This week German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s cabinet approved a whole-of-government strategy to be ready for war in space. This announcement and strategy comes just 55 days after German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced that Germany is going to spend roughly $41 billion dollars to develop offensive and defensive on-orbit capabilities. Laura Winter speaks with Torsten Kriening, CEO and Publisher of SpaceWatch.Global, and host of the Space Cafe podcast.

The Department of Defense roll-out of the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) Program has far-ranging implications for the defense industrial base, including the space sector, that includes all prime contractors and sub-contractors. Laura Winter speaks with US Air Force Retired Col. Steven Shirley, the Executive Director of the National Defense ISAC, and former Executive Director of the DoD Cyber Crime Center (DC3).

While the U.S. government remains shut and the NASADQ is getting hammered, Chad Anderson of Space Capital, a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests exclusively in space-based technologies, says the space market “has fundamentally matured”. Laura Winter speaks with Chad Anderson, CEO, Founder, and Managing Partner of Space Capital.

This week’s guest says, “ The purpose of science and technology research, in the military, is to make the fight unfair.” So what’s standing in our way? Laura Winter speaks with Richard Joseph, the 36th Air Force Chief Scientist, who has a CV that includes the Strategic Defense Initiative, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and NASA.

Could pre-positioning mission-critical cargo in Low Earth Orbit, to be summoned and sent to a place and time of the U.S. military’s choosing, in under an hour, solve logistical bottlenecks in times of need? Inversion Space and its investors are betting on it. Laura Winter speaks with Justin Fiaschetti, Inversion Space’s Co-Founder and CEO.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius wants to spend €35B, or $41B, on space assets and technologies, including satellites with active defense capabilities. This is huge. Laura Winter speaks with Antje Nötzold, a Senior Researcher at the University of the Federal Armed Forces; and Torsten Kriening, CEO and Publisher of SpaceWatch.Global, and host of Space Cafe podcast.

Space investing is enjoying “positive sentiment”, with many publicly traded space stocks enjoying higher valuations. What’s behind these financial and economic trends and where are the weak points? Laura Winter speaks with The DownLink regulars Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Space; and George Pullen, Partner and Chief Economist at MilkyWayEconomy.

There’s no Golden Dome requirements shopping list yet, but with an expected $40 billion for FY 2026 the U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations is thinking about how to spend now for the fight tonight and what will be needed by 2040. Appearing in this episode from the Air, Space, Cyber conference are Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman, Commander, Space Systems Command Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant. Laura Winter breaks it down with Todd Harrison, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Representatives from Australia’s burgeoning quantum technology sector are making the rounds, meeting with venture capitalists, U.S. companies, as well as state and federal government officials. Among the subjects discussed are defense, space, and opportunity. Laura Winter speaks with Martin O’Connor, COO, QuantX Labs; Jim Rabeau, CEO and Co-Founder, Deteqt; and Daniel Hunter, Partnership Development Manager, Quantum Australia.

Nigeria, the most populous African nation, has the continent’s third largest standing military and fourth largest economy. The West African nation operates four sovereign satellites and has ambitions to become a space economy leader and space technology exporter. Laura Winter speaks with Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd. (NIGCOMSAT) CEO and Managing Director Jane Egerton-Idehen.

Artificial Intelligence will be necessary for Golden Dome, or Next Generation Missile Defense, to work, but how, and for what exactly? And what about the humans? Laura Winter speaks with Alexander Kott, an early AI researcher and the Chief Scientist of the Army Research Laboratory from 2016 to 2023.

When then presidential candidate Donald Trump made a promise to create a Space National Guard, he received a standing ovation. Now 12 months later, that promise is broken, with far reaching and costly effects. Laura Winter speaks with National Guard Association President Maj. Gen. (ret.) Frank McGinn; and Director of Joint Staff, Joint Force Headquarters, Colorado, Brig. Gen. Michael Bruno, who is the National Guard Association’s Task Force Space Chair.

It’s one of the biggest contracts that Space Systems Command has awarded that you haven’t heard about - the $4 billion Space Force Range Contract awarded to Amentum. The price tag is big because so is this operations and commercial customer-facing job, which should grow along with the increasing cadence of space launch. Laura Winter speaks with Randy Lycans, Amentum’s Senior Vice President and Program Director for Space Force Range Contract (SFRC)

What does the Golden Dome and the plus-up in money for the Space Force and other defense-related space systems tell us about the Trump Administration’s national defense strategy? And is it sustainable? Laura Winter speaks with Peter Garretson, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, and co-author of the book “The Next Space Race: A Blueprint for American Primacy”; and Sam Wilson, Director, Strategy and Program Support, Center for Space Policy and Strategy, at The Aerospace Corporation. Wilson’s report, “FY 2026 Defense Space Budget: Emergence of Golden Dome”, can be found here: https://csps.aerospace.org/papers/fy-2026-defense-space-budget-emergence-golden-dome

This week the U.S. Space Force concluded its largest service-wide exercise that also included officers from Allied and Partner nations in leadership positions. Lessons from the exercise will be used to better inform the implementation of the Space Force’s new International Partnership Strategy. Laura Winter speaks with Air Marshal Paul “Godders” Godfrey, the Assistant Chief of Space Operations for Future Concepts and Partnerships, and the highest-ranking non-U.S. officer serving in the Space Force. He was the Director of the 609th Air Operations Centre in Al Udeid before becoming the inaugural Commander of U.K. Space Command.

Now that the U.S. Senate has confirmed Lt. Shawn Bratton’s fourth star and his nomination to become the next U.S. Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations, there will be a new Deputy Chief of Space Operations, Strategy, Plans, Programs and Requirements. And that’s an opportunity to drag the Space Force out of the Feudal Age into the 21st Century’s Space Age. Laura Winter speaks with Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and much respected NASA and Defense Department budget diviner.

According to the Space Foundation the Global Space Economy grew by 7.8% to reach a valuation of $613 billion dollars in 2024. What’s behind the new big number? Laura Winter speaks with Lesley Conn, the Space Foundation’s Director of Research and Digital Programming

While the White House and Congress wrangle over NASA’s budget and the fate of the Space Launch System, China is unwavering in laying the foundation for its expansion into the space domain, including on the moon. Laura Winter speaks with Josh Carslon, author of the book, “Spacepower Ascendant: Space Development Theory and a New Space Strategy”.

With Wall Street indices at new highs, plus a roughly $40B FY2026 budget for the U.S. Space Force, and the tens of billions the Trump Administration wants to spend on the missile defense program "Golden Dome," is it time to pop the champagne? Laura Winter speaks with The DownLink Podcast regulars Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Space; and George Pullen, Partner and Chief Economist at MilkyWayEconomy.

The Trump Administration’s 2026 budget for the U.S. Space Force, counting the Big Beautiful Bill’s funding, comes to about $40 billion dollars. Does this unorthodox, difficult to follow, bifurcated legislative process make this bump “ a one-time sugar high?” Laura Winter speaks with Todd Harrison, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute, and much respected NASA and Defense Department budget diviner; and Sam Wilson, Director, Strategy and Program Support, Center for Space Policy and Strategy, at The Aerospace Corporation.