Join us for a space forward-thinking conversation with Kara Cunzeman, systems director of Strategic Foresight at the Aerospace Corporation’s Center for Space Policy and Strategy. Kara talks to us about Strategic Foresight, a holistic approach toward facing future uncertainties. Strategic Foresight isn’t mind reading, but rather mind mapping. It’s a tool that helps us address tough questions like - How do we navigate difficult issues in space policy to arrive at a preferred future - or - How...

Who owns what on the moon? Legally, nobody according to the United Nation’s Outer Space Treaty. With an array of space agencies and private companies destined to launch a multitude of lunar missions in the coming decades, the principles of the 1967 treaty will be put to the test. How will we mediate the multiple stakeholders set to explore the moon?  For answers, we turn to space lawyer Antonino Salmeri, who specializes in the governance of space resources and lunar activities. Salmeri is a...

Blast off with Jason Wright, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and director of the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center. We delve into the latest scientific methods in the search for technosignatures or evidence of extraterrestrial technologies. Coined by the astronomer Jill Tarter, a co-founder of the SETI Institute, technosignatures encompass communicative signals such as radio waves and laser emissions from other stars across and beyond the electromagnetic...

Will extraterrestrial, self-replicating robotic systems pave the way for building a sustainable industrial lunar ecology? Self-replicating robots are machines that can replicate themselves using materials found in their environment. The concept of self-replicating systems has been around for decades, ever since the mathematician John Von Neumann proposed theoretical models in the 1950s. Since then, research toward building self-replicating machines has evolved with advancements in robotic...

We discuss with Professor Thomas Blaschke the possibilities and challenges of processing Big Earth Data for addressing real world solutions. From predicting destructive landslides and urban traffic jams, to tracking illegal deforestation and human rights abuses, Dr. Blaschke’s decades of research work has contributed to a better understanding of humanity’s impact around the globe. Tune in to discover the latest advancements in building our Digital Earth and the potential for developing a new...

From predicting destructive landslides and urban traffic jams, to tracking illegal deforestation and human rights abuses, Dr. Thomas Blaschke’s research work analyzing Big Earth Data helps address real world solutions. Tune in now for Episode 14: Advancing Geoinformatics to discover our emerging Digital Earth, and the future possibility of developing a new field of academic inquiry, Astroinformatics!

How to design a durable and decipherable message for an intelligent species elsewhere in the cosmos? We talk to team members from the International Space University's Space Studies Program about their project Eternal Echo, an assignment to create an updated version of the Golden Record, a gold-plated copper disk of sounds and images affixed to both Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. Team members explain their methodologies and ponder the implications of Messaging Extra Terrestrial...

In this episode, we talked to team members from the International Space University's Space Studies Program about their project Eternal Echo, an assignment to design a durable and decipherable message for an intelligent species elsewhere in the cosmos. The project is an updated version of the Golden Record, a gold-plated copper disk of sounds and images created by Carl Sagan, Frank Drake, Ann Druyan, Timothy Ferris, Jon Lomberg and Linda Salzman and affixed to both Voyager spacecrafts launched...

Space Forward talks the CEO of Spire Global, Peter Platzer, one of the few space entrepreneurs who predicted early on the exponential growth and value of nano-satellites, as well as their impactful role toward harnessing big data for solving problems here on Earth.

In this episode, Space Forward talks to Peter Platzer about the foundation and journey of Spire Global. Not-just-a-satellite company, Spire has a textbook-like business model that allows for extraordinary asset utilization and several risk-adjusted revenue streams, positioning them as a leading data analytics and weather prediction company. Spire notably owns the entire value chain ― from building and operating their multipurpose nano-satellite constellation, to providing object tracking and...

In this second installment, we continue our discussion with Harvard Professor Avi Loeb. We discuss ― Life In The Cosmos ― an academic textbook he co-authored with Manasvi Lingam which provides an analysis of the latest scientific methodologies for detecting life beyond our planet. We dive into the Kardashev Scale, a theoretical model for classifying stages the development of intelligent alien civilizations based on energy consumption, and the potential of applying a modified version, based on...

This episode is the second part of our talk with Harvard Professor Avi Loeb. We discuss ― Life In The Cosmos ― an academic textbook he co-authored with Manasvi Lingam which provides an analysis of the latest scientific methodologies for detecting life beyond our planet. It’s an updated version of an original book written in 1966 by astrophysicists Carl Sagan and Iosif Shklovsky. We dive into the Kardashev Scale, a theoretical model for classifying stages the development of intelligent alien...

