Podcasts

Pathfinder is Payload’s flagship podcast covering the booming business and pressing policy matters of space. We sit down weekly with the top shot-callers in space to keep you informed, entertained, and up-to date on the top news and trends beyond Earth. In this ~1 hour, talk show-style podcast, Pathfinder host Mo Islam interviews astronauts, administrators, founders, CEOs, military minds, policymakers, and more.

Software for Space, with Epsilon3’s Laura Crabtree

EPISODE SUMMARY We’re 20 weeks into publishing the Pathfinder podcast—and we have a great episode in store for you to mark the occasion. Our guest is Laura Crabtree, cofounder and CEO of Epsilon3. Today’s episode is sponsored by Spaced Ventures, the planet’s first space investment portal. Spaced Ventures has recently launched an effort to open […]

Road to Rocket 4.0: Astra’s CEO Chris Kemp

EPISODE SUMMARY Happy Q4–and fiscal year 2023–to those who celebrate, and welcome back to another episode of Pathfinder. Today we’re back on the rocket beat and we’ll get a much-needed company update from Astra ($ASTR) CEO Chris Kemp. Today’s episode is brought to you by SpiderOak Mission Systems. Take the Payload/SpiderOak survey and contribute to […]

Lasers + Software with Aalyria’s Brian Barritt

EPISODE SUMMARY Aalyria just emerged from stealth mode, announcing an acquisition of a trove of connectivity technology from Google. The search juggernaut’s parent company Alphabet has been developing high-altitude networking technology and apparently a space laser for years, if not decades. Aalyria is setting out to commercialize a lot of this technology, including much of the […]

A Pure-Play Space Infrastructure Player

EPISODE SUMMARY Bonjour, and welcome to the Pathfinder in Paris experience, powered by Payload.  We’ve got a surprise in store for you today – a twofer! That’s right, two guests for the price of one, and packaged up into one standard length podcast. EPISODE NOTES In this week’s episode, and our second dispatch from back-to-back […]

Caleb Henry: The Soup-to-Nuts Space Economy

EPISODE SUMMARY These days, the satellite industry is hard-pressed to go a single week without fresh speculation on multibillion-dollar megamergers or new household names (ahem, Apple and T-Mobile) jumping into the fray. That’s why we’re thrilled to have locked down Caleb Henry as today’s Pathfinder guest. On Pathfinder 0016, Caleb joins Ryan to help us […]

Solar System Communications with Kelly Larson

EPISODE SUMMARY We have a rare Wednesday release of the Pathfinder podcast, but we promise the wait was worth it. Joining us today is Kelly Larson, who’s the CEO of Aquarian Space. The Boulder, Colorado startup is building “internet for the solar system.” Or, to get a bit more technical, Aquarian is developing a communications […]

Barry Matsumori on Solar System Logistics

EPISODE SUMMARY The Pathfinder guarantee is to bring you conversations you won’t find anywhere else. Today’s episode delivers on that guarantee in spades, taking us from the cost-per-kilogram of covered wagons to in-space delivery logistics to Mars highways…and much more. EPISODE NOTES Our guest is Barry Matsumori, a space industry veteran who’s held exec roles […]

Giuseppe Santangelo Talks Martian Helicopters, Skypersonic, and More!

EPISODE SUMMARY Giuseppe is president at Red Cat Holdings ($RCAT) and founder of Skypersonic, which builds drones that can inspect and survey sites in high-risk, confined, or GPS-denied locations. Skypersonic’s product enables remote operators to fly drones indoors 100% remotely and over the internet. EPISODE NOTES Giuseppe is president at Red Cat Holdings ($RCAT) and […]

Creating a Live Earth Catalog, with Emiliano Kargieman

EPISODE SUMMARY On today’s Pathfinder, we sit down with Emiliano Kargieman, who is CEO and cofounder of Satellogic ($SATL). Originally started in Buenos Aires, the now-global ~$500M microsat operator is deploying a LEO constellation and aims to develop a high-res, live catalog of Earth. EPISODE NOTES By the end of 2023, Satellogic hopes to have […]

Tackling Space Trash with Dr. Moriba Jah

EPISODE SUMMARY We’re tackling the topic of space junk today. We’re very fortunate to have Dr. Moriba Jah, one of the world’s foremost authorities on this topic, joining us this week to help tackle the issue. Moriba is an astrodynamicist, space environmentalist, and associate professor of aerospace engineering and engineering mechanics at UT Austin (obligatory […]

Jordan Noone on 3D printing, Relativity, KittyCAD, and Embedded Ventures

EPISODE SUMMARY Today’s guest is Jordan Noone, the cofounder and founding CTO of Relativity Space. Noone now holds the same titles at Embedded Ventures, a self-described deeptech VC “skunkworks” that Noone runs with cofounder Jenna Bryant. EPISODE NOTES Today’s guest is Jordan Noone, the cofounder and founding CTO of Relativity Space. Noone now holds the […]

Printing Rockets: Relativity’s Tim Ellis

EPISODE SUMMARY Tim Ellis joins us to talk about where Relativity has been and where it’s going. Tim was in his twenties when he started Relativity Space with cofounder Jordan Noone six and a half years ago. EPISODE NOTES On today’s episode of Pathfinder, we’re joined by Tim Ellis, the CEO and cofounder of Relativity […]