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How do you test hypersonics from orbit, build drones at the front lines, and map the seafloor with robots? The Space & Defense Update is LIVE from the New York Stock Exchange with Mo Islam and Jack Kuhr, exploring in-space manufacturing, battlefield factories, and the autonomous tech mapping the ocean. Want to learn more about the business of space? Sign up for Payload's free newsletter: https://payloadspace.com/subscribe/ Joining us: - Will Bruey, CEO, Varda Space Industries- Dan Magy, CEO, Firestorm- Matt Tirman, CEO, Bedrock Ocean We're digging into Varda's $251M Series D, how its capsules are being used for hypersonic testing, and what's next for manufacturing in orbit. Firestorm breaks down its xCell field microfactories and what it takes to build drones close to the fight. Bedrock explains how autonomous ocean mapping works, why sea mines and subsea cables are back in focus, and where maritime intelligence goes next. Join the conversation live and drop your questions in the chat. #Varda #DefenseTech #SpaceNews

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 Andy Lapsa 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. We cover: - How Stoke is scaling Nova from the three-ton Pathfinder to the 15-ton Block 2- What changes and what stays the same in Block 2’s propulsion architecture- How Stoke plans to ramp Pathfinder production while developing Block 2 in parallel- What remains before Pathfinder ships for final testing and its first orbital flight- Why Stoke is expanding its manufacturing and testing footprint following the $1 billion Series E • Show notes •Stoke’s’ website — https://www.stokespace.com/Stoke’s’ socials — https://x.com/stoke_spaceAndy's socials – https://x.com/AndyLapsaMo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislamValley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/ • About us •Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies reshaping industry, national security, and the global balance of power. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload, Tectonic, Ignition, and Decoding Bio, the show covers space, defense, energy, biotech, and the technologies shaping what comes next. We sit down with founders, investors, government officials, scientists, and military leaders to understand what they’re building, why it matters, and where these industries are headed. From new companies and breakthrough technologies to capital, policy, and geopolitics, Valley of Depth goes deep on the forces shaping the future.• Payload: www.payloadspace.com• Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com• Ignition: www.ignition-news.com• Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

Stoke Space was founded around a simple but radical belief: launch is not solved until rockets are fully and rapidly reusable. That thesis is now getting much bigger. Stoke has raised another $1 billion, bringing total capital raised to $2.3 billion, and is unveiling a new 15-ton-class version of Nova designed to be fully reusable.  In his first sit-down interview following the announcement, Andy Lapsa joins Valley of Depth from Stoke Space’s headquarters outside Seattle. We got an exclusive first look at the company’s new plans before the news was made public, sitting down with Andy to unpack the $1 billion fundraise, the new 15-ton Nova, why Stoke is making such an aggressive bet on full reuse, and why he believes launch capacity could become one of the biggest constraints on the growth of the space economy. We also cover: What the new $1 billion financing enablesWhy launch remains unsolved despite SpaceX’s successWhy full reuse may matter as much for reliability as it does for costHow Stoke plans to manufacture Pathfinder while developing the larger Nova simultaneouslyWhy payload-agnostic launch could become increasingly valuable as launch providers vertically integrateThe long-term opportunities in downmass, in-space manufacturing, compute, and deep-space transportationWhat Stoke needs to prove across its first three orbital flights…and much more. • Chapters • 00:00 – Trailer 01:04 – New developments at Stoke 02:16 – The Nova product family 02:55 – Nova block 2 08:19 – Meeting with Jared Isaacman 09:48 – Where Stoke is going to be investing their newly raised $1b of capital 12:12 – Stoke's future production capacity 13:44 – Was this the last private funding round for Stoke? 14:33 – What Andy wanted Stoke to be in 2019 when he founded Stoke 22:47 – The marginal drop with rapid reuse 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 31:17 – Second stage 35:05 – Stoke's Metallic alloy based heat shield vs ceramic heat shield 38:01 – The doors that Stoke's heat shield will open 39:51 – The state of the launch industry. Are we screwed in the short term? 45:31 – From launch abundance to panic 46:39 – Had Andy ever thought about redesigning a rocket? 