The Exchanges

Q Your system is able to deploy in three months, whereas a traditional ground station deploys in three years. What enables you guys to have that level of suite up?

A It really comes down to the vertical integration, and what we mean by that is kind of like what I, what I mentioned of being able to stitch together all of the different pieces in the end-to-end system so that they inform each other. So, for example, when we say three years before, what did that timeline look like? It looked like an antenna vendor who, you know, gets a phone call. After they get the phone call, they press the order on the supply chain. They gotta wait X number of months to actually get the parts to arrive. Then they assemble them all. It's a bespoke manufacturing line because it's, you know, it's a bespoke system. They're just, you know, they're doing it, uh, one off. And then they ship it, and they're shipping a giant piece of equipment, so it probably has to go over, you know, uh, ocean, uh, shipping methods. And then it arrives at site, and you have to put together a giant construction project because the size of, Many of these antennas, they're like multi-story buildings. So you have to do permitting, you have to lay a concrete foundation, you have to have whole construction teams in order to put them together. That adds up into a three-year timeline. Whereas for us, because we're thinking of all of those things at the same time as we're doing that development, we get to say, we need our antennas to fit in a standard shipping container that can go on a comm…

AI assessment note: “It really comes down to the vertical integration”

Q Your system is able to deploy in three months, whereas a traditional ground station deploys in three years. What enables you guys to have that level of suite up?

A It really comes down to the vertical integration, and what we mean by that is kind of like what I, what I mentioned of being able to stitch together all of the different pieces in the end-to-end system so that they inform each other. So, for example, when we say three years before, what did that timeline look like? It looked like an antenna vendor who, you know, gets a phone call. After they get the phone call, they press the order on the supply chain. They gotta wait X number of months to actually get the parts to arrive. Then they assemble them all. It's a bespoke manufacturing line because it's, you know, it's a bespoke system. They're just, you know, they're doing it, uh, one off. And then they ship it, and they're shipping a giant piece of equipment, so it probably has to go over, you know, uh, ocean, uh, shipping methods. And then it arrives at site, and you have to put together a giant construction project because the size of, Many of these antennas, they're like multi-story buildings. So you have to do permitting, you have to lay a concrete foundation, you have to have whole construction teams in order to put them together. That adds up into a three-year timeline. Whereas for us, because we're thinking of all of those things at the same time as we're doing that development, we get to say, we need our antennas to fit in a standard shipping container that can go on a comm…

AI assessment note: “It really comes down to the vertical integration”

Q A lot of people analogize the space economy to the early internet. They say, you know, a lot of infrastructure being built. You know, lots of companies will fail, uh, and lots of applications, a very successful application will be built on top. Do you, does this analogy hold for you?

A Yeah, for sure. Um, I get really inspired by the analogy, um, especially thinking about, you know, for folks that were early with the internet, like, they, there's no way they would have foreseen what the internet is today. Um, but they were betting on a direction, and they were setting up a model that would, uh, that would basically, like, unlock a lot of innovation, and they, they were, like, uh, They were developing principles and building aligned with certain principles that would support that innovation and, and look what we have today. Um, yeah, I mean, I think like, so things as simple as like TCP IP protocols, for example, like trying to make different layers as, as easy and supporting for innovation as possible. So I think we're in a similar moment with the space industry where we don't know what is going to be built. Like a year ago today, would we think that everybody would be talking about orbital data centers? No way. Um, but it's captivated the public imagination, and who knows what's gonna come next? And so, um, for us, we're directionally aligned with that movement, and we are building to principles that will support innovation. Like, the whole thing that we're about is taking companies further faster, taking space missions further faster. And we do that, you know, by our model, which I've described, um, So if I were to, like, look forward into the space industr…

AI assessment note: “Yeah, for sure. Um, I get really inspired by the analogy”

Q Talk about, let's get into Northwood, um, what you're trying to achieve, um, and what's the why now for it?