In Episode 10, we talk to astrophysicist Avi Loeb about what he thinks we might find in the observable universe. Will it be biosignatures that will reveal extraterrestrial life? Or technosignatures, evidence of a past or present alien technology? Join us as he discusses his latest book “Life in Cosmos: From Biosignatures to Technosignatures”, the possibilities of self-replicating, artificial intelligent von Neumann probes, and the absurdness - or not - of eating aliens! Professor Avi Loeb is...

In this episode, we talk with astrophysicist Avi Loeb about what he thinks we might find in the observable universe. Will it be biosignatures that will reveal extraterrestrial life? Or technosignatures, evidence of a past or present alien technology? Join us as he discusses his latest book Life in Cosmos: From Biosignatures to Technosignatures, the possibilities of self-replicating, artificial intelligent von Neumann probes, and the absurdness - or not - of eating aliens! Professor Avi Loeb...

We discuss Earth's first on-orbit satellite inspection service with William Crowe, CEO of the Australian startup High Earth Orbit Robotics, who is on a quest to “makes space assets transparent”. We unpack how this space start up pivoted from asteroid mining to space situational awareness, and future business to scale for the Moon, asteroids, and beyond!

In this episode we discuss Earth's first on-orbit satellite inspection service, Australian startup HEO Robotics, on a quest to "Make Space (Assets) Transparent". We dive into how they pivoted from Asteroid Mining to Space Situational Awareness, the methods they used to find Product-Market Fit, and future possibilities to scale their business to the Moon, asteroids, and beyond! Joining us for this conversation, we have an enthusiastic leader in space technology research, development, and...

In this episode we will explore the bleeding edge of satellite and satellite constellation miniaturization. These awe inspiring craft commonly known as Chipsats, Wafersats, Sprites, Monarchs, Kicksats, Starchips, or even just “Smart Dust” are facilitating the rapid miniaturization of space craft following an exponential trajectory stipulated by Moore's Law, no doubt enabling new incredible possibilities and discoveries just around the corner. We talk about the unique physics and associated...

In this episode, we will explore the rapid miniaturization of spacecraft, commonly known as Chipsats, Wafersats, Sprites, Monarchs, Kicksats, Starchips, or even just “Smart Dust” with Zachary Manchester, who received critical acclaim for his crowdfunded Kicksat project, deploying an armada of chipsats in LEO. Manchester is also a researcher with the Breakthrough Starshot team, working on an interstellar spacecraft mission to Proxima b.

In this episode we talk about MIT's Lunar Knowledge Graph called Lunar Open Architecture and MIT’s intriguing research on a crowd-sourced, sharing-economy-like, tokenized satellite constellation. A sat-constellation-as-public-utility. The MIT’s Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative has the goal “to invent, create, and deploy ideas that seem exotic and impossible today, but could be commonplace in ten years.” Our guest today is the research lead of MIT’s Lunar Open Architecture project,...

In this episode, we talk about the rise of Space Marketplaces and how the Satsearch Product Knowledge Graph helps solve problems for marketplace users. We ask, what kind of Acquisition Loops work in the space sector, how does their Experiment Framework look like, and should space marketplaces scale vertically or horizontally? We talk about unit economics, defensibility, and how Satsearch bootstrapped its way forward with the support of the ESA Business Incubation Center. Our guest is...

We talk to Matthew Weinzierl, an Associate Professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit at Harvard Business School. Weinzierl has worked as an economist for McKinsey & Company and The White House Council of Economic Advisors. Professor Weinzierl’s early research focuses on the optimal design of economic policy, and more recently he has launched an array of projects focused on the commercialization of the space sector and its economic implications.

In this episode, we’ll be diving right into the dynamics of the space sector, space commerce, space business, space industry, space market, and the fundamental forces driving their development. It’s a great pleasure to welcome Matthew Weinzierl, an associate Professor in the Business, Government, and the International Economy Unit at Harvard Business School. Matthew has worked for McKinsey & Company, and the US government as an economist on The White House Council of Economic Advisors....

In this episode we seek to understand the decision-making environment in which Space Business Angels operate and the mindset they follow when making investment decisions, exploring best practices, and getting an industry outlook from those with skin in the game. We talk about risk mitigation, selling shovels instead of digging gold, drivers of scale, investing horizontally vs vertically, why Luxembourg produces above the average space companies, and the role of EBAN Space. Our guest today...

In this episode, we seek to understand the decision-making environment in which Space Business Angels operate and the mindset they follow when making investment decisions ― exploring best practices, and getting an industry outlook from those with skin in the game.