Space Competition: Trump’s South Korean Space OpportunityThis 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 “Am…

Space Competition: Great Power Strategy, “America First”, and The Mars-shotThis 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 …

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…

Space Power: President-Elect Trump Expected To Supercharge U.S. Space AmbitionsThis 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…

Space Money: Report - DoD At Risk of Losing New Commercial Space Suppliers And CapabilitiesThe 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 cap…

Space Competition: Threats and Trends A Year After October 7thIn 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 po…

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 …

Space Tech: Talking To The Far Side of the MoonOn the Moon China’s ahead in the race to stake claims for lunar resources by the not-so-simple fact that it can communicate with its equipment on the far side, near the south pole. This week’s episode is about how ispace’s Mission 3 could change the state of the race and establish the very communicatio…

Space Money: Q3 Take - “Money Doesn’t Care”The Fed lending rate reduction was nice, but is it enough pressure on investors to empty their money market accounts and invest in space companies, even if it’s answering a defense-related demand signal? Laura Winter speaks with The DownLink regulars, Chris Quilty, Founder of Quilty Space; and George Pulle…

Space Competition: How To Better De-Risk Adversarial Threats To Space Systems’ ValueThis episode was recorded before a live audience at the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s Value of Space Summit, convened in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The discussion focuses on threat trends, the lack of insurance cover for certain types of attacks; …

Space Policy: Space Force CSO - “What We Were Is Not What We Must Become”The U.S. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman announced on Tuesday that the Space Force has started to take over recruitment and training of uniformed and civilian Guardians, from “Mother Air Force”, to create a separate “space-minded” force to meet the nation’s requ…

Space Tech: Is It A Bird? A Plane? Actually It’s A DroneSpace Force acquisitions officials have said for years that they want tactically-responsive commercial-off-the-shelf solutions that can be easily configured for military uses. The founders of BlackStar Orbital Technologies say their drone, a satellite-space plane hybrid, will answer the call, …

Space Money: Starliner, A 737 Max Felony, and a New Boeing CEO With Boeing’s Starliner human-rated capsule safely on the ground, the Crew Flight Test mission has ended, but with incidents and without its crew, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore. Boeing, a major supplier of space vehicles and services to NASA and the U.S. Space Force, is at a crossroad…

Space Competition: Geo-Strategic Questions Over NASA’s Plan to Destroy the ISSThis is part 2 of a deep dive into NASA’s plan to destroy the 420-metric-tonne International Space Station by de-orbiting. This episode is about the geo-strategic consequences and risks associated with de-orbiting and alternative ideas for the space station after 2030. Pa…

Space Power: War-Gamers Say We’re “Behind the Eight Ball”What should the new U.S. vice president and the National Space Council do if China achieved a Sputnik-like moment? According to this week’s guests, we’re “Behind the Eight Ball”, which is the title of their first report on a series of recent wargames that included former NASA and Department o…

Space Tech: Defense Looking At Modular Upgrades For Greater SDASpace Command wants “enhanced battlespace awareness”, a clearer picture of what’s going on on orbit. This episode is about how a new set of modular technologies can provide satellite operators with “upgrades” and the opportunity to participate in the space domain awareness ecosystem, to…

Space Money: Silicon Valley - “The DoD Has Not Brought The Dough”While it may not be surprising that space companies lead the Silicon Valley Defense Group's NATSEC100, there is an imbalance between the amount of capital venture capitalists are putting in and and the value of defense awards. Laura Winter speaks with James Cross, SVDG’s co-Founder an…

Space Power: SmallSats - Time To Plan, Procure, And ExecuteAlmost seven years after U.S. Air Force General John Hyten said, “I will not support buying big satellites that make juicy targets”, theSpace Development Agency has seemingly cracked the code on procuring and deploying small satellites, or smallsats, quickly with the desired effects. Nevert…

Space Technology: Holes Bubble Up In NASA’s Narrative On And Plan To De-Orbit The Space Station NASA claims the commercial space sector provided no “feasible proposals” from “discussions” or “viable interest” in response to a Request for Information (RFI) on how to reuse, repurpose, or recycle part or all of the 420-metric-tonne International Space…

Space Power: NATO Summit - Defense Industry! Can You Hear The Demand Signal Now? Before meeting with heads of state, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told leaders from the Allied defense industrial base that more than two-thirds of the Alliance’s 32 member nations were spending at least 2% of the GDPs on defense. “So there is a good market o…