A Yeah. So what we do, we're ground infrastructure, kind of end to end for space companies. So all the way from the time when they're first coming up with, you know, satellite mission, What the space operators want to do, all the way to when they're actually streaming data, delivering that data to the end customers. You know, the problem that we're solving is, for every satellite, it requires a connection point back to Earth so that they can, ah, control the spacecraft. You know, it is kind of like a remote control car, where it needs some mechanism to make sure that it's going where it's supposed to go, and a way to actually bring that data back to the users on Earth. Because that's where the users are. Um, so that point of contact on Earth is called the ground infrastructure. And, you know, super basically, if you don't have it, you don't have a space mission. It literally is just like a rock in space you're doing nothing with. So ground infrastructure, it's, it's completely fundamental. Um, and for us, uh, you know, we, we were observing the space industry, how launch Cadence was increasing. You could, you could put a satellite up into space way faster, and you could build satellites way faster, because there was this whole, um, boom around space, spacecraft manufacturing. And interestingly, what started becoming the longest pole in the tent was just getting the point of conta…

AI assessment note: “what started becoming the longest pole in the tent was just getting the point of contact”

Q Yeah, that makes sense. In a potential Taiwan scenario, there's a version where, you know, ground stations can become targets. How do you think about resilience?

A I think that's a, it's a great question, and, uh, it actually is both a commercial question and a government question. Like, both commercial and, and government care about resilience, and I think, like, you can look at a lot of different companies that have tried to address this. We take the similar path of proliferation, so making things, like, cheaper, faster to deploy, more, uh, volume manufacturing is kind of the solution to that, so that when a single Site location goes down. That's, you know, it's not a catastrophe. Um, it's actually interesting for some of our teammates that did come from Starlink. That was their similar model. So they, they consider resiliency in the same way where they have multiple ground sites in a region so that if one goes down, it doesn't totally take their service off of offline. Um, so I think a similar concept applies here.

AI assessment note: “We take the similar path of proliferation, so making things, like, cheaper, faster to deploy”

Q And when did you realize and how did you realize that space infrastructure was broken? Like, what was the idea maze that you guys went? Was this your first idea that you guys decided to pursue or how did they come to be?

A Yeah, and we've been doing antennas ever since that, that Home Depot run during the pandemic. Uh, that made us ground nerds. Um, yeah, so we were, uh, we started working on the antenna, uh, designs during the pandemic. Uh, you know, that was our, our summer project. And yeah, we just described ourselves as ground nerds. It was just cool. At first, it was just really cool to, Be able to receive signals from hundreds of miles away. Like I said, that's the RF waves. They're, like, fainter than, um, you know, the power on a flashlight that you're getting from space, and you get to interpret that into, you know, for us, it was an image, but for other, other folks that use satellite data, that's, you know, that's our missile warning system. That's how we find out, like, about any missile going off around the world. That is our GPS infrastructure. That is our, Uh, you know, for a lot of people, that's their one source of internet. And it all comes through a ground infrastructure that is able to interpret those faint signals and make it work. So it was just kind of like, you know, one of those magic moments where you just become really fascinated with the technology. And then we started peeling it back further, and we, uh, we did this market study where we looked at all the commercial operators. Um, we looked at, you know, US government use cases as well. For how that they were resolvi…

AI assessment note: “we did this market study... realized that a big bottleneck was coming.”

Q A lot of people analogize the space economy to the early internet. They say, you know, a lot of infrastructure being built. You know, lots of companies will fail, uh, and lots of applications, a very successful application will be built on top. Do you, does this analogy hold for you?

A Yeah, for sure. Um, I get really inspired by the analogy, um, especially thinking about, you know, for folks that were early with the internet, like, they, there's no way they would have foreseen what the internet is today. Um, but they were betting on a direction, and they were setting up a model that would, uh, that would basically, like, unlock a lot of innovation, and they, they were, like, uh, They were developing principles and building aligned with certain principles that would support that innovation and, and look what we have today. Um, yeah, I mean, I think like, so things as simple as like TCP IP protocols, for example, like trying to make different layers as, as easy and supporting for innovation as possible. So I think we're in a similar moment with the space industry where we don't know what is going to be built. Like a year ago today, would we think that everybody would be talking about orbital data centers? No way. Um, but it's captivated the public imagination, and who knows what's gonna come next? And so, um, for us, we're directionally aligned with that movement, and we are building to principles that will support innovation. Like, the whole thing that we're about is taking companies further faster, taking space missions further faster. And we do that, you know, by our model, which I've described, um, So if I were to, like, look forward into the space industr…

AI assessment note: “Yeah, for sure. Um, I get really inspired by the analogy”

Q Talk about, let's get into Northwood, um, what you're trying to achieve, um, and what's the why now for it?

