Space Café Radio

"It's not about the satellites and rockets - it's about the data." That single line captures a career that has reshaped how the world thinks about space. Live from the Cheyenne Mountain Resort on the eve of the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Torsten Kriening sits down with Major General (Ret.) Clint Crosier for a rare, candid conversation across three transformations.
Crosier was the lead architect of the U.S. Space Force - and he takes us behind closed doors: the empty white board, the 30-day deadline from the President, the "antibodies" inside the Pentagon, and the day on Capitol Hill when he first believed it would really happen. He recounts commanding the global GPS constellation through a live, on-orbit operating-system swap for a billion users, and launching national-security payloads from Vandenberg in the tense weeks after 9/11.
Then comes transformation number two: building the AWS Aerospace & Satellite business from zero to thousands of customers worldwide, and proving that space is, at its heart, a big-data problem - from a Snowcone on the ISS to edge computing on orbit. The conversation looks ahead to commercial GEOINT, allied integration, the Moon, Mars, and the cloud following customers all the way to the edge of the solar system. And it closes with transformation number three: Crosier's new venture, Delta V Strategies, and an open invitation to build what comes next.
A masterclass in leading change in the space domain. Essential listening.
Space Café Radio brings you talks, interviews, and reports from the team of SpaceWatchers while out on the road. Each episode has a specific topic, unique content, and a personal touch. Enjoy the show, and let us know your thoughts at [email protected]
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"I think the US in general doesn't pay much attention to European space." That's how Dr. Michael Gleason of the Aerospace Corporation opens - and it's exactly the blind spot this conversation sets out to expose.
Recorded live on day two of the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Torsten Kriening sits down with the analyst whose latest paper, "Geopolitical Awakening: The European Union and Space," made a lot of Europeans uncomfortable - not because he got it wrong, but because an American got it right. It's Gleason's ninth paper on EU space activities across more than twenty years of watching the continent's slow, incremental, and now suddenly accelerating progress.
The conversation digs into what mapping Europe's space ecosystem from the outside reveals that insiders often miss. Gleason walks through the political-will framework he first built in 2004 - policy, institutions, senior-leader attention, and money - and explains why, with up to €60 billion on the table in the next EU budget, he believes this time Europe means it. Then comes his one truly original insight: as EU funding flows into ESA, the share could climb past 50%, and that "different color of money" might quietly loosen the geographic-return rule that has held European space together for forty years.
From strategic autonomy (and what Washington actually hears when Europeans say it - "not much") to dual-use tensions around Galileo, Copernicus and IRIS², from missile-warning data sharing to the role of NATO, this is a clear-eyed, transatlantic exchange. 
And it ends on a provocation worth sitting with: the most uncomfortable thing isn't Gleason's conclusions - it's that a European institution didn't write the paper. Strategic autonomy, as Torsten argues, starts with self-understanding.
Torsten's Op'ed: #SpaceWatchGL Opinion: Who Understands European Space Better - Washington or Brussels?
Space Café Radio brings you talks, interviews, and reports from the team of SpaceWatchers while out on the road. Each episode has a specific topic, unique content, and a personal touch. Enjoy the show, and let us know your thoughts at [email protected]
We love to hear from you. Send us your thought, comments, suggestions, love letters
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You can find us on: Spotify and Apple Podcast!

Please visit us at SpaceWatch.Global, subscribe to our newsletters.
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"Space is a team sport." With that single phrase, German Major General Wolfgang Ohl captures the shift that defined Germany's presence at the 41st Space Symposium - and perhaps the decade ahead for European space defense.
Recorded live on the final day in Colorado Springs, Torsten Kriening sits down with the Deputy Director of the Armed Forces Department at the German Ministry of Defense for a candid, strategic conversation. Germany arrived this year with a footprint never seen before: its largest-ever cross-ministerial delegation, a whole-of-government booth under the banner of the national space security and defense strategy, and - for the first time in its history - a federal ministry with "space" in its name.

But the real story is what sits behind the €35 billion headline figure (€45 billion across civil and defense combined). General Ohl walks us through the language everyone was using in the keynotes - burden sharing, and increasingly, burden shifting - and what it means now that American partners may one day pull critical capabilities from the European theater. ISR, space-based missile defense, resilient constellations: which of these can Europe substitute, and how fast?

