EPISODE SUMMARY
This week’s Pathfinder features Sinead O’Sullivan, an economist and board member of the European Space Policy Institute. Our discussion explores the intricate dynamics of public vs. private funding in the space industry and the challenges posed by venture capital and institutional investments.
EPISODE NOTES
This week on Pathfinder, we’re joined by Sinead O’Sullivan, an economist and board member of the European Space Policy Institute. Sinead has had a unique career, from her early days in aerospace engineering in Northern Ireland to significant roles on Wall Street and at top academic institutions like Georgia Tech and Harvard. In her free time, she’s written about space, economics, wine, and even music for publications such as the Financial Times, Vogue, and The New Yorker—because who doesn’t love a little light writing and high-profile journalism to unwind?
Our discussion explores the intricate dynamics of public vs. private funding in the space industry and the challenges posed by venture capital and institutional investments. In addition, we discuss:
- Capital destruction in new technologies
- The importance of institutional capital
- …if the industry can maintain its growth
- The future of space financing
This episode is brought to you by Epsilon3, a cloud-based platform that supports a wide range of operational procedures requiring extreme efficiency and control. Innovative teams at NASA, Blue Origin, Redwire, and Firefly Aerospace use it to plan, execute, and automate their most complex workflows.
• Chapters •
00:00 Intro & Epsilon ad
01:16 Sinead’s background
07:56 Engineer or Economist?
09:49 Sinead, the writer
12:14 Public vs private funding sources
20:00 The sustainability of current private-first funding mechanisms
28:14 Role of DoD in supporting startups
46:39 What will make institutional capital take the space industry seriously?
55:31 Space financing in 10 years
01:00 Irish modern art
• Show notes •
Sinead’s socials — https://twitter.com/SineadOS1
Mo’s socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam
Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace
Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace
Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes