The DownLink Podcast

Jan 31 2025 162 ep. 39 mins 54

The DownLink Podcast artwork

From the Defense & Aerospace Report... This is The DownLink Podcast, hosted by Laura Winter. From the intersection of space, business, and defense... Not just what's over the horizon, but what's happening above it. The DownLink Podcast is 2023 and 2024 Defense Media Award-winner.

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Space Power: Trump’s New “Star Wars” Executive Order

Jan 31 2025 49 mins

This week President Donald Trump issued an executive order called “The Iron Dome For America”, which calls for a space-based missile shield. This order is expected to have huge ramifications for arms control in space, technology development, and the U.S. Space Force, should the U.S. Congress fund what would be a technically challenging and expensive program. Laura Winter speaks

Space Tech: What The First Space Force Chief Scientist Says Must Change Pt1

Jan 24 2025 29 mins

While the flurry of executive orders coming from the newly installed Trump Administration is unsettling folks near and abroad, the first U.S. Space Force Chief Scientist wants us to focus on what is strategic: Avoiding technology surprise. Laura Winter speaks with Joel Mozer, who retired from a decades-long career in government service after serving as the first United States Space

Space Power: Trump 2.0, the 119th Congress, And The First 100 Days

Jan 17 2025 39 mins

President-elect Donald Trump has just named as his Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, who has a deep background in space and defense. What will he need to succeed from the incoming administration and Congress? Laura Winter speaks with Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and much respected NASA and Defense Department budget diviner; and Sarah Mineiro, Fo

Space Money: Great Expectations For Trump Administration 2.0

Jan 09 2025 39 mins

Almost all national economic signals are looking good as the nation prepares for a presidential transition to a more “space-minded” administration under Donald Trump. As the incoming president established the U.S. Space Force five years ago, the belief is he could double that service branch’s budget to solidify his legacy and infuse cash into the U.S.-based space economy. Lau

Space Competition: China Launches Broadband Competitor Network To SpaceX’s Starlink

Dec 19 2024 36 mins

Space Competition: China Launches Broadband Competitor Network To SpaceX’s Starlink Aiming to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, China just launched the first tranche of its broadband Gouwang constellation, and the Department of Defense this week submitted its annual report on the P.R.C.’s military and security developments to Congress. To understand what Beijing has accomplish

Space Power: Chief Master Sergeant John Bentivegna - Becoming Space Warfighter-Minded

Dec 13 2024 37 mins

U.S. Space Force Guardians are days away from celebrating their service branch’s fifth birthday. How far have they come in “cultivating the warfighter” in the past 12 months and what are the priorities for the next year? Laura Winter speaks with Chief Master Sergeant - Space Force John Bentivegna at the Space Force Association's Space Power Conference about lessons learned, h

Space Money: The Game Of Space-Based Risk In a Time Of Market Fragility

Dec 06 2024 35 mins

Space Money: The Game Of Space-Based Risk In a Time Of Market Fragility - The space insurance market is fragile, with claims, totalling billions of dollars, outpacing premium revenues. Yet, insurance companies are expanding their coverage and others are getting into this game of space-based risk. Laura Winter speaks with the four-decade space insurance market veteran Chris Kunstad

Space Competition: Trump’s South Korean Space Opportunity

Nov 30 2024 33 mins

Space Competition: Trump’s South Korean Space Opportunity This week China, Russia, and North Korea deepened their military bonds in exercises and meetings, presenting the incoming Trump 2.0 Administration with an illustration of how security in East Asia has become more fragile in the four years since Donald Trump was in the White House. Trump’s “America First” acolytes ma

Space Competition: How Space Allies and Adversaries Read “America First” and a Mars-shot

Nov 23 2024 39 mins

Space Competition: Great Power Strategy, “America First”, and The Mars-shot This week U.S. President-elect Donald Trump continued to shape his incoming government, naming cabinet nominees, including two authors of the controversial governance plan “Project 2025”, and enlisting adherents to the “America First” political philosophy. To understand how this plan, treatise,

Space Power: Trump 2.0 May Attempt Human Mars Landing, Establish Department of the Space Force

Nov 15 2024 49 mins

Space Power: Trump 2.0 May Attempt Human Mars Landing, Establish Department of the Space Force Space policymakers from President-elect Donald Trump’s first administration debated what may be in store for the civil and defense space sectors, including sending humans to Mars instead of the moon, and establishing a Department of the Space Force. Laura Winter speaks with Doug Lover