It is time to take a look back at the first six months to see how the space market, space capital, and the space economy have fared. This episode also ferrets out the top space finance events from Q1 and Q2 that are shaping spending, investment, and business strategies for the next two quarters and beyond. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Space; and George Pullen, Chief Economist at Milky Way Economy.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the United States has produced a more dependable and powerful partnership not only in the Indo-Pacific region, but in space and defense. Laura Winter digs into the commercial, defense, and geopolitical details with Namrata Goswami, an independent scholar on space policy and great power politics and co-author of the book “Scramble for the Skies”; Ajey Lele, a Consultant at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses; U.S. Amb. (ret.) Atul Keshap, President of the United States India Business Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and Kranthi Musunuru, Head of Strategy, Dhruva Space.

The U.S. Space Force asked the Rand Corporation to come up with a new officer workforce framework, “conceived independently of the existing [U.S. Air Force] structure.” This novel proposal, which aims to balance space mission requirements and the careers of officers, has been delivered. Laura Winter speaks with two of the Rand Corporation authors, Larry Hanser, a senior behavioral scientist, and Jennifer Li, a senior management Scientist; and Chris Stone, Senior Fellow for Space Deterrence-National Institute for Deterrence Studies; and Brent Ziarnick, an associate professor of space power at the Air Command and Staff College.

U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command, looking for faster ways to tap into and acquire developmental technologies coming from new space market entrants, is looking to break down barriers from inside a Virginia office park. Laura Winter speaks with U.S. Space Force Col. Rich Kniseley, Senior Materiel Leader and head of the Space Systems Command Commercial Space Office; and Salvatore Pascale, Lead Project Manager with Virginia Tech Research Corporation.

This week China announced that it intends to put taikonauts on the moon no later than 2030, the U.S. Department of State released a new diplomatic strategy for space, and Spain signed the U.S.-led Artemis Accords. To unwrap this week’s events and provide a primer for what is at stake some 385,000 kilometers away on the lunar surface, Laura Winter speaks with Namrata Goswami, an independent scholar on space policy and great power politics and co-author of the book “Scramble for the Skies”; and from the Aerospace Corporation Senior Vice President of the Civil Systems Group Jim Myers, and Tech Fellow Sam Visner, who is also the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center.

This week Microsoft reported that the Chinese hacking group penetrated Guam’s telecommunications systems. Because of the U.S. territory’s location and military bases, telecommunications there means a mix of platforms that includes space. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Stone, Senior Fellow for Space Deterrence-National Institute for Deterrence Studies and author of the book “Reversing the Tao: A Framework for Credible Space Deterrence”; and Brendan Mulvaney, Director of the Air University’s China Aerospace Studies Institute.

This week’s is the third episode in a month-long series looking at various, cross-cutting aspects of the state of the space industrial base. Laura Winter speaks with the Defense Innovation Unit’s Director of the Space Portfolio Steve “Bucky” Butow, who is intimately involved in growing the Space Industrial Base through government contracts and informing policy. In uniform he is Brig. Gen. Butow, Commander of the California Air National Guard where he leads 4,900 Airmen assigned to five wings and a headquarters staff.

This is the second episode in a month-long series looking at various, crosscutting aspects of the state of the space industrial base. Space and cyber leaders in the United States and Europe are now looking to create systems of collective cyber security for the 21st Century, covering assets on orbit, on the ground, and in production. The push to develop cyber-security information-sharing alliances is intensifying, as software, the cyber warrior’s attack surface, is increasingly driving the printing of space components, including solid rocket motors. Laura Winter Speaks with Samuel Visner, Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center; and Erin Miller, who is the Space ISAC’s Executive Director.

This is the first episode in a month-long series looking at various, sometimes neglected, aspects…