Going Off World: Moon, Mars, Venus, and beyond
Welcome to Going Offworld, your gateway to the cosmos beyond our Earth. We will explore our familiar celestial neighbors and venture into the vast, uncharted territories of our solar system. Each episode, we'll explore the cutting-edge of space exploration, the latest discoveries, and the incredible technological advances propelling humanity into a new era of interstellar adventure. Underwriting provided by the WayPaver Foundation. Join us, as we embark on this journey together, to the moon, Mars, Venus, and beyond.
Going Off World: Moon, Mars, Venus, and beyond
Going Off World EP 2: Dreams, Dollars and Deep Space with Sarah Pousho
Space exploration funding is not just for billionaires anymore. Sarah Pousho of Space Bridge Partners reveals how everyday people and brands can support space missions that benefit humanity here on Earth. The episode covers the evolution of space funding, innovative research driving unexpected benefits, and the democratization of the space sector.
• The significant role of private funding in space exploration
• Unexpected advancements in IVF due to space research
• The inclusivity of the space sector for diverse contributors
• The shift in public perception regarding the space industry
• The mission of Space Bridge Partners to connect capital with science
Stay updated with Space Bridge Partners through their LinkedIn page or website.
🎧 Listen Now On:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/going-off-world-moon-mars-venus-and-beyond/id1737881627
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6WjqRL2AZnLWO7Z3DTDjS1?si=d47c055cca1e4df7
Web: https://goingoffworld.buzzsprout.com/
Thank you for joining me on this ongoing journey into the future. Until next time, stay curious, and always think forward.
Welcome to Going Offworld, your gateway to the cosmos beyond our Earth. Join us as we embark on this journey together to the Moon, mars, venus and beyond.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Episode 2 of Going Offworld. I'm your host, steve Fisher. Today we're diving into one of the most crucial yet often overlooked aspects of space exploration how we fund ambitious space missions. Our guest is Sarah Peugeot, co-founder of Space Bridge Partners At the pioneering firm. It's revolutionizing how private capital connects with space initiatives. From discussing how life missions can benefit life on Earth to exploring ways entrepreneurs can enter the space sector, sarah shares invaluable insights about democratizing access to space exploration.
Speaker 2:In this fascinating conversation, sarah reveals how space research is already improving life on Earth. You'll hear about groundbreaking missions studying human reproduction in space that have led to a 35% increase in IVS success rates here on Earth. You heard that right Space babies. It's just one of the examples of how space exploration creates unexpected benefits for humanity. You'll learn how SpaceBird Partners is helping match mission organizers with funders and why you don't need to be a billionaire or rocket scientist to make an impact in space. So, whether you're a space enthusiast entrepreneur or you're just curious about the future of space exploration, this conversation reveals exciting new pathways for getting involved in humanity's greatest adventure. Join us on this journey where the sky is not the limit and the stars are just the beginning. Sarah, welcome to the podcast. Thanks for having me. So I am very familiar with your work, but for those who are not, I would love for you to talk about your journey and the space industry, how you arrived in this place and what inspired you to create Space Bridge Partners.
Speaker 3:Well, I was born no, I'm just kidding. I've always been interested in space. Since I was a little girl. I wanted to be an astronaut either that or Wonder. Woman. I loved Wonder Woman.
Speaker 3:But, yeah, I always wanted to be an astronaut and have been interested in space my whole life. I did all my grade school reports on designs that people had created for off-world communities and just was fascinated by that whole idea, and so my goal when I went to UC Berkeley was to graduate with an astronomy degree and then go to NASA and be an astronaut, maybe fly for the armed forces, something like that in between and I ended up not majoring in astronomy and got a temp job that led to five years at this company that was a calendar publisher. So I ended up, which led to another job and another job, and I ended up doing about 30 plus years in consumer products, mostly in products for kids that were licensed they would have SpongeBob SquarePants on them, or, you know, elsa from Frozen and I headed up teams that were responsible for licensing, negotiating licensing contracts with people like Disney and others and also selling the products into chain store retailers in North America and Europe.
Speaker 3:And, however, I met one of my co-founders, guillermo Sunline, at UC Berkeley, and we both bonded over our love of space. We both wanted to be an astronaut and we've kept in touch all these years. And one day I reached out and said I'm living vicariously through your LinkedIn posts and he said well, now's the time, let's talk. So we were on the phone for three hours one day and he invited me to one of his funded and everyone in the industry loved it Some of the big launch partners especially loved it and said come back when you have some money. And he said there's got to be a way to get some of this money.
Speaker 3:I'm not a wealthy person and I don't have access to the numbers that we would need to get this off the ground, literally. So he actually had this idea and there was a point where I wanted to make the final transition out of consumer products into the space industry after going to space conferences and space-related functions for a couple of years, and I said look, I'll take this idea and run with it, let me head it up. So he and I co-founded it with a third co-founderid Al Ali, who used to work at NASA Ames for many years and is now based in Qatar. And so the three of us founded the company and officially launched it in January of 2024. So here we are.
Speaker 2:That's, that's quite a story, I know you. You, it's funny when you talk about merchandising. I want to bring this to the space side for a sec, but it always reminds me of as a long time you know, seeing star wars in the theaters when it came out, the you know, having had toys as a kid the merchandising that real that I mean star wars really changed the game. You, you know, with brand and licensing and merchandising I mean the process for something like that. You know I have a young son who is very much into Marvel and Spider-Man and the Mandalorian Star Wars as well as SpongeBob.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you see it everywhere. I mean, do you have to? Does someone have to license something from you Like how does that, how does it generally work?
