I'm thrilled to share that Ashley Christenson (@ashnichrist) is joining the Arkaea Media Group team as Director of Video and Audience, where she'll lead strategy for Spectra (our new visual content arm) and our audience growth initiatives. Ashley started in the creator economy in 2012, specializing in internet-native live shows, before moving into tech as head of growth at an AI company. She has since built marketing strategies for nearly 60 startups and has spent the past few months helping build out our new live show. Much more to come soon, but for now welcome, Ashley!

Full interview with @CesiumAstro CEO @Shey_Sabripour on phased arrays, satellites, and the race to build one integrated information grid (live from @NYSE). Earlier this year, Cesium announced a $470 million Series C with a Series D on its way. "People hear big numbers like 30,000 satellites or a million satellites like, 'Oh my God... everything's going to be done with one company.' And our customers are telling us otherwise." "We are at the beginning of the space economy. We really are... it's like the 1980s of personal computers." We discuss: – 850 people, 14 locations, and the moment of scale – A Series D "by a factor of two at least" – Why vertical integration (and why not for its own sake) – Space, ground, and AI as one optimized network – A ~$50B pipeline – Where Cesium fits next to Starlink and Amazon Leo – IPO or stay private? CC: @JackKuhr

SPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENT: @ConnorLoveCA General Partner at @a16z, will be joining the Space & Defense Investor Summit. Prior to a16z, Connor led Lightspeed’s space and defense investments. He’s also a former active duty Captain in the U.S. Army who served across the Pacific and the Middle East. a16z's American Dynamism portfolio includes companies such as @anduriltech, @Saronic, @CastelionCorp, @Apex_Satellites, @shieldaitech and many others. 📍 The Beverly Hilton 🗓️ November 3 - 4, 2026

The Space & Defense Update is LIVE from the @NYSE @itsmoislam and @JackKuhr are joined today by: – @Shey_Sabripour, CEO of @CesiumAstro – Alex Haro, CEO of @hubble_network – @w_robinsonsmith, Space Reporter at @SpaceflightNow We’re digging into: – Starship’s first orbital flight: deploying 26 Starlink satellites, the engine issue that shortened the mission, and what this milestone means for SpaceX’s next steps. – How Hubble connects Bluetooth devices directly to satellites, what devices need to join the network, and how tracking shipments and equipment could extend beyond cellular coverage. – CesiumAstro’s expansion from communications systems into complete satellites, its plans to scale manufacturing in Texas, and how acquisitions are bringing more technology in-house. Comment if you love space (help us share the show!) 👇

Do something that matters. Every Starship launch is a reminder for us: Have kids, create new technology, save lives, bet on the human race. This is why we cry during launches. Because its actually important.

EXCLUSIVE FACTORY TOUR: @stoke_space's approach to full reuse is easiest to understand when you can actually see the hardware. During an exclusive post-Series E tour of the company’s 168,000-square-foot headquarters outside Seattle, CEO @AndyLapsa walks us through the evolution of Nova: from the Hopper demonstrator that first proved Stoke’s second-stage architecture to the flight hardware now being prepared for orbital testing. Highlights: 0:00 Introduction 2:18 Hopper Demonstrator & Initial Testing 4:47 Propulsion Architecture (Zenith Engine) 8:04 Fuel Efficiency & Reusable Rocketry 9:15 Introduction to Nova Block 2 11:26 Stoke Founding & Development Philosophy 15:39 Full-Flow Staged Combustion Insights 19:54 Testing Milestones & Engine Reliability 21:24 Additive Manufacturing & In-house Production 23:22 “Bolt” Data Tracking & Operations 25:46 Payload Accommodations & Flight Hardware 26:44 Hot Staging Mechanics 29:32 Comparison: Liquid Cooling vs. Ceramic Tiles 32:56 Future Trajectories & Expansion Full episode 👇

.@itsmoislam and I took our live show on the road for the first time this week. We set the broadcast in front of the Apollo 17 command module at our Off World conference at Space Center Houston. We chose the spot (in addition to it being insanely cool and historic) because Apollo 17 was the last time humans landed on the Moon more than 50 years ago. And now, as we are oh so close to finally going back, the conference was bringing together industry folks to figure out what the 21st-century version of landing and living on the Moon will look like. We have become more and more convinced that live, authentic, unscripted video content will play an increasingly important role in media consumption, even for B2B publications like ours. That's interviews, analysis, and short 1.5 min thought leadership clips. We are tripling down on high-quality video content. That's with our bi-weekly show and partnership at the NYSE. And now at our events, tying our content together. Was a great show this week. Moon bases, investing in space exploration, rovers, and nuclear power. We interviewed Carlos Garcia-Galan (NASA Moon base program manager), @tybernstein (Zeno Power), @GoesslerAlyssa (AE Industrial Partners), AJ Gemer (Lunar Outpost), @endeffector (Astrolab), and @TaylorCSargent (Industrious Ventures). As always, will post clips of the important moments from the interviews.