Space Power: NATO Summit - Security Alliance Is Employing More Than Words In Space DomainIn the month running up to the 75th NATO Summit in Washington, D.C., the Alliance has been busy in the Space Domain of Operations. To understand the state of the NATO Alliance, what it has recently achieved going into the summit, and what outcomes to expect, La…

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.…

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 spac…

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 solut…

Space Money: The Long-Term Strategy Inside The Space Force Budget NumbersWhile 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 u…

Space Money: Risk of Second Boots vs First BaseChina’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…

Space Competition: The PLA May Not Be Ready To Fight In SpaceChina 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-auth…

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 sp…

*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 PlanThere’s a Department of Defense legislative proposal to move Air National Guard space units into…

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 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 th…

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…

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 …

Space Money: “Get Used To Crazyville”, “Moon Mania”, And A New Defense StrategyWelcome 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 a…

Space Competition: Why SpaceX’s “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” Is Redrawing The Map To SuccessThis 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 Ba…

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 bigg…

Space Power: Fines On Space Junk In The Pipeline And What’s Legal SalvageThis 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…

Space Money: The Fortune 500 View From TE Connectivity’s Martin CullenIt 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-p…

*2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for Best Cyber Security Submission**2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for The John Morrocco Award for Best In-depth Defence Reporting*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 cy…

*2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for Best Cyber Security Submission**2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for The John Morrocco Award for Best In-depth Defence Reporting*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 cha…

*2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for Best Cyber Security Submission**2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for The John Morrocco Award for Best In-depth Defence Reporting*Space Tech: The Threat Landscape, A Cyber Vulnerability, And Ransoming A SatelliteThis month, two years ago, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine started with a cyber attack that…

*2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for Best Cyber Security Submission**2024 Defense Media Award Finalist for The John Morrocco Award for Best In-depth Defence Reporting*Space Money: When Nation States Target The Commercial Space SectorThis month, two years ago, Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine started with a cyber attack that changed everyth…

Space Tech: A U.S. Space Force Bet That Could Truly Monetize Space Junk… For RealThis week’s episode is about a cunning plan the Space Force has invested in that aims to monetize space junk and large pieces of orbital debris by recycling it in space, for use as thruster fuel and structural beams. Laura Winter speaks with CisLunar Industries’ Co-fou…

Space Power: What the Space Force Needs Now For Cislunar OperationsThis week, just after one failed commercial moon mission came back to earth and burned up in the atmosphere, Japan became the fifth nation to successfully reach the lunar surface. As launches to and landings on the Moon become more regular, it is expected that competition and possib…

SPACE TECH: Is NASA Surrendering The Promise of Space-Based Solar Power to China, ESA, Britain And Japan? Jeers and scorn greeted NASA’s “Space-Based Solar Power” report, which if taken at face value, experts argue, could strategically disadvantage U.S. efforts to deliver cheap renewable energy, while competitors in the sector move forward. While t…

Space Money: Has Investor Passion Left The Building?This episode on Space Money is the 2024 year opener. It examines just what business and investment trends and events from 2023 are carrying over into the new year, and what to expect for space business and the space economy in 2024. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Space; G…

"It's been Quite A Banner Year For China Militarily, Commercially, Scientifically In Space" This episode looks at China’s effective year in space, in the civil, commercial, and military space sectors. Laura Winter covers the most important technology and policy developments and what to look out for in 2024 with Namrata Goswami, an independent schol…

Chief Master Sergeant Bentivegna: “Why The Identity Portion Is So Important To Us.”This episode is coming from Orlando, Florida, from the sold-out Space Power Conference, the first solely dedicated to United States Space Force Guardians. To understand why this is a Space Force milestone Laura Winter speaks with Chief Master Sgt. John “B-9” Bentiveg…

U.S. Space Force Commercial Space Office: Bankruptcies And Consolidation Are ExpectedOur coverage of the chilly space investment climate continues, but from the perspective of the U.S. Space Force’s Commercial Space Office, which has the responsibility to find and foster some of the new commercial space technologies the Department of Defense needs.…

Accenture's Anti-Trend Space Investment Strategy It’s chilly and not just outside. Investment in space companies is down by almost a third compared to this time last year, with investor sentiment for space applications companies being downright icy. But Accenture, the publicly traded international technology consulting company is not just saying it…