Speaker 3:Yes, so all of those, except for SpongeBob, all of those properties you mentioned are owned by Disney, so you would have to go to Disney and ask for permission, permission. Spongebob is a Paramount property, so you ask them for permission. But, yes, you'd go and ask for permission to use their likeness or their character's IP on your product and you have to pay royalties. And there's many different ways to negotiate by region, globally Is it 2D, is it 3D, is it an action figure, is it sound, which is a whole other licensing ballgame.
Speaker 3:And so, yeah, you ask for permission, and if they don't already have another product on the market that's the same thing with that likeness, then they'll give you the rights to use it, and it's for a certain amount of time and a certain number of channels, and a certain number of countries and it's all very complex, which is one of the reasons why I think Yermo thought I'd be good in heading to Facebook partners, because it's involving a lot of complicated agreements between many different parties, and something that I kind of love to do is put those pieces together and connect the dots.
Speaker 2:I think about the NASA logo and the NASA licensing. You know, you go, you buy. There's a store in Houston, at the Houston airport, and I usually, if I'm down there for work, I will bring something home. You know something from the NASA store but it's become, you know quite. It's about the iconic licensing of those brands. Yes, and this, you know, relates to, like you know, like you said, with licensing, the IP itself. But I have often wondered if you know companies will lend their brand to fund projects, if you create, if SpaceBridge partner is going to create some of its own brands, that way they can license. I mean, that's also maybe a kind of a tangential question, but I mean your experience in that is pretty extensive.
Speaker 3:No one's ever asked me that question before, and that's a pretty fascinating question. I didn't really even think of that. I think, since we're more of a service provider, I feel like we could probably help build some of those brands and help them spin out. But I don't know if we, at least today, that's not on our agenda to do. But I would never say never. That's a really interesting. That's a really interesting question.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's, yeah, it's absolutely. I mean, you've you just started? When did what? What exactly did you start space bridge when? When did it start?
Speaker 3:it officially launched in january 9th, on january 9th of 2024.
Speaker 2:So yeah, about eight months ago yeah, nine months ago. Um, so this year's been growing. You've been growing quickly and what opportunities you're seeing happening across this kind of the early stages of the company for you?
Speaker 3:Well, what's really exciting is, all the people that I've talked to that are on the space side of things are like where have you been? This is so necessary. I'm so excited. Also, can you help us? So that's been a good response.
Speaker 3:On the funding side of things, it's been interesting to see the different kinds of people that are interested in what we're doing and immediately most people go right to oh so you're a VC? No, we don't fund companies and we're not looking for investments. We're looking for funding. And to your point about brands and properties, this is a great way to participate in a few different ways. I have seen brands participate where they may have their logo on a piece of the machinery, like the spacecraft or the instrument that's being used in space, but don't pay marketing activation dollars. They'll offer services or the equipment itself. So there's these neat collaborations that are happening. There's also companies that will pay, obviously, to have eyeballs on some of these space missions because it relates to their MO. So if they're a brand that's into speed, for example, they might want to sponsor a space mission that is launching something that would be the fastest thing in space, which is one of the missions that is on our pipeline right now.
Speaker 3:So there's so many different ways to piece those things together. That's the exciting part of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that kind of leads to you. You know we had the core mission of space rich partners, like kind of. You know you've you touched on it a little bit, but kind of just for kind of can you condense it into kind of the pitch, if you will like the? You know, if I'm, I'm in this in the industry and you know, and Guillermo and I have had a lot of conversations about the industry. The industry or the space is a place versus the space industry, it's like it's a place to work. So you know, let's talk about, let's talk about mission. You know you talked about you're not a VC. You talk about licensing later. There's so much of this ecosystem that is fertile ground. So where do you, where's the focus right now?
Speaker 3:So we're focused on a very specific niche. The one sentence pitch is we connect private capital and space missions focused on science, education and exploration, and the way that we came about is, basically, most of those missions are not commercial missions, so there's not a financial ROI. There are missions that are vital in science, in exploration, education, in the sense that they're studying our planet. They're studying our solar system and deep space. There are things being developed in space that can be used on Earth that will help humankind.
Speaker 3:But a lot of those missions, especially the initial missions that might lead to something that can be used on Earth, don't have that commercial ROI. But you need the science and testing and tech demos first to happen, and those are the missions that many of them do get grant funding or government funding, but not enough to cover the full cost of the mission. So that's where Faith Bridge Partners comes in is to help them fund in full or partially to get these missions off the ground. Usually these missions are organized by universities or nonprofits or small civil space agencies that don't have a NASA budget, and those are primarily the missions that we look to support because we know that they're so vital and they usually are not able to get 100% of the funding.
Speaker 2:So let's walk through kind of a life cycle, so kind of your ideal customer. So you talked about university, you talked about a couple different types of stakeholders or potential customers. Let's scenario play here for a sec. So I would be entrepreneur Am I trying to do a launch, like I have a satellite, I want to maybe do some type of weather study, like, and I want to get something into space, for maybe it's a weather data company I'm creating. I want to do something for climate, right, is that a good example? Or just on a, is that a good persona? Because I want to, just I want to help people. Kind of envision, like the world, the process, the world, because it can sometimes be a little more abstract in that way.
Speaker 3:So yeah, actually I would flip that on it 180 degrees. Our client is really the funder.
Speaker 3:So, it's a high net worth individual, it's a brand, it's a media company who's looking to support the space sector, and so our product, if you will, are these missions like your example that you gave, that you're, you're organizing a mission that involves a weather satellite. So you, on the on the mission organizer side, you'd come to us and say I have this idea, this is what I want to do, here's our team, here's the budget, here's the timeline, and our team will vet that and it will end up on our pipeline. But really, that's just another product that we're selling for all intents and purposes, and so our customer, our client, is really a high networks individual that wants to support the space sector or that may have a specific interest they might be interested in. They might be interested in client, they might be interested in climate change, and so your project could be a good one to pair them with. Or you could be a brand that's interested, like I mentioned before, that's interested.
