The DownLink Podcast

The DownLink Podcast

From the Defense & Aerospace Report... This is The DownLink Podcast, hosted by Laura Winter. From the intersection of space, business, and defense... Not just what's over the horizon, but what's happening above it. The DownLink Podcast is 2023, 2024, and 2025 Defense Media Award-winner.

Episodes

October 23, 2026 • 31 mins
Institutional investors are diversifying their portfolios to include alternative assets, such as private equity and private credit. With the SpaceX IPO, some are seeking stakes in the space category, but do they understand what they're buying? From the Up/Link SpaceTech Business Summit in New York, Laura Winter speaks with Chris Quilty, Founder and Co-CEO of Quilty Space, and Drew Svor, Partner at Sheppard.
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A year after German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius spoke about offensive capabilities and pledged €35B to build up military space power, the interest, desire, and need for resilient space systems have grown alongside the increasing number of hybrid attacks attributed to Russia. Laura Winter speaks with Torsten Kriening, Publisher and CEO of SpaceWatch.Global. Watch this episode on The DownLink YouTube channel. Subscribe to The...
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October 9, 2026 • 39 mins
Space venture funding hit a record $3.1 billion in September — but the industry's real problem could be a scarcity of rockets, even if SpaceX’s Starship comes on-line. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Quilty, Founder and CEO of Quilty Space, and Lou Whiteman, Stock Analyst at The Motley Fool. Watch this episode on The DownLink YouTube channel. Subscribe to The DownLink newsletter: https://thedownlink.substack.com/ Follow...
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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman knows that breathing efficiently is really the trick that unlocks human deep space travel. He recently paid a visit to Honeywell Aerospace in Arizona and learned more about the company's clever answer that has the potential for 100% air recyclability. Laura Winter speaks with Meghan Pipitone, Lead Engineer for Air Revitalization, Honeywell Aerospace.
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Did space just get short-shrift at this week’s summit? Naming China as the No1 threat, U.S. military officials did just confirm the existence of on-orbit weapons and that it will prepare for combat on and around the moon. Or were there other less-sexy agenda items that directly affect the space industrial base? Laura Winter speaks with Dean Cheng, Senior Fellow, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
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Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink reveals that the United States has placed weapons in orbit, and the new Space Force Chief of Space Operations, Gen. Douglas Schiess, lays out his priorities. Laura Winter speaks with Col. Charles Galbreath, USSF (Ret.), Director, Mitchell Institute Spacepower Advantage Center of Excellence; and Col. Jennifer Reeves, USAF (Ret.), Senior Fellow at the same institution.
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September 11, 2026 • 37 mins
States are already vying to become the home of the White House's proposed Space Academy, but what critical problem set should it solve? Do we really need it? This episode — Part 2 of this two-part series and following last week's episode on the National Space Transportation Policy — focuses on the "Establishing the United States Space Academy" proclamation. Laura Winter speaks with retired Space Force Gen. David "DT" T...
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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 correctly, could have strategic effects. In this Part 1 episode, three of the nation's most experienced space professionals focus on the National Space Transportation Policy, best known for its goal of 1,000 launches...
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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, yet targeted, programmatic increases. Laura Winter speaks with Sam Wilson, Director of Strategy and National Security, Center for Space Policy and Strategy, The Aerospace Corporation.
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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 that same infrastructure at risk. The International Committee of the Red Cross calls it a "knowledge gap." Laura Winter speaks with two representatives from the ICRC Regional Delegation for the U.S. and Canada &...
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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 is murky. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Quilty, Founder and CEO of Quilty Space, George Pullen, Chief Economist at MilkyWayEconomy, and Lou Whiteman, Stock Analyst at The Motley Fool.
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China's on the cusp of truly competing with SpaceX with a reusable rocket, while it supplies Iran and Russia and Xi Jinping purges another of the nation's space heroes. Laura Winter speaks with Malcolm Davis, Senior Analyst, Defence Strategy Program, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and Brendan Mulvaney, Director, China Aerospace Studies Institute, Air University.
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The fact that the Chinese Coast Guard attacked Philippines vessels in three separate confrontations this week, may illustrate why the Space Force needs Guardians trained and equipped under Title 10 authorities to secure U.S. interests in orbit and on the Moon. Laura Winter speaks with retired Lt. Gen. Joseph "Gus" Guastella, former commander of U.S. Air Forces Central Command, now Executive Vice President of National Security, at V...
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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 Air Force Col. Jennifer Reeves, Senior Resident Fellow at the Mitchell Institute, and retired Air Force Col. Patrick Donley, Director of the Air & Space Forces Association's Doolittle Leadership Center.
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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 Defense.
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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 public and private markets. Laura Winter speaks with Chris Quilty, Founder and CEO of Quilty Space, and Lou Whiteman, aerospace and space analyst at The Motley Fool.
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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 integration from plan into practice. Laura Winter speaks with Air Marshal Paul Godfrey, RAF, Assistant Chief of Space Operations for Future Concepts and Partnerships, U.S. Space Force.
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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. Department of Commerce.
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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 Quilty Space, George Pullen, Chief Economist at MilkyWayEconomy, and Lou Whiteman, stock analyst at The Motley Fool.
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"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 invitation from NASA to contribute directly to the Artemis lunar program. Deterrence and remaining independent from the PRC is also a driver. Laura Winter speaks with Dr. Wu Jong-Shinn, Director General, Taiwan Space ...
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