A Yeah. So what we do, we're ground infrastructure, kind of end to end for space companies. So all the way from the time when they're first coming up with, you know, satellite mission, What the space operators want to do, all the way to when they're actually streaming data, delivering that data to the end customers. You know, the problem that we're solving is, for every satellite, it requires a connection point back to Earth so that they can, ah, control the spacecraft. You know, it is kind of like a remote control car, where it needs some mechanism to make sure that it's going where it's supposed to go, and a way to actually bring that data back to the users on Earth. Because that's where the users are. Um, so that point of contact on Earth is called the ground infrastructure. And, you know, super basically, if you don't have it, you don't have a space mission. It literally is just like a rock in space you're doing nothing with. So ground infrastructure, it's, it's completely fundamental. Um, and for us, uh, you know, we, we were observing the space industry, how launch Cadence was increasing. You could, you could put a satellite up into space way faster, and you could build satellites way faster, because there was this whole, um, boom around space, spacecraft manufacturing. And interestingly, what started becoming the longest pole in the tent was just getting the point of conta…

AI assessment note: “what we do, we're ground infrastructure, kind of end to end for space companies.”

Q And when did you realize that vertical integration was just where you're at to go? Do you know from beginning or is it something you, you, you learned over time? And what have you learned about hard tech in the process of, of doing that?

A Yeah, I think I think it was a bit of, of a peeling back the problem space where initially you think, okay, great. We, we want to, um, we want to put more capacity. We want to make more capacity available. How can we optimize the ground system to do that? Um, but then there's so many dependencies in, um, you know, what the site actually looks like, uh, in what the software integration looks like. And, uh, we just realized that the way to deliver the best solution that actually aligns our incentives with the customer was to do the whole thing. So our incentives are aligned when our, uh, our measure of success is their mission success. And you don't have that if you're just solving part of the equation.

AI assessment note: “it was a bit of, of a peeling back the problem space where initially”

Q Yeah, that makes sense. In a potential Taiwan scenario, there's a version where, you know, ground stations can become targets. How do you think about resilience?

A I think that's a, it's a great question, and, uh, it actually is both a commercial question and a government question. Like, both commercial and, and government care about resilience, and I think, like, you can look at a lot of different companies that have tried to address this. We take the similar path of proliferation, so making things, like, cheaper, faster to deploy, more, uh, volume manufacturing is kind of the solution to that, so that when a single Site location goes down. That's, you know, it's not a catastrophe. Um, it's actually interesting for some of our teammates that did come from Starlink. That was their similar model. So they, they consider resiliency in the same way where they have multiple ground sites in a region so that if one goes down, it doesn't totally take their service off of offline. Um, so I think a similar concept applies here.

AI assessment note: “We take the similar path of proliferation, so making things, like, cheaper, faster to deploy”

Q public sector and the private sector in terms of growing the space economy and industry and sort of technological capabilities? Is it kind of like the internet where a lot of the early work was either done by or funded by, um, government and then the private sector sort of, you know, took the ball, so to speak, or is it more in parallel? How should we think about that?

A Yeah, I think it's, it's very analogous. I think it's interesting how the venture ecosystem fits in now in a deeper way than it, it did back then. Um, yeah, I think a lot of, uh, technology innovation does tend to take place at those fringes that the government use cases are solving for, and I think that's happening now, and I think the, the benefit that we have, which hopefully will lead to, like, A shorter cycle in reaching the kind of infrastructure scale with the space industry is with venture absorbing some of that risk. When we talk to, um, government, you know, they're looking for partners to absorb that risk. Um, and frankly, when we talk to, you know, some of the commercial companies as well, they're really excited about venture's role in, uh, absorbing some amount of risk so that they can pursue bigger ideas faster.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, I think it's, it's very analogous.”