EXCLUSIVE: @AndyLapsa, CEO of @stoke_space, joins VALLEY OF DEPTH for his first sit-down since the company's $1B raise and the unveiling of its new 15T to LEO Nova Block 2 launch vehicle. Stoke is a launch company building Nova, a two-stage rocket designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, with an upper stage that uses a hydrogen-cooled metallic heat shield and a first stage powered by a full-flow staged combustion engine called Zenith. Highlights: 01:04 – New developments at Stoke 02:16 – The Nova product family 08:19 – Meeting with Jared Isaacman 09:48 – $1B fundraise, use of proceeds 12:12 – Future production capacity 13:44 – Was this the last private funding round for Stoke? 23:46 – Why are rockets still so hard? 26:17 – Why build a full-flow staged combustion for your first stage? 29:14 – Technical hurdles that are left to solve 35:05 – Stoke's heat shield vs ceramic heat shields 39:51 – The state of the launch industry. Are we screwed in the short term? 49:00 – A payload agnostic future 51:36 – The application layer for Block 2 1:01:20 – What keeps Andy up at night? 1:02:29 – What happens after mission success? 1:06:31 – When should we expect the first flight of Block 2? Full episode 👇

THE INVESTOR SUMMIT IS BACK. For the last three years, we’ve brought together the world’s most influential investors, founders and executives to debate the future of the space economy. This year, for the first time, we’re expanding into defense technology. The Investor Summit will now be co-hosted by @payloadspace and @tectonicdefense, bringing two of our biggest industries together under one roof. On November 3 & 4, we’re taking over the iconic Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills for our most ambitious summit yet. Over two days, we’ll convene the most important leaders across space and defense alongside $8 trillion in institutional capital. 📍 The Beverly Hilton 🗓️ November 3 & 4 Attendance is by application only 👇

VALLEY OF DEPTH: @AntaresNuclear announced a $470M Series C two days ago. We had a chance to chat with CEO @jordanbramble that same day about the round, his Oval Office visit with President Trump, and what comes after criticality. Antares is building microreactors for defense and space: designing, manufacturing, and fielding factory-built fission power for missions that can't afford to lose power. Chapters: 00:54 – Jordan at the White House 02:57 – What does criticality mean? 08:48 – What the fundraise will allow Antares to do 09:58 – How did Antares get to criticality first? 12:55 – How the government's approach to nuclear has changed 15:25 – How small modular reactors fit in the nuclear tech landscape 19:02 – Space-based civilian use cases for nuclear 20:57 – Antares's approach to fuel availability and supply chains 25:56 – Electricity in 2027 27:14 – Regulatory hurdles 31:33 – The road to 30 reactors a month 33:22 – The data center opportunity 37:22 – Is it just a coincidence that 4 companies reached criticality by the July 4th deadline? 39:48 – How would an investor know if a nuclear company is on the right path? 43:09 – What would Jordan have done differently with Antares if he could start over? Full episode 👇

VALLEY OF DEPTH: @IanCinnamon, CEO of @Apex_Satellites on the origin of the company. "Building the physical satellite that we do here at Apex is pretty freaking hard. And the reason it's hard is satellites are these bespoke exquisite systems that are basically redesigned around a specific payload every time... And if you're redesigning that every time, that's all this new nonrecurring engineering. It's really slow. So my idea was like very, you know, I would argue naive at the time. I was like, why can't we just do it like a software company where engineers design a set product and then we go have a production line, go build the same thing over and over again at scale."

Can companies responsibly build a business model around Starship? .@_Eric_Romo, President & COO of @GoToImpulse doesn't think so. "Why would you (@SpaceX) sell a thing you don’t have enough of for yourself, at a bargain-basement price, to your competitors? The logic just doesn’t hold anywhere there. And it’s just sort of the wishful thinking of, “Well, because I want it,” that these companies say they’re going to get this at a low price. And the reality is, in the market, this is the same thing that happened with Falcon 9."

This week on Valley of Depth: @_Eric_Romo, President & COO of @GoToImpulse joins the show to discuss the past, present and future of the company. Impulse is building the next major infrastructure layer in space: moving payloads once they’re already in space (to GEO, the Moon, and other high-energy destinations). 00:34 – The journey to Impulse 09:02 – Is Musk focused on Mars or data centers now? 13:57 – Reuniting with Tom 19:35 – The vision of Impulse 21:20 – Impulse's product set & the pivot to GEO 38:32 – Mira, the most maneuverable spacecraft in orbit 40:24 – Why does the government care about maneuverable satellites? 41:40 – Competitors and how to win the maneuverability race 44:41 – How exposed are GEO assets today? 53:17 – How Starship will fundamentally change the industry 59:18 – The opportunity for SpaceX competitors 1:03:06 – If Starship solves orbital refueling, will they become a competitive concern for Impulse? 1:04:52 – The $500M fundraise 1:06:17 – Impulse's existing capital needs, future fundraising, and will they go public? 1:10:23 – Biggest source of internal debate 1:12:31 – Overrated and underrated space technologies 1:15:13 – What Eric would say to his 23-year-old self at SpaceX Full episode 👇