From Olympic Defender and Combined Space Operations to bringing space assets into NATO's defense planning process, from the framework-nation concept that lets smaller allies plug into German capabilities to the hard questions of interoperability and sharing classified data in an age of AI and spoofing - this is a clear-eyed look at how Europe builds a genuine pillar in space. Not as a slogan, but as a requirement.

Honest, forward-looking, and grounded in the realities of the free world's defense. Press play.

Space Café Radio brings you talks, interviews, and reports from the team of SpaceWatchers while out on the road. Each episode has a specific topic, unique content, and a personal touch. Enjoy the show, and let us know your thoughts at [email protected]
We love to hear from you. Send us your thought, comments, suggestions, love letters
Support the show
You can find us on: Spotify and Apple Podcast!

Please visit us at SpaceWatch.Global, subscribe to our newsletters.
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In this episode of Space Cafe Radio, host Torsten Kriening, Publisher of SpaceWatch.Global, sits down with Marshall Smith, CEO of Starlab Space, at the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The conversation reconnects a story that began in Bremen back in 2018, when Marshall was wiring together SLS, Orion, and Gateway at NASA, and now finds him on the other side, building the commercial future he once championed from inside the agency.

From NASA Insider to Commercial Builder
Marshall reflects on his transition from NASA, where he was always "commercial at heart" - pushing the system to go faster, do things differently, and question whether all those requirements were truly necessary. Now leading Starlab, he gets to put those convictions into action.

The Time is Now for Commercial LEO
"Now's the time to turn over Low Earth Orbit to commercial enterprise."

After 54 years of space stations and more than two decades of permanent crewed presence on the ISS, the industry has learned enough. The technology readiness is there. The standards are there. The time has come for commercial enterprise to take over LEO so NASA can focus on the harder things- Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Where Starlab Stands Today
Marshall reveals concrete progress: Starlab is past Critical Design Review with NASA (completed in December), in manufacturing, building structures, with long-lead items in process. They're roughly five to six years into the typical six-to-ten-year development cycle for a complex space vehicle. Some say they haven't hit the hard part yet, but Marshall responds:
 "We have the capability, we have the experience. Eyes wide open."

The Real Gap Risk
The ISS retires around 2030. China's space station is operational today. Marshall is candid about the leaks, the aging equipment, the obsolete components, and the uncertainty about whether extension to 2030 or 2032 will be possible. Starlab's launch target is 2029 - and they intend to be there before the gap opens.

Recreating the ISS Partnership - Commercially
Starlab is a joint venture with Voyager as majority shareholder, joined by Airbus, Mitsubishi, MDA, Palantir, and Hilton -a multinational structure that recreates the ISS partnership at a commercial and business level. The same companies that built parts of the ISS are now building the commercial successor.

Starship as the Launch Plan
Marshall explains why he's not worried: Starship has already been to orbit, and Starlab only needs to reach orbit and deploy - no Moon landing required. By the time Starlab launches, Starship will likely be on its seventh version.

The Manufacturing Vision
Marshall hints at semiconductor manufacturing, biopharma, pill production, fiber optics, and a proprietary concept that could revolutionize the pace of in-orbit manufacturing. He predicts the demand will be so great that companies might want their own dedicated Starlab modules - and that copies could be built in roughly one to two years.

The iPhone Moment for Space Stations
"In 2007, somebody built a platform called an iPhone. It had a few games, didn't even do FaceTime. Now you can't walk around without your phone. CLDs are platforms. Ten years after operations begin, you're going to see things you would've never imagined - maybe ordering a replacement heart tuned to your DNA, printed in space."
On Artemis 2
Having been involved in Artemis 1 and 2 at NASA, Marshall shares his personal joy at the mission's success. For him, it's a signal to the world that humanity is going back to deep space, to the Moon's surface, building Moon bases, going to Mars.

The Bigger Mission
"It's about becoming a multi-planet species. Maybe one day becoming a multi-stellar species. I know that sounds crazy to some people. That's why I do this. Because I don't want to see us being here locked on this planet a thousand years from now."

Marshall draws the parallel to the 1400s - when explorers asked "what if we cross this big body of water?" - and now humans are asking the same question about the void of vacuum. The exploration accelerates. We were built for this.