Q And when did you realize that vertical integration was just where you're at to go? Do you know from beginning or is it something you, you, you learned over time? And what have you learned about hard tech in the process of, of doing that?

A Yeah, I think I think it was a bit of, of a peeling back the problem space where initially you think, okay, great. We, we want to, um, we want to put more capacity. We want to make more capacity available. How can we optimize the ground system to do that? Um, but then there's so many dependencies in, um, you know, what the site actually looks like, uh, in what the software integration looks like. And, uh, we just realized that the way to deliver the best solution that actually aligns our incentives with the customer was to do the whole thing. So our incentives are aligned when our, uh, our measure of success is their mission success. And you don't have that if you're just solving part of the equation.

AI assessment note: “it was a bit of, of a peeling back the problem space where initially you think”

Q You just won a fifty million dollar contract, uh, with Space Force to help modernize. Um, what does it mean to say that the Pentagon would rather, you know, buy commercially than build themselves?

A Yeah, I think it's a pretty fundamental switch that represents the, the timeline urgency, uh, and, you know, the, the, the change in a ground paradigm that we're confronting. Like, you can't have the same models of procurement if you're talking about, uh, proliferated systems where you need to just have such a huge increase in ground infrastructure in such a short period of time. You need to look at different models. Um, and so, yeah, we were, we were fortunate to be aligned with some of the, um, great thinkers over on the Space Force side that are, are really developing what that model would look like, and really fortunate to be entrusted with such a significant program so early in our company's, um, lifetime. And to the whole, you know, taking missions further, faster point, like, being involved in, in missions of national significance is, is something that, um, you know, That's what we're all about. So I think it's very aligned with that. Satellite control network, uh, that is a common resource for US government where, um, you know, every launch runs through satellite control network. Uh, it, it tracks missions across a really wide set of, uh, US government use cases ranging from, you know, GPS to NASA missions, um, you know, our missile track systems and the like. It is a great opportunity for us to kind of demonstrate the, the cross-cutting capabilities that we are working…

AI assessment note: “represents the, the timeline urgency, uh, and, you know, the, the, the change in a ground paradigm”

Q public sector and the private sector in terms of growing the space economy and industry and sort of technological capabilities? Is it kind of like the internet where a lot of the early work was either done by or funded by, um, government and then the private sector sort of, you know, took the ball, so to speak, or is it more in parallel? How should we think about that?

A Yeah, I think it's, it's very analogous. I think it's interesting how the venture ecosystem fits in now in a deeper way than it, it did back then. Um, yeah, I think a lot of, uh, technology innovation does tend to take place at those fringes that the government use cases are solving for, and I think that's happening now, and I think the, the benefit that we have, which hopefully will lead to, like, A shorter cycle in reaching the kind of infrastructure scale with the space industry is with venture absorbing some of that risk. When we talk to, um, government, you know, they're looking for partners to absorb that risk. Um, and frankly, when we talk to, you know, some of the commercial companies as well, they're really excited about venture's role in, uh, absorbing some amount of risk so that they can pursue bigger ideas faster.

AI assessment note: “Yeah, I think it's, it's very analogous.”

Q SpaceX was able to bring launch costs down by order of magnitude. From what came before. Why hasn't the same thing happened in ground?

A Yeah, I think it does come down. Like, I hate to be a broken record on the vertical integration, but, um, the reason why that matters is that, uh, what SpaceX has done is they've really streamlined their product, right? Like they're not trying to build a ton of different bespoke products. They build one thing and they make it super efficient and effective. They get the economies of scale and everything. And so for us, If we were, you know, just being an antenna vendor, then we would probably need to build a bunch of different types of products. But because we get to, um, see across so many different solutions, we can think, and we invest our R&D in building a solution that works commonly across the industry. So that means that, uh, you know, we're accounting for commercial missions, government missions, Allied missions all within the same system, uh, and that makes our costs lower and more efficient. Um, and when we're able to do it as a shared service, uh, that's really the difference for us. Like, we, we view ourselves more so as a platform, right? So it's, it's not like a one-to-one sale where you're trying, you know, get all of your, uh, value off of that single sale. Our platform is such that many missions can benefit from, The same infrastructure. So we make our investment, and then many customers get to benefit off of that single investment that we make. And then what's …

AI assessment note: “they're not trying to build a ton of different bespoke products”

Q We just talked about the, the contract. What's the next big milestone, uh, as you think about your, your guys' development?

