Claim OwnershipThe DownLink Podcast
Subscribed: 26Played: 843
Subscribe
© All rights reserved
Description
From the Defense & Aerospace Report... This is The DownLink Podcast, hosted by Laura Winter. From the intersection of space, business, and defense... Not just what's over the horizon, but what's happening above it.
The DownLink Podcast was a finalist in the 2023 Aerospace Media Awards and the 2022 Defense Media Awards for best space coverage and digital storytelling.
The DownLink Podcast was a finalist in the 2023 Aerospace Media Awards and the 2022 Defense Media Awards for best space coverage and digital storytelling.
134 Episodes
Reverse
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.
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”.
Space Power: “The Biggest Enemy to National Security Are Continuing Resolutions”
The latest edition of the “State of The Space Industrial Base Report”, a unique take on space and national security, has just been published jointly by the U.S. Space Force, the Defense Innovation Unit, and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Laura Winter speaks with one of the authors and the editor of the report, Steve “Bucky” Butow, the Defense Innovation Unit’s Director of the Space Portfolio; and Peter Garretson, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and co-author of the book “The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy”.
Space Power: SECAF Says “Our Cushion Is Gone. We are out of time.”
This week U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that China’s space capabilities were essentially on par, or close to it, with the United States, yet confusingly, the Presidential Budget Request for FY’25 prescribes pumping the brakes on Space Force modernization. To get at just what the administration is communicating strategically, 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”; and Charles Galbreath, a Senior Resident Fellow for Space Studies at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence.
Space Money: “Get Used To Crazyville”, “Moon Mania”, And A New Defense Strategy
Welcome to the start of the space economy’s second financial quarter, or “Crazyville”! Plus there is a new Department of Defense “Commercial Space Integration Strategy”. What does this tin’s label really say? Laura Winter speaks with The DownLink Podcast’s space equity and space economy dynamic duo, Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Space; George Pullen, Chief Economist at MilkyWay Economy; and Robin Dickey, Policy Analyst, at The Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy.
Space Competition: Why SpaceX’s “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” Is Redrawing The Map To Success
This week’s episode is coming from the annual Satellite in Washington, D.C. Instead of having a panel, Laura Winter is in the exhibition hall to ask commercial space leaders about risk, success and failure in the Age of SpaceX. Winter speaks with Frank Backes, CEO of Capella Space; Martin Cullen, TE Connectivity’s Senior Manager for Business Development and Strategy; Kayhan Space Co-Founders Siamak Hesar and Araz Feyzi; Matthew Randall, Empulsion Inc.’s Director of Business Development; and 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”.
Space Power: 2025 Space Force Budget Slashes Launches, Reduces Buying Power By 5%
Congressional inaction coupled with core inflation, have resulted in the first reduction in budgetary buying power for the U.S. Space Force for FY 2025, placing research and development at risk. Effects could be far reaching, as the youngest military branch is the biggest consumer of commercial space products and services. Laura Winter speaks with Peter Garretson, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and co-author of the book “The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy”; and Sam Wilson, a senior policy analyst for the Center for Space Policy and Strategy at The Aerospace Corporation.
Space Power: Fines On Space Junk In The Pipeline And What’s Legal Salvage
This episode is coming to you from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., where the U.S. Space Command’s Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, and the Academy’s Law, Technology and Warfare Research Cell co-host the fourth annual USSPACECOM Legal Conference. Laura Winter is a guest of the event and is moderating a deep discussion on space debris, rules and regulations, and the legal challenges posed by salvage operations. Joining her for this discussion is Laura Megan-Posch, Assistant Chief Counsel, Regulations Division, Federal Aviation Administration, Department of Transportation; Gabriel Swiney, Director, Policy, Advocacy, and International Division, Office of Space Commerce, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce; Charles Stotler, Professor of Practice and Director, Center for Air and Space Law, University of Mississippi School of Law; Vic Gardner, President and Global Head of PreSales, LeoLabs Federal, Inc.; and Lee Steinke, Chief Operating Officer, CisLunar Industries.
Space Money: The Fortune 500 View From TE Connectivity’s Martin Cullen
It was a “new space” company - Intuitive Machines - that embraced risk and landed on the moon, not a blue-chip aerospace company. In this episode Laura Winter speaks with Martin Cullen, T-E Connectivity’s Senior Manager for Business Development and Strategy about emerging space-platforms, space business, and how large publicly traded companies are navigating risk to get in on the space economy and deliver value and returns to shareholders.
Space Competition: Can The US Deter Its Adversaries From Launching Cyberattacks on Space Systems?
This month, two years ago, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine started with a cyber attack that changed everything and yet nothing for the U.S. commercial space sector. This is the fourth and final in a series of episodes examining cyber attacks and space systems. Laura Winter speaks with Samuel Visner, Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space-ISAC) Board Chair and Fellow at The Aerospace Corporation; Namrata Goswami, an independent scholar on space policy and great power politics and co-author of the book “Scramble for the Skies”; and Sean Costigan, the lead for NATO’s cybersecurity curriculum, and Managing Director, Resilience Strategy at Red Sift.
Space Power: Securing Space Systems From Cyber Attack - “We Play Whack-A-Mole”
This month, two years ago, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine started with a cyber attack that changed everything and yet nothing for the U.S. commercial space sector. This is the third in a series of episodes examining cyber attacks and space systems. Laura Winter speaks with Samuel Visner, Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space-ISAC) Board Chair and Fellow at The Aerospace Corporation; Greg Falco, an Assistant Professor at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Systems Engineering Program at Cornell University; and Ang Cui, Founder and CEO of Red Balloon Security.
Space Tech: The Threat Landscape, A Cyber Vulnerability, And Ransoming A Satellite
This month, two years ago, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine started with a cyber attack that changed everything and yet nothing for the U.S. commercial space sector. This is the second in a series of episodes examining cyber attacks and space systems. Laura Winter speaks with Greg Falco, an Assistant Professor at the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Systems Engineering Program at Cornell University; Ang Cui, Founder and CEO of Red Balloon Security; and Hector Falcon, a Cyber and Space Intelligence Integrator at the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center.
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States