moon and asteroids are preparing to go to the lunar neighborhood and set up shop. They’re wondering whether the Department of Defense is going to join them in the cis-lunar region to sustain friendly commercial activity, and are concerned about the future if it doesn’t. Laura Winter speaks with Namarata Goswami, an independent scholar on space policy and great power politics and co-author of the book “Scramble for the Skies”, and Brien Flewelling, Exoanalitic Solutions chief architect for space situational awareness and “innovation boffin”. This is part one of a two-part series.

China is looking for "a combination of soft and hard kill methods” to destroy Elon Musk’s broadband satellite communication constellation Starlink. So it’s not surprising that U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to China’s democratic neighbors produced agreements bolstering the space economy and space defense. Does this Indo-Pacific cooperation change China’s calculus? Laura Winter speaks with Brendan Mulvaney, Director of the Air University’s China Aerospace Studies Institute, and Malcolm Davis, who is a senior policy analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

The U.S. Department of State quietly launched a new organization that’s fusing commercial satellite imagery with social media posts to provide evidence of Russian war crimes to prosecutors, such as those in the International Criminal Court. It’s called the Conflict Observatory. Laura Winter Speaks with Nathaniel Raymond, a war crimes investigator and the Executive Director of Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, who worked with the State Department in standing up the Conflict Observatory; and Steve Wood, a former geospatial intelligence analyst, who is the Senior Director of Maxar Technologies’ News Bureau, which supplies the media and the U.S. government with unclassified satellite imagery documenting Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Two meaty and divisive subjects are in the queue. First the U.S. Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General released its report on whether the 2021 decision to locate Space Command in Huntsville, Alabama ticked all the legal and policy boxes. And Second, California’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a senior Democrat, and Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio introduced the Space National Guard Establishment Act with 10 co-sponsors, but the Biden Administration is not among the proposed bill’s supporters. Laura Winter hosts a discussion with Peter Garretson, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, coauthor of Scramble for the Skies The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space, and the host of AFPC's Space Strategy Podcast; Christopher Stone who is a senior fellow for space studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, and the author of Reversing the Tao: A Framework for Credible Space Deterrence; and spacepower expert Col. M.V. “Coyote” Smith, USAF (Ret.), who is an Associate Professor and Director at the Air Command and Staff College, at Maxwell Air Force Base.

This week in Paris Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron announced a further deepening of their defence cooperation. This time it includes the space domain. To understand why this agreement is significant, Laura Winter speaks with Narayan Prasad, a long-time space entrepreneur based in Berlin, and Pranav Satyanath, a research analyst with the Takshashila Intitution’s Strategic Studies Programme in Bangalore.

China celebrates Space Day of China with announcements, putting the U.S. on notice that it means to get to and stay on the moon sooner rather than later, according to Malcolm Davis, a senior policy analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Laura Winter also speaks with Hawkeye 360’s CEO John Serafini and National Security Space Association Executive Director and Founder Steve Jacques about their announcement of a new commercial space initiative that aims to provide immediate humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine. You can find more information about SIFU here: https://www.he360.com/space-industry-launches-humanitarian-initiative-to-support-ukraine/

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the United States is unilaterally giving up direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) testing. This type of ASAT test is known to create orbital debris, which almost everyone agrees is a danger to space-based infrastructure. But was this ban the right thing to do? That depends on the perspective. Laura Winter speaks with U.K. Amb. Aidan Liddle, Britain’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland, and spacepower expert Col. M.V. “Coyote” Smith, USAF (Ret.), who is an Associate Professor and Director at the Air Command and Staff College, at Maxwell Air Force Base, in Montgomery, Ala.

Most of the world's space agencies and companies are winding down their cooperation with Russia, while other major space-faring nations are making agreements. Laura Winter speaks with the Secure World Foundation’s Washington, D.C. Office Director Victoria Samson, who explains what this may mean for future international cooperation in creating a stable space environment.

Too bold? Or not bold enough? The U.S. Secretary of the Air Force revealed how the Biden Administration intends to shape the U.S. Space Force’s mission and future this week at Space Symposium. Laura Winter hosts a discussion with Peter Garretson, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, coauthor of Scramble for the Skies The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space, and the host of AFPC's Space Strategy Podcast; Christopher Stone who is a senior fellow for space studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, and the author of Reversing the Tao: A Framework for Credible Space Deterrence; and Makena Young is an associate fellow with the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).