As Australia’s former Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for additions to the 2021 AUKUS Agreement that would strengthen the security pact in the space domain, Australian space companies began a tour of the United States to find partners and investors. Laura Winter speaks with Steven Marshall, South Australia’s former Premier, now President of the American Australian Association; Jeremey Hallett Chairman of Southern Launch, and Chairman of Australia’s Space Industry Association; and Matt Tetlow, Founder & CEO of Inovor Technologies.

Elon Musk regrets “some” of his recent posts about U.S. President Donald Trump. Phew! But their relationship’s rapid unscheduled disassembly, or RUD, reveals how vulnerable civil and national security missions, even the “Golden Dome” program, are to the dramatic vagaries of this relationship. Laura Winter speaks with Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and much respected NASA and Defense Department budget diviner.

The Trump-Musk “bromance” break-up is clearly visible on the world stage and worrying many about…

This week’s episode details what happened when the CEO of a European-US space company bought into a shareholder fight involving two Chinese government-backed entities, that are deeply involved with the Thousand Sails mega-constellation – China’s answer to Starlink. This is a deep dive into lawfare in the space domain, a growing costly concern for the U.S. and its Allies. Laura Winter speaks with Declan Ganley, CEO of Rivada Space Networks; and Dean Cheng, a sought after China-U.S. relations expert, and non-resident fellow at both the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and the George Washington University Space Policy Institute.

The $318 million IonQ purchase deal to acquire Capella Space is bringing together two worlds in a high-stakes bid to radically change satellite-to-satellite and satellite-to-ground communications and computing at the edge. At least that’s what the CEOs are saying. Are they right? Also, up top in this episode is a space threats update. Laura Winter speaks with Niccolo de Masi, IonQ’s President and CEO; Frank Backes, CEO of Capella Space; and Hector Falcon, the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center’s Watch Center Director.

This week planet Earth is seeing two re-entries of man-made objects: first the uncontrolled, possibly life-threatening, Soviet-era Kosmos 482; and second, the W-3 – an example of the very controlled, defense and in some cases possibly life-extending, business case that is Varda Space Industries. Laura Winter speaks with Delian Asparouhov, Varda Space Industries’ co-Founder and President, and Partner at Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund; and Muk Pandian, Varda’s Director of Strategic Partnerships and Advanced Concepts.

Is there really sunshine in the Space Sector? April was a rough month for businesses, consumers, and public equities traders, all tenderized by the blows of uncertain trade policies. The DownLlink Podcast’s regular guest and space economist says the Space Sector is different and should be fine. Is he right? Laura Winter speaks with George Pullen, Partner and Chief Economist at MilkyWayEconomy.

Want to think beyond 2045? There’s a process for that called Strategic Foresight. According to a new U.S. Space Force Report, the newest service branch needs to employ it. Laura Winter speaks with two of the report’s leading authors, Joel Mozer, who is best known for being the first United States Space Force Director of Science, Technology and Research; and David Hardy, former Associate Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space. You can read their report here: ihubcolorado.org/beyond-the-tipping-point/.

This week the U.S. Space Force let a linguistic genie out of the bottle. The newest service branch published a 22-page guide for planners called “Space Warfighting”, that ditches soft elocution and takes up words like “destroy”, “terrestrial strike”, and “counterattack”. What does this mean for culture; training and education; research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E); acquisition; and the Space Force’s place in the Joint Force? In addition to a roundtable discussion with Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton, Deputy Chief of Space Operations, Strategy, Plans, Programs and Requirements, Laura Winter speaks with Charles Galbreath, Senior Resident Fellow for Space Studies at the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence.

While the 40th Space Symposium’s theme was “Building Partnerships to Secure our Future”, everyone in Colorado Springs, Colorado was talking about building President Trump’s Next Generation Missile Defense Shield, a.k.a.: “Golden Dome For America.” This week’s guest cautions us that you cannot have a space-based missile defense shield without the ground segment. Laura Winter speaks with Mark Henrie, Divisional Vice President, Amentum Missile Defense Group, and Deputy Program Manager, Integrated Research & Development Enterprise Solution.