49:00 – Payload agnostic 51:36 – New application layer for Stoke's block 2 59:07 – Andy's advice to new players in the rocket space 1:01:20 – What Keeps Andy up at night? 1:02:29 – What happens after Block 2's mission success? 1:06:31 – When should we expect the first flight of the Block 2? 1:06:57 – In the movie about Stoke, who plays Andy? 1:07:54 – What does Andy do for fun?   • Show notes • Stoke’s’ website — https://www.stokespace.com/ Stoke’s’ socials — https://x.com/stoke_space Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/   • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies reshaping industry, national security, and the global balance of power. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload, Tectonic, Ignition, and Decoding Bio, the show covers space, defense, energy, biotech, and the technologies shaping what comes next. We sit down with founders, investors, government officials, scientists, and military leaders to understand what they’re building, why it matters, and where these industries are headed. From new companies and breakthrough technologies to capital, policy, and geopolitics, Valley of Depth goes deep on the forces shaping the future. Payload: www.payloadspace.comTectonic: www.tectonicdefense.comIgnition: www.ignition-news.comDecoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

Skyways has spent nearly a decade working on a problem most of the drone industry largely ignored: logistics. While billions poured into drones built to see targets or strike them, Skyways focused on something less flashy but arguably just as important: moving critical supplies without putting people in harm’s way. That bet is starting to look increasingly prescient. The company has worked with the U.S. military since its earliest days and is now building its V3 aircraft to carry 100 pounds of payload up to 1,000 nautical miles. The longer-term ambition is much bigger: use defense to mature autonomous aviation, build a global logistics network, and eventually prove the technology required to carry people. Skyways’ Chief Strategy Officer Isaac Roberts joins Valley of Depth from the company’s Austin factory to unpack why autonomous logistics could become one of the biggest markets in drones, how the war in Ukraine has accelerated the entire industry, and why the FAA may be the biggest obstacle standing between today’s cargo drones and autonomous aviation at scale. We also cover: Why logistics became Skyways’ wedge into the Department of Defense How Skyways beat Boeing and Shield AI in military competitions Why the company believes defense is the proving ground, but commercial logistics is the much larger opportunity Why the FAA is holding back commercial drone adoption in the U.S. How Skyways plans to turn aircraft sales into a high-utilization “flight-as-a-service” network What separates real drone companies from the hype in aerospace • Chapters • 00:00 – Trailer 00:48 – Skyways factory floor 01:08 – America, French, and Texas flags 02:16 – The problem Skyways is trying to solve 03:49 – The logistics problem 09:05 – Companies Skyways competes with 11:45 – How Skyways beat out Boeing 13:18 – Will Skyways ever transport people? 15:56 – Why focus on cargo over kinetic systems? 18:35 – How has Ukraine changed the nature of drone warfare? 22:58 – Skyhook 25:34 – Where is the FAA a blocker? 28:40 – Defense contract traction 29:34 – Direct competitors in their contracts 30:28 – Is Isaac worried about Anduril competing with them? 34:06 – Current economics for the v3 36:00 – Hype and BS 37:52 – How to get to ground truth with tech 39:41 – Funding and next phase of growth 40:35 – How is Skyways structurally different than other defense companies? 41:52 – How Isaac got to Skyways 43:29 – Rocky moments at Skyways 44:27 – The FAA unlock for the industry 50:38 – What keeps Isaac up at night? 52:37 – What Mo and Isaac do for fun   • Show notes • Footage courtesy of Skyways Skyways’ website — https://www.skyways.com/ Skyways’ socials — https://x.com/skyways Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/   • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies reshaping industry, national security, and the global balance of power. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload, Tectonic, Ignition, and Decoding Bio, the show covers space, defense, energy, biotech, and the technologies shaping what comes next. We sit down with founders, investors, government officials, scientists, and military leaders to understand what they’re building, why it matters, and where these industries are headed. From new companies and breakthrough technologies to capital, policy, and geopolitics, Valley of Depth goes deep on the forces shaping the future. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