Speaker 3:They're all about speed. Maybe you're Formula One, for example, and you want to show that you're innovative, so you're supporting something in space, and if it has to do with speed, that would be a perfect mission for you, or something to do with speed right. Or if you're a documentary that has been looking for a subject about climate change, maybe they want to feature your mission and part of the documentary. So those were the matchmakers Right and we're almost like.
Speaker 3:We're almost like a sales team for all the mission organizers. So if you needed help funding, you'd be the product that we would try to sell to one of these funders and I hate to say the word sell because we're not really selling anything. We're just trying to support the whole space ecosystem and get your mission launched. So we would know that high net worth individual A is not interested at all in earth sciences. They're more interested in mining asteroids. But high net worth individual B is very interested in the weather and climate change and they might be very interested in funding your mission. So that's the way we look at it.
Speaker 2:Okay. So let me kind of, like you said, kind of flip that because you are a bridge. Right, you are a bridge between them, because could they come at you from one side? Because could they come at you from one side? So I'm the entrepreneur. But then there's like the Gates Foundation that does climate part of the foundation we're talking about grants but say that their mission is to do this type of climate work. Well, they may not even know that this person trying to do this work exists.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:So do you work to create the, to create the roster of funder, potential funders, yes. And then when the mission kind of do you do it in a kind of categorization, so do you put out I'm not talking about prizes, I'm talking about just more of like, just like a not like a venture firm, where you have a portfolio of focus, like you have a climate agenda or you have this type of I don't know type of exploration, energy type, maybe a solar shield in space. I don't know, I'm just making stuff up.
Speaker 2:So those people would do? You have like an energy sector, like, imagine this firm, your firm, larger, you'd have like a maybe, like environment, practice and energy, and then you'd be able to find the people looking to do missions. And then you, or does the actual funder have missions in mind? It may, might or might not. That's why cause like sometimes it's you don't know, you don't know, and you might be a perfect match or the person looking could help your agenda and they might not even think about space as a way.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 3:Right, so and those are the people that we're trying to reach too. So it's it's a little bit of all of the above. Um, today, if you're asking me this question today, um, we are vetting our missions to make sure that we have a variety of funds needed, a variety of missions that they're focused on. You know one, like I mentioned, one could be the fastest human made object. One is looking for signs of life on another planet. One, like your example, could be studying Earth's weather and climate. So we try to make sure that we don't have a lot of the same missions or the same similar missions on our pipeline. We're looking at missions that have launch dates ranging anywhere from January of 2025 on out through the 2030s. So we're trying to have a really good variety to start, because we're still building out our funding network to make sure that we have a good variety to meet a lot of the needs of people that we're talking to.
Speaker 3:But down the road, when we're, you know, five years old or 10 years old, just what you said is that we will have people you know, bridge builders, if you will focused in certain sectors, because we know that this funder is interested in energy. That funder is interested in, you know, climate. This other funder is interested in energy. That funder is interested in climate, this other funder is interested in human health, things like that. So we would have those dot connectors connecting those kinds of funders with those kinds of missions in our pipeline.
Speaker 3:So it's right now. Now the focus is on what the funders are looking for and and making sure that we have a nice variety of missions in our pipeline so that we can meet most of the needs that are out there and steer people in the right direction too. I mean, we're really hoping to get in front of brands, media companies and high network individuals that are like I would love to be involved in space and support it, but I don't even know how. Those are the people that we're trying to reach right now, until our business plan becomes so big that there's more of us out there doing the same thing and we're solving this problem on a massive scale instead of mission by mission, which we are doing right now.
Speaker 2:So to kind of not to give away all the secret sauce, but in terms of business model, you know, how does SpaceBridge make its money?
Speaker 2:Is it from fees and launch fees over time? Is it management of the like? Because I would imagine, if things are planned out, obviously somebody puts money in for a mission which you know kind of here and there between, but obviously you need to run a business right. It's like how does that create? How does it create sustainability for the business over time? Like, how do you create a consistent? Because you're not a VC, so you're not trying to like, raise a mission fund for this environment, for this focus right, or this mission fund for this right, and then you would make management fees on that. That's more of a VC venture capital model. But how do you kind of, how did you as thinking through this business and doing this, how do you approach that?
Speaker 3:So there's two different ways. The main way that we earn revenue is through a success fee. So if we were to get a donation from a high net worth individual, or if we were to help negotiate a brand sponsorship or help negotiate a media partnership, we would take a success fee from those funds. The other way is for a mission organizer or a potential funder to hire us on retainer to do some research for them. So say, there's a brand company that says this is what my brand's all about.
Speaker 3:I'm looking for missions focused on X, y and Z. If we didn't already have one of those missions in our pipeline, we could reach out to our network and see if we could find one or help put one together. Now we would not personally launch a mission, we would just help coordinate making that match. But yeah, and then on the other side of that, if the mission organizer says I would love your help in figuring out what brands we should go after, you know, obviously we would offer that service, but if they wanted to do it themselves, we could do some research on their behalf too to look at ways that they could get some funding.
