Episode Title: The New Space Age Is Actually Here | Artemis II, SpaceX IPO & The Rise of Orbital Infrastructure
Episode Summary
Right now, four humans are flying around the moon. Not in a simulation. Not in a film. For real. Kevin uses the launch of Artemis II on April 1, 2026 as the jumping-off point for a deep dive into the most consequential shift in space exploration since the Apollo era — and why this time, it's not just governments leading the charge.
From SpaceX's against-all-odds origin story to the trillion-dollar IPO that just rocked public markets, this episode charts how the economics of space fundamentally changed, what that means for a new generation of startups, and whether the science fiction stories we grew up watching are finally, actually, coming true.
What We Cover
Artemis II — Who's on board, what they're testing, and why this 10-day lunar flyby matters beyond the symbolism
The cost collapse — How SpaceX drove launch costs from $10,000–$20,000/kg down to under $2,000/kg (and potentially below $100 with Starship)
The space economy by the numbers — $8B+ raised in 2025 alone, 154% YoY growth, 35,000+ companies globally, a projected $1T market by 2033
Startups reshaping the supply chain — Rocket Lab, Apex, Hadrian, The Exploration Company, and the infrastructure plays most people aren't watching
Earth observation goes commercial — How Planet Labs and others turned satellite data into a sovereign government revenue model
The SpaceX IPO — Filed confidentially the same day as Artemis II, targeting a June NASDAQ listing at a reported $1.5–2T+ valuation (potentially the largest IPO in history)
Starlink's numbers — 10M subscribers, $10B revenue in 2025, projected $24B by end of 2026, and what direct-to-cell really means
Orbital data centers — Star Cloud's H100 GPU satellite, Google's Project Suncatcher, Blue Origin's TeraWave, and why AI's energy problem might get solved in orbit
The moon as infrastructure — Lunar ice mining, the South Pole fuel depot play, and Lone Star Data Holdings building a data center on the lunar surface
The sci-fi question — Are the stories we grew up with finally coming true?
Key Numbers
StatFigureSpace tech funding raised in 2025$8B+YoY growth in space funding154%Projected space market by 2033~$1 trillionNew employees added in the past year~200,000Cost to orbit in the 1990s$10,000–$20,000/kgCost to orbit today (Falcon 9)Under $2,000/kgStarlink subscribers (end of 2025)10 millionStarlink revenue 2025$10BSpaceX IPO reported valuation$1.5–2T+Star Cloud Series A valuation$1.1B (18 months old)
Companies & Missions Mentioned
SpaceX · Artemis II / NASA · Rocket Lab · Planet Labs · Apex · Hadrian · The Exploration Company · Star Cloud · Lone Star Data Holdings · Blue Origin (TeraWave) · Google (Project Suncatcher) · xAI · Starlink
People Mentioned
Reed Wiseman — Artemis II Commander
Victor Glover — Artemis II Pilot; first Black person to travel to the moon
Christina Koch — First woman to travel to the moon
Jeremy Hansen — First Canadian to travel this far from Earth
Jared Isaacman — NASA Administrator
Elon Musk — SpaceX / xAI / X
Chad Anderson — Founder, Space Capital
Quotes Worth Sharing
"SpaceX didn't just build a business. It rewrote what was possible."
"The interplanetary story is no longer confined to Elon Musk's conference slide decks. It's in regulatory filings. It's in rocket test programs. It's in the hiring plans of hundreds of companies."
"The gap between what the stories promised and what actually happened at times felt like a wound. But now I look at what's actually happening and I find myself genuinely surprised."
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