T-Minus: Space-Cyber Briefing
Space cybersecurity starts on the ground.
27 September 2026 | 21:01 | S2 E726
Milenko Starčević, cybersecurity lead at Vision Space, and Andrzej Olchawa, offensive security professional, emphasize that space cybersecurity's primary vulnerabilities lie in ground infrastructure and human factors rather than spacecraft themselves. Deep knowledge of space missions and diverse cybersecurity skills across hardware and software domains are essential.
“If you manage to break into the mission control system and get control over that, you can suddenly send commands to the actual spacecraft without requiring a ground station on your own.”
Milenko Starčević
Key takeaways
- The major vulnerabilities in space cybersecurity are predominantly in ground infrastructures such as software repositories and mission control systems rather than on spacecraft.
- Spacecraft represent a narrow, largely uniform attack surface node, but the ground segment involves diverse systems requiring multi-disciplinary cybersecurity expertise.
- Phishing and info-stealers remain the primary attack vectors because the human element is often the weakest security link even in space-focused environments.
- If an attacker gains control over mission control systems, they can command spacecraft without owning a ground station, highlighting the criticality of protecting mission control itself.
The Space Show-One Giant Leap Foundation
The Space Show Presents Bob Zimmerman with news and updates.
27 September 2026
Bob Zimmerman analyzes SpaceX’s strategic shift in Falcon 9 Starlink launches and highlights a rapidly expanding, diversifying rocket market poised to resolve current launch supply gaps. He underscores the surging profitability of space-based data centers fueling investment and critiques the space tourism and AI hype while championing practical space infrastructure evolution.
“It's just really ridiculous.”
Bob Zimmerman
Key takeaways
- SpaceX is moving all Starlink Falcon 9 launches from Florida to Vandenberg but continues other cargo and manned Cape Canaveral launches; stopping new Transporter rideshare sales caused panic, which Zimmerman calls irrational and anti-Musk mentality.
- Launch industry faces a temporary supply gap with grounded rockets like Blue Origin New Glenn and ULA Vulcan but expects 14 operational rockets by early 2027, including new players like Skyroot (India) and ISAR (Germany), vastly expanding launch options.
- SpaceX’s Starship expected to launch soon with incremental testing via Starlink satellite payloads, enabling large capacity launches that could double Starlink’s bandwidth capacity within about 20 missions, dramatically accelerating constellation deployment.
- Space-based data centers offer approximately 20% internal rate of return, attracting capital by outperforming terrestrial data centers; this profitability fuels strong launch demand and startup growth, likened to the 'tobacco' that historically enabled colonial expansion.
This Week in Space (Audio)
TWiS 229: Is It Starship's Time? - Test Flight 14 to Orbit
26 September 2026 | 1:06:22 | E229
Hosts Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik discuss SpaceX's imminent historic first orbital Starship test flight, detailing its operational goals and implications for retiring Falcon 9. The episode also covers evolving lunar habitat concepts, concerns over Falcon 9 phaseout, SpaceX’s rapid industrial expansion, and geopolitical dynamics in lunar exploration.
“This is it, this is it, Rod. It's all coming, it's all happening at last, at last, right?”
Tariq Malik
Key takeaways
- SpaceX plans Starship Flight 14 as its first orbital attempt carrying 26 Starlink V3 satellites; the mission will not recover Starship but aims for a soft Super Heavy booster landing in the Gulf, crucial for transitioning from Falcon 9 to Starship operations.
- NASA envisions converting Starship into a long-term space habitat, capitalizing on its large internal volume comparable to the ISS but in a single pressurized section, potentially adding windows and docking hubs to serve as a multi-use platform.
- Industry jitters arise over SpaceX potentially phasing out Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon, sparking concerns about medium-lift launch capacity and crew vehicle availability beyond 2030, while competitors and NASA seek alternatives like Boeing’s Starliner and new medium-lift rockets.
- SpaceX is undertaking a $100 billion expansion in Louisiana featuring up to 10 launch pads with rapid vehicle-catch towers, aiming for an unprecedented launch cadence of 30 launches per day, signifying industry-disruptive operational scale.
Houston We Have a Podcast
Crew-13
26 September 2026 | 1:02:45 | S1 E438
Jessica Watkins, commander of NASA's SpaceX Crew-13 mission, discusses how her geology background enriches her view from space, the value of repeat spaceflights for deeper systems insight, and the critical teamwork dynamics enabling successful ISS missions.
“Thinking about how different the view is... from ISS from what I know to be true on the ground in that particular location.”
Jessica Watkins
Key takeaways
- Jessica Watkins draws a unique connection between her geology expertise and spaceflight, appreciating how orbital views from the ISS relate to planetary surface fieldwork, particularly for future Mars and Moon exploration.
- Watkins emphasizes that commanding a second mission allows her to move beyond surface-level operations to deeply question procedures and optimize team strengths, reflecting maturation from astronaut trainee to integrated system leader.
- The Crew-13 team is characterized by calm competence and natural cohesion, combining diverse backgrounds - a Marine test pilot, a Canadian test pilot astronaut, and a Russian submariner cosmonaut - contributing to a resilient mission culture.
- Watkins highlights the symbolic and emotional power of the hatch opening and docking moments as the true realization of astronauts' lifelong dreams, arguably more impactful than launch events for viewers and participants.