Speaker 2:So, for example, if, like Anthropic came to you and says we want to put Claude in space, it makes you think of Skynet. But I'm just saying but if they wanted to do an experimental, you know, do an application model or an imaging model or something they would hire you to then kind of create the mission, build it out, find maybe the matching companies that could do the work, or the launch companies that could actually, you know, execute on that right and be that launch firm, if you will, a launch coordinator firm as such. That's interesting because it is definitely a gap. There's always the people trying, seems to be two things people with dreams trying to do it, and people with money that maybe are just really in a limited space because all they want to do is just, you know, getting people up into space. That seems to be the main thing, which is great because I believe, if I look at what Elon's doing with Starship, you know, he's creating a Star and most people don't know, but probably those listening do.
Speaker 2:he's creating a Starship factory, much like the Gigafactory, and that essentially is like a Ford Motor Company assembly line for spaceships. That is, I mean, the price. I'm trying to think the price 20 years ago. If I remember right, the price 20 years ago to get someone in to get something into space was $10,000 an ounce, I think, and now it's down to like a couple hundred off a thousand. We have to get it down to like not like very little, because then that cost opens to the mass market, just from not more like UPS delivering packages to the space station, but the fact that we can bring people up there.
Speaker 2:But there's so much more around that right, exactly. I've always envisioned that the the mission to mars would be sponsored by, like disney or some media, media companies, because to me, the lot, the reality show aspect of this, the going on the journey, the branding of aspects of it, the licensing capability, like licensing, it's, it's immense, it's immense and there's just there's so much fertile ground. You know people listening to this, um, are there how, when you look at all these opportunities, how do you evaluate and prioritize them? Like, how do you? Who do you choose to? How do you choose to support them? Because some people can come with great ideas Like how do you, how do you vet that?
Speaker 3:The first thing we do is to see if they have a mission completely organized. So we have had a lot of people come to us saying I've got this awesome thing that could be used in space and we say great, are you, do you have a mission plan to test it? And they say no, and it's like I'm sorry, we don't have the bandwidth to help you with that. Come back when you have a mission. So if the mission is fully, fully organized and vetted and a lot of times people are coming to us saying I have, you know, $500,000, I need a million, can you help me with the last 500? So the first thing we look at is what is the purpose of the mission? What is your unique, what's your differentiator? What is the science you're trying to accomplish on this mission? The second thing we look for is what does your budget look like? Because we can usually tell right off the bat if this is a reasonable mission or not just by the budget they're putting against it. The third thing is what is your timeline? And the fourth thing is the team. Actually, the team's probably the most important thing. Have they ever done this before? Have they been in the space sector? Do they have the credentials for the science that they want to do. Are there PhDs involved in that science? And so we look at.
Speaker 3:Those are the first things that we look at, and then we'll vet from there to make sure that it falls under our MO.
Speaker 3:Are they a nonprofit or a university or an underserved community that would have a hard time raising the funds? Those are people we would look at and again trying to, in these beginning stages, round out our portfolio just because we have limited bandwidth with our small team we're about 13 people, which includes advisors as well but do we have the bandwidth and does it make sense to fall into our pipeline? In terms of the variety, which I mentioned earlier, are the timelines spread out? Are the mission differentiators different enough from each other, and like that? So those are the steps that we take to vet the missions, and a lot of times, too, it will depend on our relationships with the mission organizers. I'm lucky enough to have a lot of people in the space sector on the team that know a lot of the players in the game, and those are the people that are submitting missions to us. So it's nice to have that kind of a personal referral as well in our network.
Speaker 2:So if, if I was an entrepreneur, um, I'll take from my own experience, um, that'll kind of make it a little more personal. So I built an air taxi company 20 years ago, a little ahead of its time, but it's now coming into play, right, and I believe that we're going to need mobility on the planet, not just about getting there and driving around, but flying around. So, like say, I wanted to build a craft that not only worked here on Earth, but I wanted to build something that could be mobile for mars, like, like, how would, and I I have some experience. I'm not a space, I'm not experienced with a mission, what. I have a background in the other things aviation, or I have a team that you know avionics, airframe we can build the craft, we can build the engine, power plant, and we want to, but we need someone that's one going to help us build something for earth. And then in the next, over the next 10 years, prototype, something that we could, maybe a small prototype we could send with a starship to test out right how.
Speaker 2:How is someone who's an entrepreneur or you know looking to do that, get into the like? Focusing on the missions, what would they if they were trying to come to you? What would they, what would be needed or what would help?
Speaker 3:Um, what would help is having it more, having the mission more put together, just based on our current state of Space Bridge Partners again like we're more well-equipped to help the mission organizers that have something pretty well put together. However, as I mentioned, a lot of our team comes from space background, so I'm sure we would be able to give you plenty of referrals to talk to. To get this off the ground, I would recommend having some PhDs on your team that would understand how your engine would have to be modified to work on Earth versus to work on Mars, because obviously the atmosphere is quite different, and so we could either help you with those referrals if you really wanted extensive amount of help and to have us basically help you put the mission together, you would hire us on retainer. But if you're just a bunch of nerds-?
Speaker 2:That was my next question. Yeah, because if I had, say, a quarter million dollars in angel funding and we wanted to get the mission together, that we could hire your firm to help put that part of the plan together, to make the mission, to make solid the mission and even the resourcing of the, of the experts and the people that needed to be on the team eventually for it. That's great, the mission team itself.
Speaker 2:So that's great. Yes, I've been very much looking forward to this because I've often wondered how does someone beyond the billionaires and the multi-multi-millionaires become? I mean, they're essentially being space entrepreneurs. You're essentially helping them move into that space. They might have adjacent skill sets and good skill sets, but not direct space experience.
Speaker 2:I didn't work for JPL or as much as I would love, have loved to. I don't you know, I didn't work for, you know, nasa or SpaceX. So I think there's an opportunity, that there are millions of entrepreneurs out there that would love to figure out how to crack this and really get into being a space entrepreneur.