A Yeah, I think building upon the use cases that we have, uh, I think we've been fortunate to find a lot of aligned customers with the, the product that we are currently putting out. There's other products that we also have in the works. I think people know us as a phase deray company, but, um, with announcements we'll, we'll have coming out before too long. We, we are more than that. Um, we, uh, are kind of thinkers across The whole ground solution space. So I think it's both that, you know, product maturation as well as product development that we'll continue to be doing. Um, while, like I said, it's orchestrating a ton of stuff. We're also building a global ground network. We have five international entities now across the world. Uh, we're like, we'll be the United Nations of Northwood. Um, and so, yeah, we're, we're doing, uh, we're currently on two continents. We'll be on a number of others before the end of the year. And so gotta, gotta do it all at once.

AI assessment note: “We'll be on a number of others before the end of the year.”

Q SpaceX was able to bring launch costs down by order of magnitude. From what came before. Why hasn't the same thing happened in ground?

A Yeah, I think it does come down. Like, I hate to be a broken record on the vertical integration, but, um, the reason why that matters is that, uh, what SpaceX has done is they've really streamlined their product, right? Like they're not trying to build a ton of different bespoke products. They build one thing and they make it super efficient and effective. They get the economies of scale and everything. And so for us, If we were, you know, just being an antenna vendor, then we would probably need to build a bunch of different types of products. But because we get to, um, see across so many different solutions, we can think, and we invest our R&D in building a solution that works commonly across the industry. So that means that, uh, you know, we're accounting for commercial missions, government missions, Allied missions all within the same system, uh, and that makes our costs lower and more efficient. Um, and when we're able to do it as a shared service, uh, that's really the difference for us. Like, we, we view ourselves more so as a platform, right? So it's, it's not like a one-to-one sale where you're trying, you know, get all of your, uh, value off of that single sale. Our platform is such that many missions can benefit from, The same infrastructure. So we make our investment, and then many customers get to benefit off of that single investment that we make. And then what's …

AI assessment note: “what SpaceX has done is they've really streamlined their product”

Q We just talked about the, the contract. What's the next big milestone, uh, as you think about your, your guys' development?

A Yeah, I think building upon the use cases that we have, uh, I think we've been fortunate to find a lot of aligned customers with the, the product that we are currently putting out. There's other products that we also have in the works. I think people know us as a phase deray company, but, um, with announcements we'll, we'll have coming out before too long. We, we are more than that. Um, we, uh, are kind of thinkers across The whole ground solution space. So I think it's both that, you know, product maturation as well as product development that we'll continue to be doing. Um, while, like I said, it's orchestrating a ton of stuff. We're also building a global ground network. We have five international entities now across the world. Uh, we're like, we'll be the United Nations of Northwood. Um, and so, yeah, we're, we're doing, uh, we're currently on two continents. We'll be on a number of others before the end of the year. And so gotta, gotta do it all at once.

AI assessment note: “We'll be on a number of others before the end of the year.”

Q Right. So you were like, actress until it, No longer became fun anymore or until academia or something became more interesting. And then in academia, you were like, or at some point you were like, and then you were just chasing your curiosity. And then you're like, oh, maybe when did the company idea come into play?

A Yeah, I think being in entertainment, I got to be a spokesperson for a lot of different things. And I, and I tried to align what I felt to be impactful with what I was speaking up for. So, you know, As an actor, you wind up being able to have a platform to contribute to a lot of different causes, and that was something that I prioritized. But I think I wanted my impact to go deeper than that, and so I, I always kind of knew in the back of my mind, I wanted to create my own thing. Although, you know, I didn't have, like, a concrete idea of what that was. And as a child of, you know, millennial era, I got to see the internet. Coming to life, and I got to see cellular networks coming to life, and like, what a profound shift that was on, um, the world before versus the world after. And so I think, uh, when the problem set around space networking came up, and when that was something that I started digging into, it connected on that deeper level where it's like, wow, this is, um, something, like an opportunity to make an impact on an industry that could be as fundamental At that kind of level of internet and cellular, that felt like such a unique opportunity to get in at an industry when it was at that early stages, um, just seemed kind of like the perfect thing.