This month, Mo and Jack host a live Space & Defense Update from the NYSE, featuring leading investors and executives: • Erik Kriessmann, Partner at Altimeter Capital • Zach Shore, CEO of Hermeus • Dan Wright, CEO of Armada We discuss the latest developments across space, defense technology, AI infrastructure, hypersonic aviation, edge computing, private-market investment, and the emerging companies building the next generation of critical infrastructure.   About us Arkaea Media is building the definitive media, events, and intelligence platform for the future of the defense industrial base. We deliver high-quality journalism and actionable insights that shape the business, policy, and investment decisions underpinning technically complex and highly regulated industries that influence global security. Our portfolio of publications includes Payload, Tectonic, Ignition, and Decoding Bio. • Payload: www.payloadspace.com • Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com • Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

Antares just closed a massive $470M Series C, was welcomed to the Oval Office by President Trump to celebrate becoming the first startup to achieve reactor criticality under the Department of Energy's reactor pilot program, and is now racing toward delivering the first commercial microreactors to the U.S. military. Just three years after being founded, the company expects to surpass $1B in defense contracts while attempting to restart America's nuclear industrial base. CEO Jordan Bramble joins Valley of Depth to unpack what it actually took to build and operate a nuclear reactor in under a year, why Antares believes the military (not hyperscale data centers) is the fastest path to commercial nuclear power, and how microreactors could fundamentally reshape everything from missile defense and remote military installations to space exploration. We also cover: Why achieving reactor criticality is a historic milestone for American nuclear energy How Antares compressed decades of nuclear development into a startup timeline Why the company chose defense as its beachhead market instead of AI data centers The manufacturing, regulatory, and supply chain strategy behind scaling microreactors How nuclear power could enable Golden Dome, space infrastructure, and the next era of national security • Chapters • 00:00 - Trailer 00:54 – Jordan at the White House 02:57 – What does criticality mean? 04:29 – How hard is reaching criticality? 08:48 – What $600M in fundraising 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 since Jordan's time at the Office of Management & Budget 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 30:12 – The production line Antares is building 31:33 – The road to 30 reactors a month 33:22 – The data center component 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? 44:36 – What will Jordan be most proud of about Antares when he's 80?   • Show notes • Antares’ website — https://antaresindustries.com/ Jordan’s socials — https://x.com/jordanbramble Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials — https://x.com/payloadspace /  https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace Ignition’s socials — https://x.com/ignitionnuclear / https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/ Tectonic’s socials  — https://x.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/ Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/   • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them.  Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), Decoding Bio (biotech) and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

Ian Cinnamon didn’t set out to build a satellite company. After selling his first startup to Palantir, he became convinced the real bottleneck in space wasn’t launch or payloads, but the spacecraft itself. While rockets were getting cheaper and payloads more capable, satellite buses were still being built like bespoke engineering projects. Apex’s answer was simple in theory and incredibly difficult in practice: turn spacecraft into products. Four years later, Apex is building standardized satellite platforms for commercial and national security customers, with a product lineup that now spans missions from LEO to GEO. We get into whether the satellite bus market is genuinely supply constrained, if standardized spacecraft become commodities or durable technology platforms, and how Starship, proliferated constellations, and rising defense demand are reshaping the economics of spacecraft manufacturing. We also cover: Why Ian believes spacecraft should become products instead of bespoke engineering programs Whether the satellite bus market is actually underbuilt or heading toward oversupply How Apex thinks about manufacturing, vertical integration, and scaling production Why larger satellites may make more sense in a world of cheap launch The capital strategy behind building one of the industry’s fastest-growing companies Check out Valley of Depth #045 on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. • Chapters • 00:00 – Trailer 00:55 – New CEO of Apex 02:29 – The Apex origin story 05:39 – Partnering with Max Benassi 07:13 – Successes and drawbacks of Apex's first 6 months 08:50 – Apex's current product set 10:36 – Misconceptions about how much mass you need in orbit 12:08 – Is the plan to build larger and larger satellites indefinitely? 