Speaker 3:Well, there are millions of space adjacent companies too that contribute to the space sector. You don't have to be a SpaceX or a rocket lab to be a major player in the sector. So there's so many different ways and it's becoming more and more apparent what those ways are and more and more of those opportunities are becoming available because of how quickly the space sector is evolving. I mean, look at the Polaris Dawn mission yesterday. It's completely privately funded and we've got four non-professional astronauts. They've been trained as astronauts. So I hate to call them non-professional, but that seems to be what the press is calling them. But they're not, you know, they're not from NASA, they're not, you know, from a space agency. This is a completely privately funded mission of everyday civilians like we are pushing innovation forward and testing new space sets and testing new technology. That's up there. So you don't have to be literally a rocket scientist to be involved in space anymore. It's just we're on the cusp of this exploding into a huge industry for quote, unquote civilians.
Speaker 2:now you make a great point. There needs to be new language because back in the day and you know, Ed White did the first spacewalk back in Gemini in I think 64, 63, something like that and my dates are off but those days being in NASA, you were usually well, all of them were ex-military, were there military, they were trans, so it was a service. You were a public service, so you were a government employee essentially, and that kind of. We talk about astronauts in that we still talk about them like that. We don't talk about them as people, as private citizens, versus, I don't even think the career astronaut or professional astronaut and private. We need, we do need a new language because there's people who are the experienced, you know people that come to the space is their career, that's their life.
Speaker 2:Right and there are people who have other careers that come to this. Yes and we need we do it's a perfect.
Speaker 3:other careers that come to this yes, and we do definitely need it. Elon Musk is a perfect example. I have to say, what's that Like? Elon Musk is a perfect example. He's not from space, and look what he's created.
Speaker 2:People might think he's an alien. I think he's a time traveler. But I think he's a time traveler. Look, he knows exactly where it's all going. Well, you know, and I've all I've I've talked about this on other podcasts is, uh, you know, as an entrepreneur and a student of it and an author of books on startups, you know it's about the.
Speaker 2:He's an ecosystem builder. Right, there are, there are different levels in which products and services build. There's the kind of the base product, then there's platforms, then there's ecosystems and then there's economies, and only the big one. When I talk about economy, I mean ecosystems are great because there's tons of partners. It's a great. People work for you know, they work with your product. The economies establish new types of jobs. If you think about it 30, 25 years ago, if you would have said the term SEO specialists, that didn't exist until Google. Right, they created a new, a whole economy. Right, facebook, social media, social media analysts and strategists. Right, whole job sectors. He's creating, he's got an ecosystem built, but he's building a whole economy in which people will be able to and they do now right, they work in that, but even I would say the masses, when I think about all he's doing.
Speaker 2:You know, and talking to guillermo was on an earlier podcast and if you anybody listening, if you haven't listened to it, I highly recommend you check it out. Um, the he is, and we'll talk about Guillermo in a second, because it's important in terms of your relationship and how you work, because I draw parallels to him and Elon about multi-planetary species, but there's application on earth. That's where my heart is Like. If you, most space entrepreneurs have their dreams of doing something out there, but most investors don't have that kind of timeframe for return, correct. So there needs to be a rationale and a okay, let's build it here, let's test it here, let's get the investors in to create something of value for this planet, but with a long-term vision that it's going to have a multi-planetary impact. Elon's doing the same thing.
Speaker 2:The Boring Company isn't just about so he can dig something from Los Angeles to San Francisco. It's about digging tunnels on Mars. Right, it's electric. Cars are going to be on Mars. The robots may be our. We may have care robots and people will. I completely see people forming personal relationships with our robots, like R2D2 or C3PO, but those robots will do the. They'll do the hard work on Mars. They'll do the dangerous work on Mars. Right, everything is for there, but the people who are investing in it now. Right, everything is for there, but the people who are investing in it now. It has use here. So when you look at missions, do you ever have any type of conversations about, okay, your missions in here? Do you ever coach them or do anything on retainer to help them find value here? Or is it just really more about the space industry itself?
Speaker 3:Oh, I love that question. Yes, it's interesting. Many of the mission organizers that we talk to are not entrepreneurs like you. They're scientists that have been in their field for a long time. They could be astrobiologists, they could be astrophysicists, they could be not even that astropart, they could be biologists or physicists that are looking to do something and they see their work from a very scientific angle. That for somebody like me who was very interested in science when I was a kid, I get very excited about it. But if you put that person in front of a potential funder, they'll fall asleep. So we help them develop that value proposition and understand what their contribution can make.
Speaker 3:And two things related to what you were just talking about. One is the timelines. You need to have these scientific missions happen so that the things will happen at a later date, like you said. So some of these missions that we have on our pipeline are legacy-making missions. So you might not get a financial return, but you'll definitely to have your name tied to some of these missions that are in our pipeline, which are so exciting and could be literal game changers in the way we think about biologic life, the way we think about how fast something can move in space. Even the way we think about things that could happen on Earth, those are big game changers. And then also, the opposite of something that you said, are things that are already working great on Earth and, you know, like Boring Company, all these robots that will be working on Mars.
Speaker 3:Some of the things that we're working on now, or I should say our mission organizers are working on now, will help people on Earth, and one example of that is a set of missions that is looking to see if humans can successfully reproduce in less than 1G that we have here on Earth.
