The DownLink Podcast

Gen. Douglas Schiess just became the Space Force's third Chief of Space Operations, but in the days before the transfer of responsibility, President Donald Trump signed two new pieces of space policy that, if leveraged...

While operating on the brink of a government shutdown has become the not-so-new normal, a fresh take on the Space Force's FY 2027 budget request shows the service branch's plan to normalize real growth through dramatic...

Companies rarely know how a military is using their satellites — and that blind spot could quietly turn commercial infrastructure into a legitimate target, putting the civilians and humanitarian workers who depend on...

SpaceX posted its first earnings report as a public company this week, the same week its first share unlock hit the market, more than doubling the float. Elon Musk says revenue will top $1 trillion by 2030, but the plan...

Space Competition: China 1H 2026: Rockets, Vassals, and Purges by The DownLink

Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess is on track to become the Space Force's third Chief of Space Operations after a 44-minute confirmation hearing. Who is Schiess, and how has the CSO role evolved? Laura Winter speaks with retired...

Save the eye-roll. There really are contracts and places where words "resilient" or "resiliency" drive the communications mission. Laura Winter speaks with Dr. Rajeev Gopal, Vice President of Advanced Programs, Hughes...

Rocket Lab is acquiring Iridium for $8 billion. Honeywell split in two. Driven by SpaceX, the first half of 2026, especially the second quarter, delivered a remarkable wave of high-value space business activity in the...

With a NATO Summit two weeks away and Washington pressing allies to take on more, Air Marshal Paul Godfrey explains how a year of executing the U.S. Space Force's International Partnership Strategy is turning allied...

The SpaceX IPO didn't create the appetite for space investment — it revealed it. Laura Winter speaks with Kevin O'Connell, Founder and CEO, Space Economy Rising; former Director, Office of Space Commerce, U.S...

SpaceX went public on June 12, 2026, in the largest IPO in history, valuing the rocket, satellite broadband communications, and AI company at $1.77 trillion. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Quilty, Founder and CEO of...

"Without rockets, nothing is going to happen." In the five years since Taiwan's Space Development Act, that island has started to build-out satellite constellations, a launch site, and has just received its first-ever...

Citing China’s possible mission to send Taikonauts around the moon, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told AIAA's ASCEND conference attendees that the launch cadence to the moon must increase. Laura Winter speaks with...

Space-based solar power promises clean, dependable energy beamed from orbit to Earth — but does the business case close? That debate starts here. Laura Winter speaks with George Pullen, Chief Space Economist, Milky Way...

Russian satellites recently maneuvered to within three meters of each other in low Earth orbit — a stark reminder that space is a warfighting domain and that the race to build resilient satellite constellations has...