The DownLink Podcast

Space Money: Welcome To The Second Half Of 2024! We’ve reached the end of Q2, which means it is time to take a look at the top space business and finance events in this year’s first half, how they are shaping the remaining six months, and what space businesses big and small are doing, and how investors in the public and private markets are reacting. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Space; and George Pullen, Chief Economist at Milky Way Economy.

Space Competition: “We Need To Go From Ambition To Implementation” This week’s episode is coming from the 7th Prague Space Security Conference in Czech, where government officials and experts from Europe, the United States, East Asia discussed what Western nations, space agencies, and militaries can and should do to protect and defend access to space and space capabilities. Laura Winter speaks with Antje Nötzold, lecturer and research associate at the Chair of International Politics at Chemnitz University of Technology; Lina Pohl, Research Fellow at European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) seconded by German Space Agency (DLR); and Petr Bareš, co-Founder and President of the Czech Space Alliance and Managing Director of Iguassu Software Systems.

Space Power: What’s the Story With The Space Force? While SpaceX’s latest test launch is a clear message to the world about U.S. space power and where the nation is aiming to go, the role and even the very existence of the U.S. Space Force remains opaque to most Americans. This week’s guest argues that this must be addressed and that there are solutions. Laura Winter speaks with Hannah Dennis, a research associate for the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security.

Space Money: The Long-Term Strategy Inside The Space Force Budget Numbers While the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee has sent its draft of the FY 2025 defense spending bill to the full Appropriations Committee without drama, a Trump campaign representative is reportedly urging Republican senators to block any spending package from passing until after the presidential inauguration in January. Despite the budgetary fog, the Space Force’s strategy, outlined in the Biden Administration’s 2025 budget proposal, is becoming clear. Laura Winter speaks with Sam Wilson, a senior policy analyst for the Center for Space Policy and Strategy at The Aerospace Corporation, about his latest report: “FY 2025 Defense Space Budget: Continued Emphasis On Proliferation Under A More Constrained Top-Line”.

Space Money: Risk of Second Boots vs First Base China’s Communist Party has notched another victory in its campaign to build by 2035 a manned International Lunar Research Station near the moon’s south pole with this Saturday’s successful landing of the Chang’e 6 spacecraft. This episode is about what is at risk if the United States fails to be first in establishing its manned moon base. This episode is coming from Albuquerque, New Mexico, from the stage of the State of the Space Industrial Base Conference and Workshop, organized and hosted by NewSpace Nexus, a non-profit that supports the launch of new technologies for the space economy and for national defense. 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”; Lee Steinke, Chief Operating Officer, CisLunar Industries; George Pullen, Chief Economist at MilkyWay Economy; and Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Space.

Space Competition: The PLA May Not Be Ready To Fight In Space China President Xi Jinping has instituted a major military reorganization to support joint warfighting, with space operations under the newly constituted Aerospace Forces. 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 Lin Ying-Yu, an Assistant Professor at the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, Tamkang University.

Space Power: What The U.S. Needs To Build “An Enduring Advantage In The Third Space Age” While Congress is holding hearings and pouring over federal budget minutiae, this episode is about how the United States could go about “Building an Enduring Advantage In The Third Space Age” - the title of a report authored by this week’s guest. Laura Winter speaks with Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, who is a longtime defense budget and space security expert.

*2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for Best National Security Space Submission* *2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for Best Multimedia Military Submission* Space Power: Why States, National Guard Association Say “No!” To Defense Department Space Units Plan There’s a Department of Defense legislative proposal to move Air National Guard space units into the U.S. Space Force that has unified all 55 state and territorial governors with the National Guard Association in opposition. This week’s episode is about this extraordinary dispute. The parties cannot even agree on the number of space units or Guardsmen and Guardswomen that would be affected if the proposal is passed and then signed into law. Laura Winter speaks with National Guard Association President Maj. Gen. (ret.) Frank M. McGinn; and Director of Joint Staff, Joint Force Headquarters, Colorado, Brig. Gen. Michael Bruno, who was the Executive Officer for 137th Space Warning Squadron at Greeley Air National Guard Station.

Space Money: "For Those Who Can Execute, The Opportunity Is Massive" Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve Board Chair, said borrowing rates are going to stay right where they are. Most Department of Defense space budgets are shrinking in real terms due to inflation. So what will it take to get venture capitalists to invest in new space tech? Laura Winter speaks with Chad Anderson, Managing Partner at Space Capital, host of “The Space Capital Podcast”, and book author, who says "for those who can execute, the opportunity is massive and they are going to win".

Space Competition: AUKUS Nations - UK and Australia Aim to Plus Up Defense Is it “Old Wine In A New Bottle” or is this push to increase defense spending and investment in developing new capabilities, including space the mark of something new? While the United States has submitted a comparatively humble defense budget, its AUKUS partners, feeling the pressure of China in the Pacific region, seem to be doing the opposite. Laura Winter speaks with Malcolm Davis, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute focusing on space policy, security, strategy, and capability development; and Juliana Suess, a Research Fellow on Space Security, at the Royal United Services Institute, and host of the podcast “War in Space”.