Speaker 3:So if you have a lower gravity, you know we're planning on putting people on the moon and Mars. Those do not have the same gravity as Earth. So for all we know, it could be a one generation mission. People go up there and then they die because they can't reproduce, and then no one's left. We'll have to keep sending new people on a one way ticket. So if this company discovers that we can reproduce in less than one G, that's going to be very important to becoming an interplanetary species. Along the way of them figuring this out, they developed a technology that is helping in vitro fertilization success rate grow by about 35%, so that's a huge thing for people on Earth that you know are having kids, so it's exciting to see how that science can be used on Earth as well. There's so much science that's been developed for space that helps people on Earth already.
Speaker 2:So was their pitch when they pulled up the first slide. Did it just say space babies?
Speaker 3:No, it did not. That'd be a good way.
Speaker 2:I'm here to talk to you today about space babies.
Speaker 2:Space babies but it's a very important thing. I'm often reminded of the I think there was a couple in space and we're going to figure that out about just the you know interaction part, if you will. But the conception, you know, is a whole different story because, you know, can you have a baby, like if you're in a space station, right, if you're in a long-term space station, can you raise children, right, and even mars's gravity met a couple of shows that try to kind of represent that right in the expanse. The piece people that live, that grow up on mars is a third of the gravity of earth and they come back and they have to take medicine, they have to train like it's their body, even their composition is they, it's. It's hard, it's like torture, it's like somebody laying here and you having to carry around like a 200 pound weight on your shoulders. It's like, or you know, I think of um. There's another great show. It's an alternate history show, um, uh show for all mankind.
Speaker 2:There's a baby that was born on, or she was pregnant, I think, and she was on Mars and she had her baby. Maybe she had the baby I'm trying to remember exactly how but they got her out of Mars and she went back. But because he was born there, his health he had trouble on Earth and then he went to Mars and all of his health issues kind of cleared up. So there's even not even just conception, but there's long-term benefits of eventually the human race might split because there might be people that can't function on earth and people that can only be, you know on. But to your point about like IVF, I mean it's addressing modern challenges for people and I think that's a that's such a wonderful example, you know, that's a great example of, you know, of success and but there are a lot of challenges out there, Like what do you think are the biggest challenges facing the industry right now? And just working in space and just what you're seeing right now.
Speaker 3:A few different. It was hard to narrow this down to just a few answers. I think one is public perception. Everyone still thinks it's the Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos of the world and that's not the case and it's becoming less and less the case. So how do we educate the public that they can be involved, whether they're a writer or a chef or a janitor, like so many, an architect so many different types of careers can be involved in the space sector today. I mean, I'm a perfect example of it. I don't have 30 years experience, but I'm an enthusiast and understand how to connect the dots and excited about the science behind things. So I think one is public perception is one of the biggest challenges vital science missions and exploration missions funded. They are crucial to taking the next steps in things, which is why I'm so excited about this Polaris Dawn mission, because they're just testing our let's explain.
Speaker 2:let's stop with my choice, that's for the audience who may not know. Can you explain Polaris Dawn, so that way they know? Kind of a grounding before you dive into that.
Speaker 3:Sure Polaris Dawn. It's the first privately funded space mission with and I hate to say non-professional again.
Speaker 2:But yeah, we mentioned that before, but it's like, yeah, he's, he is a and he's been in space before, so for him this is a personal goal, because he will be a private citizen taking a spacewalk the first private citizen to do so Versus a government military serving your country.
Speaker 2:He's kind of I don't want to say buying into history, but he is, is but the importance of being able to accomplish that as a private citizen and that it makes space walks more I don't want to say common, but not for one more accessible. Yes, so he's funding. Yeah, he's, he's, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's Jared Isaacman too, just so stop saying he is the one that funded the mission, and there's three other astronauts on this mission that are quote unquote civilian astronauts.
Speaker 3:But they are all also doing science, and one of the key things, going back to your Henry Ford argument is he's testing spacesuits that can be mass produced, because if Elon Musk and other people want to get thousands of people on Mars, you're going to have to be able to create many, many of these spacesuits.
Speaker 3:And so he's up there testing that, and you saw all that live footage from his first spacewalk was him measuring how far he can move his left arm, how he can move his right arm, how he could use the mobility aid you know climbing out of the capsule. So these are all vital things that we're going to need to do that I'm hoping we can help ramp up having this happen more and more often and not need you know billionaires, but we can get you know people that are a hundred millionaires, or we can get brands involved. We can get more media companies involved. There's so many ways to pull these resources and to make this, like you said, more accessible for everyday people and get this to the point of being the Henry Ford of space. There's got to be ways that we can continue to capitalize on all these economies of scale as we continue to grow the sector and all the different parts of the sector involved in getting humans into space.
Speaker 2:So let's have a little. Let's put our futures hat on SpaceBridge Partners 2035. Let's talk. We can weave it into long-term goals but what do? You, what do you see for your, for the firm, Like, what do you let's? Let's kind of put our futures hat on? You talked about missions out there. What does it mean? The goals, like, where does Space Bridge Partners kind of, where is it in 2035, which really not that far away?
Speaker 3:It really is, yeah, I think, 2035, we're not the only ones out there doing this, which would be really exciting. Honestly, I don't think it will happen in 10 years, but I would love to put ourselves out of business because so many philanthropists and branding brand companies, media partners will see the value in this and they will already know how to get to a mission organizer to help fund it. But I do see us as being, since we're the first out there, I would like us to be the main platform, kind of you know, the kick, the Kickstarter, if you will like. People want to. I'm on there and I'm interested in a certain thing. I can go to this website and find a mission I can fund, or I'm a mission organizer and I want to reach out to these kinds of funders. Here's a way to do it.