For Listeners Who Think Big
This is a conversation about commercial space stations, the urgency of LEO transition, the iPhone-platform future of orbital manufacturing, and what it means to become a multi-planet species.

Space Café Radio brings you talks, interviews, and reports from the team of SpaceWatchers while out on the road. Each episode has a specific topic, unique content, and a personal touch. Enjoy the show, and let us know your thoughts at [email protected]
We love to hear from you. Send us your thought, comments, suggestions, love letters
Support the show
You can find us on: Spotify and Apple Podcast!

Please visit us at SpaceWatch.Global, subscribe to our newsletters.
Follow us on LinkedIn and X!

In this special edition of Space Cafe Radio, host Torsten Kriening, Publisher of SpaceWatch.Global, sits down with Daniel Faber, former CEO of Orbit Fab, on the sun deck of Daniel's home near Hidden Lake outside Denver, Colorado.
After almost a decade of knowing each other, this conversation hits differently. Daniel has just stepped down from Orbit Fab - the company he co-founded eight years ago to make satellites refuelable - and is preparing his next bold move. What unfolds is a wide-ranging conversation that challenges assumptions about the future of space.

The Bold Prediction
"I predict that every cell phone tower on Earth will become obsolete within 10 years because of direct-to-device. Every cell phone company that is invested in towers is looking at a dead asset with trailing revenues, and they have to figure out what to do with it."

This is the prediction that sets the tone for an extraordinary conversation.

The Orbit Fab Chapter Closes
Daniel reflects on building Orbit Fab from a paradigm nobody believed in to a company where the technology now works and the paradigm has shifted. He shares why stepping aside was the right call, why he's not the right person to take the company to IPO, and what comes next.

A Career of Being Right Too Early
From asteroid mining ambitions at Deep Space Industries to creating the in-orbit refueling market at Orbit Fab, Daniel has spent 25 years working on what most people thought was impossible. He shares the throughline: getting humans and life off Earth as the most significant step since we crawled out of the ocean.

The Three Telecom Models Battle
Daniel breaks down the emerging direct-to-device satellite communications landscape:
SpaceX/Starlink - Will eat the telco market themselves
AST SpaceMobile - The friendlier partnership model with telcos
Space42 - The platform-only approach where telcos keep customers, spectrum, AND transponder
Why AST SpaceMobile is worth $36 billion with only $10 million in revenue, why SpaceX is valued at $1.75 trillion, and what this means for the half-dozen new mega constellation companies funded in the last 6-9 months.

The Massive Markets Coming to Space
Global telecoms: $2-3 trillion
Power generation: $6-7 trillion (and growing with AI data centers)
Manufacturing: $10-15 trillion
How much of these markets will move to space? Daniel makes the case that the next 10-20 years will reveal dozens of massive new space markets we haven't even imagined yet.

Torsten Pushes Back
This isn't a friendly endorsement session. Torsten challenges Daniel on sovereignty concerns, single-person dependencies, spectrum constraints, landing rights, and whether the world really needs 100 mega constellations. The exchange that follows shows why this conversation matters.

What's Next for Daniel?
Daniel stays coy about his new stealth space company, but reveals he's already meeting with likely co-founders and putting pieces in place. His philosophy: be contrarian AND right. Being contrarian is easy. Being right is the hard part.
"In order to be successful, entrepreneurs need to be contrarian. If they're doing something everybody already believes, it's a commodity. There's no margins. Why bother?"
The Throughline
From Deep Space Industries to Orbit Fab to whatever comes next—Daniel's mission remains constant: build the in-space economy that can support permanent human life beyond Earth. The most significant step since we crawled out of the ocean.

For Listeners Who Love Big Ideas
This is a conversation about cell tower obsolescence, in-space manufacturing markets, the geopolitics of mega constellations, and the contrarian mindset needed to build something the world doesn't yet know it wants.

Space Café Radio brings you talks, interviews, and reports from the team of SpaceWatchers while out on the road. Each episode has a specific topic, unique content, and a personal touch. Enjoy the show, and let us know your thoughts at [email protected]
We love to hear from you. Send us your thought, comments, suggestions, love letters
Support the show
You can find us on: Spotify and Apple Podcast!

Please visit us at SpaceWatch.Global, subscribe to our newsletters.
Follow us on LinkedIn and X!