Episode Details

This week Harrison and Paul discuss the changes to lunar missions, specifically citing the US Artemis mission involving SpaceX's Starship and Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mk-1, and the related challenges of on-orbit refueling being tackled by companies like Rocket Lab and iSpace working on related technologies, and noted that Intuitive Machines contract extension for nuclear power in space. They also talked about growth of on-orbit structures for data centers by companies like Space Quarters and potentially SpaceX with Starlink V3, and Voyager's strategic acquisitions to become a defense player competing for Golden Dome appropriations alongside SpaceX's $2 billion contract win for missile tracking satellites. Finally, they reviewed advancements in contested communications, space domain awareness with Vantor's Earth-to-space imagers, increased international space defense spending by countries like Germany and Denmark, Globalstar's potential sale to SpaceX, and developments in hypersonics and breakthrough propulsion technologies like the Centrifugal Impulse Drive.