Speaker 3:So it'd be great to continue to be that one streamlining cog in the center of all these different players on both sides of the table the mission organizers and the potential funders and we'll have a global team that will have expertise in different sectors. Like you said, there could be climate change function, there could be an energy function, there could be an exploration function and extraterrestrial domains. You know things like that. So, but I think, sticking to our core belief of just helping humanity learn more and help humans on Earth as well as become an interplanetary species, and just get the science, the vital science, that comes of these non-commercial missions, keep those happening, make sure as many of those missions can happen as possible every year.
Speaker 2:That's great. So, and let's go the other direction, in the past, present or future. If you could fund or participate in any mission, what would it be? Past, present, future, whatever it is, what would you want to be?
Speaker 3:part of. I'm going to steal an answer. I'm going to steal an answer from Dr Natalie Cabral, who I interviewed at CENI last week, and say all of them I'm so excited about like I wish we were going to fly on the wall on the Apollo missions. I'm excited about some of the habitats I've seen out of you know, dreamt up by some architects, that I'm hoping to see come to fruition. I want to go to space somehow, some way. Guillermo we mentioned him a few times has an idea to put a thousand people inhabiting the atmosphere of Venus. I would like to be one of those people. I don't think I would want to stay up there, but I would definitely want to go up there and check it out and come back. So, yeah, I mean, I hate that sort of a cop cop out answer, but I'm so excited about space in general and having my whole life I would, I want to participate in any mission.
Speaker 2:I want to fund the first solar sail mission.
Speaker 2:I want to participate like I want to see if we can really like because I like, I like sailing on water if we can really like cause I like, I like sailing on water. So if we could actually achieve rapid, you know, space, like I'm not talking about sub, even sub light, but if we can get really fast in terms of how to move around the solar system with solar sails and no like cause propulsion, I've, I've. I was asked this question on a podcast, like if I was in a space role, what would I have done? Cause I was, you know, for a hot minute, considered I'm a pilot, but I considered doing aerospace engineering. Math is not my subject, um, I'm the, I'm the artist, but I would have loved, I would have been a propulsion person, absolutely, without, without a doubt. Cause, like I met Freeman Dyson many years ago at Esther Dyson's flight school conference back in 20 years ago when I was doing this I noticed the millionaires had the air taxi companies, the billionaires had the space companies.
Speaker 2:I was not a millionaire, though I was like some other category of oh yeah broke. But listening to him talk about the Orion project of nuclear propulsion, I just think we have to. And I interviewed Dr Jeff Landis. We talked about the propulsion types out there and we have to figure out the propulsion problem right now. We have to find ways not only to find the fuel outside of Earth but also other ways to create new types of propulsion systems so that we can move around, because it's just not.
Speaker 2:We are. If you use the, go back to Henry. If we use the automobile analogy, it is essentially like those. You know horseless carriages, you know that's essentially where we are right now. That you know horseless carriages, you know that's essentially where we are right now. We're in horseless carriage mode where it's like crank it up, do everything, driver. You know it's got the basic kind of modes but yeah, we don't even have like paved roads and it's, it's a mess. Yet and that's where it's still in its infancy.
Speaker 3:But that's what I would totally you know well, there's been a couple of solar sail tech demos already, so I I think we're on our way.
Speaker 2:We are, we are that's what I'm saying. Like I want to go to like Jupiter, like if we can get a solar sail to like to Jupiter. I'm not saying there's a monolith out there, but I'd like to know, but you'd like to know. But I'd like to know I'm curious about what's beyond Voyager.
Speaker 3:Can we pass? Can we set a solar sail or some other fast item?
Speaker 2:I'm just kind of like for those listening, not on the video, like and just wave like you know, yeah, no, it's your point Can we pass Voyager in my lifetime.
Speaker 3:That's one thing that I would love to be involved in. Can I see data from beyond Voyager while I'm still alive?
Speaker 2:That's a great one, you know. So, for those listening and kind of really getting inspired by this, like what would you like them to like? You know, really know about your passion about the future and the role of private funding. What do you think it is Like? What would you like them to know that you haven't shared?
Speaker 3:Are you talking like future generations or what's the context?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean we'll maybe we'll skip that question. I'll cut that out, um, because that one was more about you've already kind of covered it.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I wanted to talk about future generations yes, so let's do it.
Speaker 2:It's kind of Now we'll kind of cut to the. Let's talk about future generations. Why don't you? You touched upon that.
Speaker 3:You want to expand on that a bit and talk to younger generations that are still in high school and college. They all have an impact. What's the word I'm looking for? A desire to make an impact, and they look for impact funders, they look for impact companies. They look for companies making a difference. I would love for them to keep that mindset as the next generation of politicians come about, the next generation of politicians come about as the next generation of science come about. Have that be their guiding light of how they can make an impact for future generations themselves.
Speaker 3:And I love I see that more in the younger generations than I do people my age and older how excited they can be about a project and make sure that they are focused on this, the impact that they can make on future generations.
Speaker 3:So those are the people that are going to, that are already thinking about space sustainability. Those are already the people that are thinking about what does governance look like in other communities that are not on Earth, and how can different people with different backgrounds work together? Which is another very exciting thing about the space sector is the collaboration between different countries, different scientists with different backgrounds all working together. I mean, look at the ISS right now is a collaboration between Japan, russia, the US, even China. I mean so many different countries that on Earth are kind of butting heads at the moment, but in space we're all working together. So can we take that and continue that in future generations and keep their focus on wanting to make an impact and impact investing and keeping the social aspect of that alive. That's what I'm excited about and that's what I'm excited I've already been seeing it so I'm excited for them to keep that hope alive.
Speaker 2:So what's a bold prediction that you think people should be preparing for in the place of this working in space?