13:11 – State of the bus market today 14:52 – Domestically oversupplied, globally undersupplied 16:31 – Apex's biggest opportunities on the commercial and national security side 18:50 – When should a company utilize Apex vs. building their own bus in-house? 19:46 – Apex's moat 21:12 – Juggling the bespoke government customer 22:15 – What the primes having in-house buses says about the market 23:07 – Commoditization of the bus vs. owning the complete mission 26:01 – Apex partnerships 27:27 – How many satellites are you building at a $100B company? 28:10 – Apex's three $200M fundraising rounds 32:05 – Is there another fundraising round incoming? 33:04 – Where Apex needs to be to seriously consider going public 34:58 – The road to 200 satellites per year 35:46 – Who is Apex losing deals to the most? 37:39 – Apex vs. K2 40:27 – How the push for heavy launch will affect Apex 42:15 – Apex's ability to get to space if SpaceX fully cuts commercial launches 44:35 – Is York an under or overvalued business? 46:36 – What keeps Ian up at night? 50:10 – When is Apex launching their own constellation? 51:06 – The missions that Apex could enable 52:30 – Is Ian still excited about asteroid mining?   • Show notes • Apex’s’ website — https://www.apexspace.com/ Ian’s’ socials — https://x.com/IanCinnamon Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials — https://x.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace Ignition’s socials — https://x.com/ignitionnuclear /  https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/ Tectonic’s socials — https://x.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/ Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/   • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them.  Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), Decoding Bio (biotech) and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

Soren Monroe-Anderson grew up racing FPV drones before turning that obsession into Neros, a defense startup building low-cost, high-volume drone systems for the United States and its allies. What began with prototypes in a basement has become a 200-person company producing roughly 1,000 drones a week, with plans to build a factory capable of making one million annually. The timing is difficult to ignore. Small drones have become one of the defining weapons of the war in Ukraine, China holds a massive production advantage and the Pentagon is now trying to catch up in a category it was slow to take seriously. We get into why so many American drones failed in Ukraine, what separates a good demo from a battlefield-ready product, and why Soren believes the next generation of weapons will look more like consumer electronics than traditional defense systems. We also discuss the limits of autonomy, the difficulty of manufacturing at scale, and the moral weight of building kinetic systems. We cover: The widening drone production gap between the United States and China What Ukraine has taught Neros about battlefield performance, tactics, and product design Why scaling from prototypes to one million drones a year is an entirely different engineering problem Where autonomy helps, where it breaks, and why human pilots still matter How Soren thinks about talent, focus, capital, and the ethics of building weapons • Chapters • 00:00 – Plants at the factory 00:55 – Strawberry jam on a drone 04:45 – Soren's and Olaf's background 07:28 – First meeting with the DoD 08:54 – The key to Soren's early success 10:00 – How do you push the boundaries of a small drone? 11:39 – The most successful technology in Ukraine 13:45 – The future of warfare 15:09 – Chinese vs. US drone manufacturing capabilities 18:42 – Neros's facility and current production process 20:30 – What surprised Soren about building Neros 22:06 – How Soren thinks about competing in a well-funded market 23:50 – What makes the talent side so challenging 27:05 – Revenue concentration 28:12 – Are defense tech companies living up to their promises? 30:19 – Nervous or excited about the changing investor in defense tech? 32:12 – $120M raised and future capital needs in the near term 33:19 – Would Neros expand beyond drones? 34:22 – Where the primes fit in with manufacturing drones 36:30 – How Neros views AI in their products 41:41 – From professional drone racer to CEO 43:23 – Key players early on in Neros 45:28 – Does Soren still build drones or is he more focused on running Neros? 