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Today's show:
Want to get to space? Several launch companies can help you. SpaceX, Rocket Lab, the Russians, the list goes on. But what about once you make it upstairs, then what? Impulse Space CEO and CTO Tom Mueller is building the next stage of our orbital economy. With its Mira and Helios spacecraft, we'll soon be able to take mass from lower orbits to higher orbits, or even to the Moon, with ease.
Meanwhile, venture capitalists are enamored with the idea of humanoid robots — robots share our shape, our work environment, and even our tools. But startups like Dusty Robotics are taking a different tack; instead of building human-shaped robots, Dusty has built a small, wheeled 'bot that can mark out building sites quickly and accurately. And it's doing more revenue than all humanoid robotics companies combined, I reckon. Dusty's CEO, Dr. Tessa Lau, joins Alex to go deep on purpose-built robots in today's build-crazy market.
Timestamps:
Blue Origin, and why fixing things in orbit is hard
What Mira is and what it does
Why was the commercial demand for Mira softer than expected
Space Force demand and the GEO-capable Mira
Helios: a "rocket on top of a rocket."
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How Helios beats Falcon Heavy on price ($25M)
Reusability, in-orbit refueling, and propellant depots
Landers, the Moon base, and "Mega Helios."
NSSL and the politics of flying government payloads
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Why the Moon matters: megastructures and data centers in space
The space talent market and the SpaceX "mafia."
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