AI assessment note: “when the problem set around space networking came up, and when that was something”

Q Right. So you were like, actress until it, No longer became fun anymore or until academia or something became more interesting. And then in academia, you were like, or at some point you were like, and then you were just chasing your curiosity. And then you're like, oh, maybe when did the company idea come into play?

A Yeah, I think being in entertainment, I got to be a spokesperson for a lot of different things. And I, and I tried to align what I felt to be impactful with what I was speaking up for. So, you know, As an actor, you wind up being able to have a platform to contribute to a lot of different causes, and that was something that I prioritized. But I think I wanted my impact to go deeper than that, and so I, I always kind of knew in the back of my mind, I wanted to create my own thing. Although, you know, I didn't have, like, a concrete idea of what that was. And as a child of, you know, millennial era, I got to see the internet. Coming to life, and I got to see cellular networks coming to life, and like, what a profound shift that was on, um, the world before versus the world after. And so I think, uh, when the problem set around space networking came up, and when that was something that I started digging into, it connected on that deeper level where it's like, wow, this is, um, something, like an opportunity to make an impact on an industry that could be as fundamental At that kind of level of internet and cellular, that felt like such a unique opportunity to get in at an industry when it was at that early stages, um, just seemed kind of like the perfect thing.

AI assessment note: “when the problem set around space networking came up, and when that was something”

Q And when did you realize and how did you realize that space infrastructure was broken? Like, what was the idea maze that you guys went? Was this your first idea that you guys decided to pursue or how did they come to be?

A Yeah, and we've been doing antennas ever since that, that Home Depot run during the pandemic. Uh, that made us ground nerds. Um, yeah, so we were, uh, we started working on the antenna, uh, designs during the pandemic. Uh, you know, that was our, our summer project. And yeah, we just described ourselves as ground nerds. It was just cool. At first, it was just really cool to, Be able to receive signals from hundreds of miles away. Like I said, that's the RF waves. They're, like, fainter than, um, you know, the power on a flashlight that you're getting from space, and you get to interpret that into, you know, for us, it was an image, but for other, other folks that use satellite data, that's, you know, that's our missile warning system. That's how we find out, like, about any missile going off around the world. That is our GPS infrastructure. That is our, Uh, you know, for a lot of people, that's their one source of internet. And it all comes through a ground infrastructure that is able to interpret those faint signals and make it work. So it was just kind of like, you know, one of those magic moments where you just become really fascinated with the technology. And then we started peeling it back further, and we, uh, we did this market study where we looked at all the commercial operators. Um, we looked at, you know, US government use cases as well. For how that they were resolvi…

AI assessment note: “we did this market study... we realized that a big bottleneck was coming.”

Q Sort of in your early career, did you think it would be forever or like at one point where you're like, I'm bored of this. I want to go into academia. Like how do you, how did you make your career decisions?

A You know, it's interesting, because, like, I, I would analogize to how a lot of people that we bring into our company think about their career paths. Like, a lot of the incredible people that we bring in, people who are, like, totally rock stars in their career, they're not thinking on, like, a twenty-year time scale about their career. They're thinking, like, more incrementally than that about, like, what am I interested in? Well, like, what's that next thing that I'm gonna tackle next in my life? And kind of, You know, maybe there's not a definite timeline attached to it. It's like as far out as you can see on the horizon, and just like worrying about that far, because otherwise you'd constrain yourself too much.

AI assessment note: “They're thinking, like, more incrementally than that about, like, what am I interested in?”

Q Sort of in your early career, did you think it would be forever or like at one point where you're like, I'm bored of this. I want to go into academia. Like how do you, how did you make your career decisions?