47:07 – Cultivating company culture 48:46 – Wrestling with building lethal systems 50:21 – Soren's health scare 51:28 – The morality critics on drone warfare 54:17 – How can the US win the drone production race? 55:45 – What keeps Soren up at night? 56:51 – Advice Soren would give to himself 58:05 – Factory of the future 59:31 – What Soren does for fun   • Show notes • Neros’ website — https://www.neros.tech/ Soren’s’ socials — https://x.com/soren_ma Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials — https://x.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace Ignition’s socials — https://x.com/ignitionnuclear /  https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/ Tectonic’s socials  — https://x.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/ Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/ • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them.  Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), Decoding Bio (biotech) and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com Footage from David Hambling (https://www.youtube.com/@davidhambling2609)

Eric Romo spent his early career as employee #13 at SpaceX, left for nearly two decades, and came back to one of the hardest unsolved problems in the space economy: what happens after launch. Getting things to orbit is largely figured out. Moving them once they're there is not. Impulse is now over $1B raised, embedded in the Golden Dome architecture, and with a GEO rideshare program booked out before a first flight. We get into how they got there, why Eric thinks every business model predicated on cheap Starship launch is broken, and what it actually means to be building in-space mobility at the moment GEO becomes a contested domain. We cover: The single Mira flight that changed Impulse's relationship with the Space Force Mira, Helios, and Caravan: three products, three markets but one key through line The Golden Dome partnership with Anduril and what it means to be embedded in that architecture How exposed American GEO assets actually are right now Why every Starship-dependent business model is broke The $4.26B valuation and what has to be true for that number to look cheap in ten years What the Impulse team debates most internally right now   • Chapters • 00:00 – Intro trailer 01:21 – How Eric ended up at Impulse 03:43 – How Eric got to SpaceX and his experience there 05:29 – Why Eric went on a hiatus from the space industry 09:49 – Is Musk focused on Mars or data centers now? 11:46 – Finding his way back to space 14:44 – Reuniting with Tom 17:43 – Why Tom is someone Eric could work for 20:22 – The vision of Impulse that Tom presented to Eric when he joined, and how it's changed 22:07 – Impulse's product set 26:42 – The pivot to GEO 33:13 – Caravan vs. the trend for larger-scale satellites 36:51 – Impulse's second thoughts about the economics of Mira and expanding 39:16 – Mira, the most maneuverable spacecraft in orbit 41:08 – Why does the government care about maneuverable satellites? 42:24 – Competitors and how to win the maneuverability race 45:25 – How exposed are GEO assets today? 47:52 – The biggest market for Impulse 49:39 – Impulse x Anduril 52:03 – Moon and Mars discussion at Impulse 54:02 – How Starship will fundamentally change the industry 1:00:01 – The opportunity for SpaceX competitors 1:03:49 – If Starship solves orbital refueling, will they become a competitive concern for Impulse? 1:05:35 – How Impulse is planning to use their recently raised $500M 1:07:00 – Impulse's existing capital needs, future fundraising, and will Impulse go public? 1:10:08 – How Impulse's products will evolve 1:11:06 – Biggest source of internal debate 1:13:14 – Overrated and underrated space technologies 1:15:56 – What Eric would say to his 23-year-old self at SpaceX 1:16:52 – What Eric does for fun   • Show notes • Impulse’s website — https://www.impulsespace.com/ Eric’s’ socials — https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-romo/ Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials — https://x.com/payloadspace /  https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace Ignition’s socials — https://x.com/ignitionnuclear / https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/ Tectonic’s socials — https://x.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/ Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/   • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), Decoding Bio (biotech) and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

