The DownLink Podcast

Space Competition: China Launches Broadband Competitor Network To SpaceX’s Starlink Aiming to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, China just launched the first tranche of its broadband Gouwang constellation, and the Department of Defense this week submitted its annual report on the P.R.C.’s military and security developments to Congress. To understand what Beijing has accomplished in space in the past 12 months and what to expect in 2025, Laura Winter speaks with Namrata Goswami, an independent scholar on space policy and great power politics and co-Author of the book “Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space”. But first, Winter gets a year-end update on the Space Force Association’s activities from the organization’s Founder, CEO, and President, Bill “Hippie” Woolf.

U.S. Space Force Guardians are days away from celebrating their service branch’s fifth birthday. How far have they come in “cultivating the warfighter” in the past 12 months and what are the priorities for the next year? Laura Winter speaks with Chief Master Sergeant - Space Force John Bentivegna at the Space Force Association's Space Power Conference about lessons learned, his policy “the Guardian Journey”, and how the Space Force’s culture is evolving away from simply delivering support to the surface to deterring aggression and defending U.S. interests in space.

Space Money: The Game Of Space-Based Risk In a Time Of Market Fragility - The space insurance market is fragile, with claims, totalling billions of dollars, outpacing premium revenues. Yet, insurance companies are expanding their coverage and others are getting into this game of space-based risk. Laura Winter speaks with the four-decade space insurance market veteran Chris Kunstadter, President of Triton Space.

Space Competition: Trump’s South Korean Space Opportunity This week China, Russia, and North Korea deepened their military bonds in exercises and meetings, presenting the incoming Trump 2.0 Administration with an illustration of how security in East Asia has become more fragile in the four years since Donald Trump was in the White House. Trump’s “America First” acolytes may find economically attractive opportunities in security burden-sharing in the space domain with South Korea. Laura Winter speaks with Sam Wilson, Director of Strategy and Program Support, and Katie Melbourne, a space security analyst, both of whom are with the Center for Space Policy and Strategy at The Aerospace Corporation.

Space Competition: Great Power Strategy, “America First”, and The Mars-shot This week U.S. President-elect Donald Trump continued to shape his incoming government, naming cabinet nominees, including two authors of the controversial governance plan “Project 2025”, and enlisting adherents to the “America First” political philosophy. To understand how this plan, treatise, and talk of going to Mars, together will affect the space domain, Allies, partners, and adversaries, Laura Winter speaks with Namrata Goswami, an independent scholar on space policy and great power politics and co-author of the book “Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space”; Malcolm Davis, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute focusing on space policy, security, strategy, and capability development; and Hermann Ludwig Moeller, Director of the European Space Policy Institute.

Space Power: Trump 2.0 May Attempt Human Mars Landing, Establish Department of the Space Force Space policymakers from President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration debated what may be in store for the civil and defense space sectors, including sending humans to Mars instead of the moon, and establishing a Department of the Space Force. Laura Winter speaks with Doug Loverro, President, Loverro Consulting, LLC, former NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Defense for Space Policy, and deep experience with defense space programs, classified and unclassified.

Space Power: President-Elect Trump Expected To Supercharge U.S. Space Ambitions This week President Donald Trump, with the help of billionaire SpaceX founder Elon Musk, became the 47th President-Elect of the United States, for a second non-consecutive term. Space power advocates believe Trump, with the added influence of Musk by his side, will speed-up mission timelines that include the moon and Mars, and put monetary and political capital to work to establish and secure an American-led space economy. Laura winter speaks with the former Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Pennsylvania Rep. (ret.) Robert Walker, now Founder and CEO of moonWalker Associates; U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. (ret.) Steve Kwast; now Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of SpaceBilt; and Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and much respected NASA and Defense Department budget diviner.

Space Money: Report - DoD At Risk of Losing New Commercial Space Suppliers And Capabilities The Department of Commerce has just released some interesting economic indicators that lean positive, and there are expectations that the Federal Reserve Board will again lower interest rates. Despite this good news, it may be some time before new venture capital invests in space technology, leaving some companies that have capabilities the Department of Defense wants, starved for cash and at risk. Laura Winter speaks with Sam Wilson, Director, Strategy and Program Support, Center for Space Policy and Strategy, The Aerospace Corporation; and Sarah Georgin, former Project Lead, Strategic Foresight Team, The Aerospace Corporation.

Space Competition: Threats and Trends A Year After October 7th In the year since Hamas launched its brutal attack in Israel, tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as technologies, and security alliances have evolved in the space domain of operations. Laura winter speaks with Namrata Goswami, an independent scholar on space policy and great power politics and co-author of the book “Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space”; and Hector Falcon, Space and Cyber Intelligence Integrator, Space-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space-ISAC).

Space Power: A National Guardsman’s View On Why A Pentagon Plan Is A “Lose-Lose Proposal” Last week Air Force Gen. Steven Nordhaus assumed responsibility as the 30th Chief of the National Guard Bureau, inheriting a politically thorny issue: a piece of legislation that, if passed into law, would transfer Air National Guard space units into the Space Force. This episode is about why some, possibly upwards of 80 percent, of the men and women who make up these units will not join the Space Force, which could leave the branch short of some critical capabilities. Laura Winter speaks with Lt. Col. Andrew Gold, Director of Strategic Plans, Colorado Air National Guard, and a space operator, who recently finished a deployment to Africa commanding the 138th Electromagnetic Warfare Squadron.