A You know, it's interesting, because, like, I, I would analogize to how a lot of people that we bring into our company think about their career paths. Like, a lot of the incredible people that we bring in, people who are, like, totally rock stars in their career, they're not thinking on, like, a twenty-year time scale about their career. They're thinking, like, more incrementally than that about, like, what am I interested in? Well, like, what's that next thing that I'm gonna tackle next in my life? And kind of, You know, maybe there's not a definite timeline attached to it. It's like as far out as you can see on the horizon, and just like worrying about that far, because otherwise you'd constrain yourself too much.

AI assessment note: “they're not thinking on, like, a twenty-year time scale about their career.”

Q You just won a fifty million dollar contract, uh, with Space Force to help modernize. Um, what does it mean to say that the Pentagon would rather, you know, buy commercially than build themselves?

A Yeah, I think it's a pretty fundamental switch that represents the, the timeline urgency, uh, and, you know, the, the, the change in a ground paradigm that we're confronting. Like, you can't have the same models of procurement if you're talking about, uh, proliferated systems where you need to just have such a huge increase in ground infrastructure in such a short period of time. You need to look at different models. Um, and so, yeah, we were, we were fortunate to be aligned with some of the, um, great thinkers over on the Space Force side that are, are really developing what that model would look like, and really fortunate to be entrusted with such a significant program so early in our company's, um, lifetime. And to the whole, you know, taking missions further, faster point, like, being involved in, in missions of national significance is, is something that, um, you know, That's what we're all about. So I think it's very aligned with that. Satellite control network, uh, that is a common resource for US government where, um, you know, every launch runs through satellite control network. Uh, it, it tracks missions across a really wide set of, uh, US government use cases ranging from, you know, GPS to NASA missions, um, you know, our missile track systems and the like. It is a great opportunity for us to kind of demonstrate the, the cross-cutting capabilities that we are working…

AI assessment note: “a pretty fundamental switch that represents the, the timeline urgency”

Q I just, as is the first I've heard of it, what is your, um, Thinking on it, the feasibility of it, will compute, move to orbit? Yeah, what do you think about it?

A So our mentality at Northwood is we want to take space missions further faster. Like we want to enable the most ambitious missions and translate them from dream to reality as fast as possible. And so like that is the exact kind of juicy problem that gets the nerds at Northwood excited is, uh, you know, here's this super ambitious concept for space. Um, I think what's captivated a lot of people is thinking about, you know, how it pushes society. How thinking about, uh, kind of limitless power from space pushes society. Like, it gets a lot of people excited and inspired. Uh, and so we want to be supporters of willing that into existence through taking that further faster. So I think a lot of people raise a lot of really valid concerns about it. Um, things that require, or things that, um, mean there's gonna be long Timelines to bring it into existence, whatever it is. Are we talking training? Are we talking inference, et cetera? Like, you know, there's a lot of different, um, uh, there's a lot of different details. Um, but I think, uh, our, our interest in it is, uh, how can we understand the space so that we can enable it to go, um, faster towards that outcome?

AI assessment note: “things that mean there's gonna be long Timelines to bring it into existence”

Q I just, as is the first I've heard of it, what is your, um, Thinking on it, the feasibility of it, will compute, move to orbit? Yeah, what do you think about it?

A So our mentality at Northwood is we want to take space missions further faster. Like we want to enable the most ambitious missions and translate them from dream to reality as fast as possible. And so like that is the exact kind of juicy problem that gets the nerds at Northwood excited is, uh, you know, here's this super ambitious concept for space. Um, I think what's captivated a lot of people is thinking about, you know, how it pushes society. How thinking about, uh, kind of limitless power from space pushes society. Like, it gets a lot of people excited and inspired. Uh, and so we want to be supporters of willing that into existence through taking that further faster. So I think a lot of people raise a lot of really valid concerns about it. Um, things that require, or things that, um, mean there's gonna be long Timelines to bring it into existence, whatever it is. Are we talking training? Are we talking inference, et cetera? Like, you know, there's a lot of different, um, uh, there's a lot of different details. Um, but I think, uh, our, our interest in it is, uh, how can we understand the space so that we can enable it to go, um, faster towards that outcome?

AI assessment note: “our mentality at Northwood is we want to take space missions further faster.”