Bridgit Mendler took an unconventional path to founding a space infrastructure company, but it led her to one of the industry’s most overlooked bottlenecks: the ground systems connecting satellites to Earth. Now, she’s building Northwood to modernize that critical layer of the space economy, the part that doesn’t get the headlines but matters as much as anything happening above it.  Northwood recently announced its new Prism product, and we get into the business model, the competitive landscape, the government bet, and one of the most critical questions: if Starlink and Kuiper have already built their own versions of what Northwood is selling, who’s actually buying? We cover: Why ground infrastructure is the overlooked bottleneck in the space economy The announcement of Prism and what it means for Northwood's ambitions beyond its first product The claim that Northwood will rival a terrestrial internet exchange by 2028 The Space Force contract and what the path to a second one looks like Cell tower or cloud bill: how Northwood actually makes money Her future vision for the industry and the infrastructure bet behind it   • Chapters • 00:00 – Trailer 00:44 – FCC Space Bureau 04:28 – How Bridgit decided to work on satellite networking 07:35 – From lake to concept 09:57 – Recent announcement at Northwood 12:20 – Where Northwood fits in the ground station as a service model 15:24 – The Northwood value proposition 16:42 – Average utilization of a ground station 18:10 – Northwood's flexibility 19:41 – Key goals in the next few years 22:15 – "I like to be bullish on space because that's what we're all here for" 22:52 – Biggest near-term opportunity 24:09 – How the competition shapes Northwood 25:50 – Segment of the market Bridgit believes has the biggest capacity for growth 26:45 – Northwood x Space Force: Satellite Control Network 29:48 – The state of Northwood today 32:09 – Competing for talent 33:22 – Revenue model with ground stations and how that will evolve 35:43 – What Northwood's next product set might look like 39:05 – Deployment of Northwood's $100M 40:03 – Investor conversations 42:55 – How Northwood fits in the changing landscape of the space industry with the Moon and SpaceX's IPO 45:17 – What keeps Bridgit up at night? 46:33 – Rapid-fire philosophical questions   • Show notes • Northwood’s website — https://www.northwoodspace.io/ Ross’s’ socials — https://x.com/bridgitmendler Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials — https://x.com/payloadspace /  https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace Ignition’s socials — https://x.com/ignitionnuclear / https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/ Tectonic’s socials  — https://x.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/ Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/   • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), Decoding Bio (biotech) and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

This month, Mo and Jack host a live show on the SpaceX IPO, featuring investors and analysts breaking down the company’s valuation, business lines, and long-term growth story: Howard Morgan (B Capital) Shaun Maguire (Sequoia Capital) Liz Stein (USIT) Dan Ives (Wedbush Securities) We discuss SpaceX’s IPO valuation, Starship’s progress, Starlink and Direct-to-Cell, orbital data centers, AI infrastructure, launch competition, public market appetite, and what it will take for SpaceX to grow into one of the most important companies in the world.   • About us • Arkaea Media is building the definitive media, events, and intelligence platform for the future of the defense industrial base. We deliver high-quality journalism and actionable insights that shape the business, policy, and investment decisions underpinning technically complex and highly regulated industries that influence global security. Our portfolio of publications includes Payload, Tectonic, and Ignition. • Payload: www.payloadspace.com • Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com • Ignition: www.ignition-news.com • Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

On this week's episode of Valley of Depth, we sit down with Ross Fubini, Managing Partner at XYZ Venture Capital, for a conversation about what it actually means to be early in a market nobody believed in. Ross wrote the first check into Anduril in 2016, alongside Founders Fund, before defense tech was a category, before the term sheet wars, and before the word "primes" became a punchline on X. He did it because he'd spent years inside the Palantir network and understood something others couldn't see from the outside: that the company was an unparalleled crucible for entrepreneurial talent, churning out founders who knew how to sell technology to the hardest customer in the world. XYZ has since backed 40+ Palantir alumni across 130+ companies, and the firm now sits at over $1.5B under management. We cover: Why Ross knew Anduril would win from day one and why he still underestimated how big it would get The Palantir thesis: what he saw in that network in 2017 that everyone else missed How the defense tech landscape has gone from "nobody will return your calls" to drunk pirates chasing cash Where the market is overcrowded and where there’s significant