Off-Nominal
258 - Not a Space Guy (with Daniel Drew)
25 September 2026 | 1:09:29 | E262
Daniel S. Drew, researcher at the University of Hawaiʻi, discusses SPARC - an innovative sub-meter aerobot using solid-state atmospheric ion thrusters designed to explore Titan’s caves. The episode explores unique propulsion physics on Titan, challenges in cave communication, and broader implications for extraterrestrial autonomous exploration.
“If you put your hand below them, you feel neutral molecules, air that's just been knocked out of the way. Just like if you put your hand below a propeller, you'd feel air that's been knocked out of the way by a propeller.”
Daniel Drew
Key takeaways
- SPARC is a sub-meter lighter-than-air aerobot leveraging solid-state atmospheric ion thrusters for low-power, dust-disturbance-free flight inside Titan caves, exploiting Titan's dense, cold atmosphere to achieve about 140 times higher thruster efficiency than on Earth.
- Unlike traditional ion thrusters, SPARC’s thrusters ionize and accelerate Titan's ambient atmospheric nitrogen directly, eliminating the need to carry propellant and relying only on onboard power sources such as batteries.
- Titan’s atmospheric density provides roughly four times more lift per unit volume than Earth, enabling smaller, stable lighter-than-air vehicles, with design choices including slight negative buoyancy to reduce uncontrolled spinning and facilitate safe landing.
- Communication inside Titan caves is a major challenge due to RF signal blockages and unknown cavern layouts; strategies include relay nodes ('breadcrumbs'), onboard autonomy with data storage and return, or fiber optic tethering compatible with Titan’s 94 K environment.
Space Minds
True or false on space industry trends with Pacôme Révillon
25 September 2026 | 18:20 | S1 E110
Pacôme Révillon, CEO of Novaspace, assesses current space industry trends, highlighting a shift from tech invention to scalable delivery, with growing emphasis on software-defined satellite operations, supply chain scaling challenges, and nuanced government-commercial balance in space capabilities.
“We move to software-defined solutions to even be able to have more agile missions, upgradable missions...”
Pacôme Révillon
Key takeaways
- Future satellite telecom focuses on seamless integration with terrestrial networks, with $30 billion invested recently in direct-to-device tech by major industry players, signaling a move from announcements to execution.
- A launch bottleneck around 2028-2029 could enable providers to increase launch prices significantly, yet doubling launch rates by the early 2030s is uncertain and depends on mission scale.
- The space industry's largest supply chain issue is the slow scaling of suppliers to meet elevated government and commercial demand, complicated by unpredictable order volumes and compressed innovation timelines.
- Satellite manufacturing is bifurcating into standardized scalable platforms and bespoke high-performance spacecraft for specialized missions, with capability increasingly distributed across layered satellite systems.
Valley of Depth
The Stoke Space Factory Tour with CEO Andy Lapsa
23 September 2026 | 36:26 | E128
Andy Lapsa, CEO of Stoke Space, reveals innovative propulsion and thermal protection technologies enabling rapid full reuse of second-stage rocket vehicles while scaling to larger architectures. The company's metallic heat shield and differential throttle control mark critical steps toward affordable orbital launches.
“It is the thing that takes another zero off the cost structure of launch.”
Andy Lapsa
Key takeaways
- Stoke Space's Hopper vehicle flew using exclusive differential throttle control without gimbaled engines, the first such flight demonstrating roll-invariant guidance and control despite spinning.
- Stoke employs a metallic alloy liquid-cooled heat shield cooled by hydrogen propellant, enabling rapid reuse by withstanding intense reentry heating without brittle ceramic tiles and requiring minimal refurbishment.
- The Zenith engine produces about 100,000 pounds of thrust with plans to improve thrust and efficiency incrementally, continuing a rare full-flow staged combustion (FFSC) cycle architecture; Stoke is only the second company to succeed with FFSC after SpaceX.
- Block 2 scales thrust by adding multiple turbopumps and engines in pods, enabling engine-out capability on the upper stage - a feature uncommon for reusable second stages and improving mission reliability.
Are We There Yet?
Weapons in space and a new podcast on the search for life in the universe, and what happens next
23 September 2026 | 28:00
Christian Davenport, professor at Arizona State University, discusses the Pentagon's confirmation of deployed space weapons and the rapid militarization of orbit and cislunar space. Separately, Brendan Byrne hosts the podcast 'When We Find Them,' exploring the implications and challenges of discovering extraterrestrial life.
“If they can maneuver, then all of a sudden they're not where you thought they were going to be.”
Christian Davenport
Key takeaways
- The US military's public confirmation of space weapons represents a watershed moment marking an escalating arms race extending potentially to lunar orbit. Officially described as 'space control weapons,' these are likely non-kinetic systems like jammers rather than missile strikes that create debris.
- Close-orbit rendezvous operations or 'dogfighting' by satellites allow removal or disabling of other satellites, exemplified when China moved a dead BeiDou satellite to a graveyard orbit, blurring lines between debris mitigation and weaponization.
- Maneuverability in military satellites introduces a tactical shift where stealth and unpredictability make tracking and targeting satellites significantly more difficult, complicating defense and offense in space.
- Space assets such as GPS satellites underpin critical civilian and military infrastructure - including financial systems - so disrupting these could have catastrophic global impacts.