Speaker 3:I'm going to go back to Henry Ford again You're going to get cheaper and cheaper, less and less expensive flights. You're going to get more and more people going to space. I think that Elon Musk's idea of having a million people on Mars is not far-fetched, and the more we can take the more into space one time, the better, which is why he's building larger and larger spacecraft and why we're going to need to get to these spacesuits that the Polaristan mission is testing out, because those can be mass produced much more easily than these giant astronaut suits that NASA astronauts wear today. So I think that we will have rocket ships and flights to space as common as cars are today, whether gas or electric powered cars, on Earth. I think that we'll have that many. It'll be that accessible to humans sooner than we all think.
Speaker 2:I agree, I agree, and you know I like to do the 222 for civilization. I call it I don't want to say restarted civilization, but you're my civilization, uh, foundation, so especially like other planets.
Speaker 3:So the two books, two pieces of music and two things you bring with you, it's like going through somebody's um, you know, right, closet you learn people I think the um this is such a hard question to answer, I think the if I could, if I could bring two pieces of music, I would. I'm going to cop out and say two albums instead of two songs.
Speaker 2:That's fair. I'll allow that. That's fine. I'll allow that, that's fine.
Speaker 3:I'd have to bring the David Bowie album, with Major Tom on it, of course, and I'd have to bring a Bastille album. Any one of them. I love them all. Those are my two favorite pieces of music right now. Again, super hard to narrow that one down. The book I'd bring with me is probably the Truth Machine, which is the first book that kind of made me think about the future. I mean, I read, you know, roddenberry and Bradbury, and L Ron Hubbard even had some decent sci-fi books. I was very into sci-fi when I was a kid, but the Truth Machine really made me bring that science fiction idea to. That could, to that could. That could probably happen. You know, like we might be able to develop the truth machine, um, by James Halperin. I love that book and I've read it a million times and I would probably bring that book Um. And a second book would probably be um, another sci-fi book that I haven't read yet. I don't know. I don't know what a second book would be.
Speaker 2:Nice, very nice.
Speaker 3:But a new book that I haven't read yet. And then for things I would, I immediately, of course, thought of a food item. I love avocados, so if I could have a way to have unlimited avocados when I'm in a new place, that's what I would want, and then, I mean, I could be super logical and say something to play my records on is the second item.
Speaker 2:That's a logical thing. That's great answers. You've given some really great advice, and especially bringing young people in, because that's that's really what we need to do. And but, what inspires you? Though you've been very inspirational to others and buildings, well, what, what, what continues to inspire, especially on those tough days like what continues to get?
Speaker 3:keep you going listen, this is my dream job that I never even knew could exist. I get to geek out on the space things. I love science. I've always been a fan and I understand how things work. I love learning.
Speaker 3:So to get to talk to these mission organizers about what they're doing and then to use my background to figure out who can I connect this person to. And then to get to talk to brands and media, companies and family offices and high net worth individuals about what their hopes and dreams are and how can I tie these things together and how can I make a win-win situation for everybody. I just I couldn't be in a better place, and what inspires me is being able to get to do this job quite honestly. I mean, this is like I said. I never thought that I could be in the space sector after spending so many years not in it and wishing I had been, and so that's what inspires me, and I hope I can inspire other people to do the same thing. I mean, it's just I'm in my happy place right now and to be involved in anything that has to do with the future and innovation.
Speaker 2:that's that's what's inspiring me, if I can help get us to the next place faster. That's the goal and you've you've been off to a great start with this and you know, if you we talked a lot about you know, kind of putting our future hat on, how would you want your work to be remembered? I always love to ask the legacy question. You know, know the impact. You mentioned the word impact. A lot of you know it's more than just Gen Z, I mean, but it's definitely that that generation I'm an Xer it was definitely us. We weren't just slackers, we built the modern internet. You're welcome.
Speaker 2:You know, so you know what, what impact you hope you have on the world when, when things are all said and done and you're sipping martinis and you said the Space Bridge Partners is, you know, officially out of business for in a good way. So what's the legacy?
Speaker 3:I think two, two things that I'm really trying to focus on. One is to have people say like, wow, space Bridge Partners was in the right place at the right time and helped so many vital missions get off the ground and we got these things that I can't even imagine, as you and I are sitting here today. But look at this, this is what happened. Because of this mission, that space bridge got planted. And then the second thing is, which I feel like I'm thankfully coming in on the tail end of, is getting more and more females involved in science and STEM and, hopefully, the space sector, because it's still there's not definitely not parity in the space sector right now, and I want to. I want to be help, I want to help make that change, I want to help make that sea change happen, and I want to be one of those names one of many I'm not the only one, but one of many of those names as saying that she helped pave the way for more, more women in space.
Speaker 2:That's great and, you know, as we wrap up, I'd love for people to connect with you this is a platform for voices and obviously stay connected. How can they stay updated with the work, latest developments, spacebridge and just you in general Like so all the info.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think LinkedIn is. We're very active on LinkedIn, spacebridge Partners on LinkedIn or SpaceBridgePartners on LinkedIn or SpaceBridgePartnerscom. We keep our website updated there as well, and there's a contact page. Any one of those contact emails on that contact page can reach me. I'm also active on LinkedIn, so you can find me on LinkedIn as well, so those are probably the easiest ways to get to me.
Speaker 2:Got it. That's great, and thanks for being on the show today. It's been a wonderful conversation and cannot wait to see what you're going to do next with SpaceBridge.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me and for asking me very different questions than I have been asked before. I love it.
Speaker 2:I really appreciate that and I'm glad to have you on. We'll have you on again soon. Thanks a lot, Sarah.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to Going Off World. You can find us on all the major podcast platforms and at wwwgoingoffworldcom, as well as on YouTube under Going Off World. See you next time.