whitespace How to invest in the SpaceX ecosystem without getting eaten by it What good board work actually looks like when a company is in trouble His case for why the best venture insight is almost always about a market shifting not just a great team • Chapters • 00:00 – Episode Trailer 00:46 – From engineer to investor 04:49 – What Ross saw in Palantir before anyone else was talking about them 06:43 – The founding story and pitch of XYZ 09:42 – How Ross's engineering background informs his investing 14:01 – The market moving around technology 16:14 – What Ross thought would be the outcome of his Anduril investment 17:40 – The truth in the assumption of the US government being a reliable customer in defense tech 23:54 – Anduril vs. other defense tech firms 26:48 – Sectors that Ross is hesitant on 28:35 – Capabilities on Ross's radar 30:02 – SpaceX IPO 33:26 – Investing in an industry with a dominant player 36:19 – How much is Ross focusing on space vs. everything else? 38:42 – Hardest moment Ross has had with a founder 42:10 – How the VC community has evolved since Ross's time at Netscape 44:41 – What does Ross do for fun?   • Show notes • XYZ’s’ website — https://www.xyz.vc/ Ross’s’ socials — https://x.com/fubini Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials — https://x.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace Ignition’s socials — https://x.com/ignitionnuclear / https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/ Tectonic’s socials — https://x.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/ Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/   • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), Decoding Bio (biotech) and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

On this week's episode of Valley of Depth, our first recorded in person, we sit down with Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, in the company's historic Blue Ghost mission control room in Cedar Park, Texas — the same room where 60 engineers watched their lander touch down at one meter per second last year.    From there, the conversation opens into how Jason actually thinks: about the Moon, about scale, and about being a "mission CEO" rather than a hardware or software one. Firefly went public in 2025, acquired defense software company SciTec within months, and now sits inside Golden Dome. Jason argues the market still prices the company as a pure launch player while he's building an end-to-end stack he puts in the same conversation as Anduril and Palantir. We cover: The last 30 seconds of the Blue Ghost Mission 1 landing, from inside the room where it happened Why Blue Ghost Mission 2 is harder: a three-spacecraft stack and the first US far-side landing Whether small launch makes money, and why Alpha is both a profit center and a strategic asset The Eclipse medium-lift bet, the Northrop partnership, and why Starship doesn't make everyone else obsolete Why the Moon matters, and how big the commercial lunar economy actually gets Why a hardware CEO bought a software company The valuation gap with Rocket Lab and what he believes the market hasn't priced in His honest read on SpaceX, China, the new-launch shakeout, and the path to a $100 billion company   • Chapters • 00:00 - Trailer 00:53 – Blue Ghost Mission 1 04:41 – The bar for success for Blue Ghost Mission 1 07:16 – What is the new objective in Blue Ghost Mission 2? 11:49 – Jason coming into Firefly leadership 16:35 – Day 1 as Firefly CEO 18:53 – AE Industrial and how private equity informs Jason's mindset 21:02 – Product stack 22:34 – Demand signal from responsive launch 24:21 – Alpha and small launch economics 26:20 – Firefly's Eclipse 28:09 – How Starship will impact the launch market 29:41 – Viability of commercial launches 32:15 – Blue Ghost x Eclipse? 33:51 – Why does the Moon matter? 36:02 – Jason's commercial lunar economy predictions 38:02 – The future of Blue Ghost's missions 39:52 – Why Jason acquired Sitec 44:30 – Sitec in the Space Force's Golden Dome contracts 47:16 – Why shift Firefly to being a public company? 49:04 – How does Jason address stock price fluctuation internally? 50:49 – Do the public markets understand the space economy? 52:57 – Is Firefly just a launch company? 55:25 – What part of Firefly has the market not priced in yet? 56:50 – Firefly's strategy in a world where lift becomes effectively free 58:49 – Which launch companies will survive? 59:56 – The China question 1:00:33 – Is there a company out there that doesn't get enough attention? 1:01:53 – How Firefly is thinking about M&As 1:04:25 – The path to Firefly hitting a $100B valuation 1:05:25 – Jason Kim, the person 1:07:07 – Who does Jason call for advice? 1:07:57 – What Jason would tell 25-year-old Jason 1:11:58 – What Jason does for fun when not working on space   • Show notes • Firefly’s’ website — https://fireflyspace.com/ Jason’s’ socials — https://x.com/Jason_Lil_Kim/ Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials — https://x.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace Ignition’s socials — https://x.com/ignitionnuclear / https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/ Tectonic’s socials — https://x.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/ Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/   • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), Decoding Bio (biotech) and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

