
Explores commercial space industry issues and their impacts back on Earth.

In this episode, Tom Patton talks with Dr. Belinda Merchan, Chief Scientist at Slingshot Aerospace, about how AI is transforming space warfare training. Traditional training relied on scripted scenarios, but Slingshot’s agentic AI uses physics‑based models and proprietary tracking data to create realistic, adaptive simulations that mimic both friendly and adversary behavior. The discussion covers Slingshot’s evolution from object tracking to AI‑driven wargaming, the Talos platform’s OODA‑loop decision engine, and partnerships with the U.S. Space Force and U.K. Space Agency that embed commercial AI into national defense pipelines.

The episode explores SpaceX’s ambitious filing to launch up to one million satellites as an orbital data center, positioning the company toward a Kardashev Type II vision and highlighting regulatory waivers and the link to Elon Musk’s AI venture. It then...

The episode spotlights the U.S. Space Force SDA’s historic $52.5 million Deorbit‑as‑a‑Service contract awarded to Starfish Space, which will launch the Otter spacecraft to safely dispose of LEO satellites starting in 2027. It contrasts this with ESA’s $475 k award to Astroscale...

In this episode, Tom Patton interviews Kirk Konert, Managing Partner at AE Industrial Partners, about the firm’s role in advancing the space industrial base and its view of space as essential infrastructure for the global economy. Konert explains AEI’s investment...