This month, Mo and Jack host a live show on the future of Commercial LEO Destinations, featuring leaders building the next generation of space stations: Marshall Smith (Voyager Technologies / Starlab) Jonathan Cirtain (Axiom Space)   We discuss station development progress, business models, NASA's role, private astronaut missions, station economics, the transition from the ISS, and what it will take to build a sustainable commercial presence in LEO.   • About us • Arkaea Media is building the definitive media, events, and intelligence platform for the future of the defense industrial base. We deliver high-quality journalism and actionable insights that shape the business, policy, and investment decisions underpinning technically complex and highly regulated industries that influence global security. Our portfolio of publications (so far) includes Payload (space) and Tectonic (defense tech).   Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com

The United States hasn't flown a Mach 3-plus reusable aircraft since the SR-71 was retired in 1990. Hermeus wants to change that and they want to do it faster, cheaper, and with a fraction of the capital. This week we sit down with Zach Shore, newly appointed CEO, at the moment the company's bet is starting to pay off. Zach walks us through his evolution from VP of Growth to CEO, the company's record-breaking $219 million DIU contract, and a $350 million raise that has Hermeus entering its most consequential chapter yet. But the real conversation is about the machine behind the machine …how a SpaceX-trained engineering team is iterating on aircraft the way rockets were once iterated on, and why Mach 3 might be the unlock that makes Mach 5 a foregone conclusion. We cover: Why Zach took the CEO role and what AJ's executive chairman mandate actually looks like The turbine-based combined cycle engine architecture and why Mach 3 is the hardest problem between here and Mach 5 The autonomy stack philosophy: why Hermeus builds trucks, not brains The China threat, the allied opportunity, and why Australia is the most important international partner The commercial Mach 5 passenger vision and why defense has to come first …and much more. • Chapters • 00:00 - Trailer 00:56 – From President to CEO 04:03 – The largest DIU contract ever awarded ($219M) 07:46 – Building the fastest aircraft in the world 11:13 – The operational gap a Mach 5 aircraft can fulfill 13:25 – The road to Mach 5 15:31 – Turbine vs. ramjet engine 18:06 – Is the turbine/ramjet engine hybrid novel? 19:03 – Philosophical concession 20:59 – Overcoming the Mach 3 plateau 23:07 – Where the primes stand on supersonic 25:10 – Thermal challenges of Mach 5 26:50 – Autonomy 29:20 – A manned Mach 5 craft 31:38 – Hermeus's current manufacturing capability and how it'll evolve 34:26 – Biggest opportunity for creating Hermeus customers 37:08 – Adversary capability 40:14 – Is commercial Mach 5 in the near future? 42:40 – Slowdown in innovation 45:40 – Do we need to overhaul the FAA? 47:34 – Aviation in 2035 if Hermeus succeeds 48:47 – Atlanta vs. LA 50:54 – What does Zach do for fun?   • Show notes • Hermeus’ website — https://www.hermeus.com/ Hermes’ socials — https://x.com/hermeuscorp Mo's socials — https://x.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials — https://x.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace Ignition’s socials — https://x.com/ignitionnuclear / https://www.linkedin.com/company/ignition-nuclear/ Tectonic’s socials — https://x.com/tectonicdefense / https://www.linkedin.com/company/tectonicdefense/ Valley of Depth archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/   • About us • Valley of Depth is a podcast about the technologies that matter — and the people building them. Brought to you by Arkaea Media, the team behind Payload (space), Ignition (nuclear energy), Decoding Bio (biotech) and Tectonic (defense tech), this show goes beyond headlines and hype. We talk to founders, investors, government officials, and military leaders shaping the future of national security and deep tech. From breakthrough science to strategic policy, we dive into the high-stakes decisions behind the world’s hardest technologies. Payload: www.payloadspace.com Tectonic: www.tectonicdefense.com Ignition: www.ignition-news.com Decoding Bio: www.decodingbio.com