Shows
Off-Nominal224 - Gotta Wear the Pants (with Eric Berger and Casey Handmer)Anthony is joined by Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica, and Casey Handmer, Founder of Terraform Industries, to talk about Eric’s visit to NASA HQ for a meeting on the Orion heat shield, the upcoming Artemis 2 mission, and Administrator Isaacman’s first few weeks.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 224 - Gotta Wear the Pants (with Eric Berger and Casey Handmer) - YouTubeIs Orion’s heat shield really safe? New NASA chief conducts final review on eve of flight. - Ars TechnicaNASA’s Orion Space Capsule Is Flaming Garbage – Casey Handmer's blogReid Wiseman on X: “Good morning...
2026-01-161h 04
TBPNAGI in 2035, SoftBank Sells Nvidia, Buffett Goes Quiet | Casey Handmer, Growing Daniel, JD Ross, Scott Shapiro, Laurence Allen(04:18) - AGI in 2035
(21:28) - SoftBank’s OpenAI Windfall
(27:42) - Buffett Goes Quiet
(40:08) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions
(01:25:49) - Casey Handmer is a physicist-engineer and entrepreneur who earned a PhD in theoretical physics from California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and worked at Jet Propulsion Laboratory before founding Terraform Industries to build large-scale systems that convert sunlight and air into synthetic hydrocarbons.
(02:08:05) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions
(02:10:21) - Growing Daniel, a tech industry commentator, discusses the importance of moral discernment in technology development, emphasizing that creators should strive to build products beneficial to society. He critiques the trend of funding ventures like gambling apps, arguing...
2025-11-123h 17
Dwarkesh PodcastChina is killing the US on energy. Does that mean they’ll win AGI? — Casey HandmerHow will we feed the 100s of GWs of extra energy demand that AI will create over the coming decade? On this episode, Casey Handmer (Caltech PhD, former NASA JPL, founder & CEO of Terraform Industries) walks me through how we can pull it off, and why he thinks a major part of this energy singularity will be powered by solar. His views are contrarian, but he came armed to defend them.Watch on YouTube; listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.SPONSORS- Lighthouse helps frontier technology companies like Cursor and Physical...
2025-08-151h 08TBPNWWDC25 Reactions, Apple Under Pressure for AI Progress, Meta in Talks to Scale AI Investments | Casey Handmer, Patrick Mcgee, Aaron Slodov, Gaurab Chakrabarti, Sean Liu, Garth Sheldon-Coulson, Lukas Czinger, Christian Keil, Vlad Matsiiako, Alex Heath(02:46) - Intern iPhone Assembly
(04:46) - Timeline
(14:05) - Apple Under Pressure for AI Progress
(25:47) - Meta in Talks to Scale AI Investments
(32:58) - Timeline
(43:24) - Casey Handmer, a physicist and engineer with a PhD from Caltech, has worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Hyperloop Technologies, and is the founder of Terraform Industries. He discusses the urgency of establishing a U.S. presence on the Moon to counter China's accelerated lunar ambitions, emphasizing the Moon's symbolic significance for freedom and the potential geopolitical risks if China establishes dominance there. Handmer also critiques NASA's bureaucratic challenges, advocates for reforms to...
2025-06-103h 59
California Future SocietyCasey Handmer is Ride or Die for California (you should be too!) - Creating Energy Abundance in CACasey Handmer, PhD is the founder of Terraform industries (https://terraformindustries.com/) who recently wrote about California (https://caseyhandmer.wordpress.com/2025/03/02/californias-path-to-redemption/)Find him on X (https://x.com/cjhandmer?lang=en)Get all my writing and interviews at californiafuturesociety.com00:00 Casey: The Gentleman Inventor 03:17 Casey's Path to California 04:55 "How Much Better Could California Be?"09:40 Is California's Status at Risk? 14:12 What Makes It Difficult to Build in California?17:51 Why Nothing Works and Broken Political Incentives23:25 People Aren't Evil - Large Orgs are Inefficient26:50 Does Scaling Require Leaving California? 31:30 California's Manufacturing Legacy 33:27 Casey's Unique Skill of Making Sci-Fi Real36:40 Alchemy38:48...
2025-04-0951 min
Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)Power plays: grid economics and engineering, with Travis DauwalterPatrick McKenzie (@patio11) is joined by Travis Dauwalter, energy enthusiast (and PhD), to explain the systems we often take for granted behind the US electrical grid. The conversation covers how the grid maintains perfect supply-demand balance in real-time, the challenges of integrating renewable energy sources, and why America actually has three separate interconnected grids. Patrick and Travis weave through the economics of power generation, transmission line physics, and how data centers are reshaping energy markets. (Also, in a bit of a surprise, Patrick defends the honor of Bitcoin miners.)–Full transcript available here: complexsystemspodcast.com/el...
2025-02-061h 13Off-Nominal170 - Luckily, We Did All the Math (with Casey Handmer)Jake and Anthony are joined by Casey Handmer, Founder of Terraform Industries, to talk about Mars Sample Return, and the general state of government projects, NASA, and so much more.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 170 - Luckily, We Did All the Math (with Casey Handmer) - YouTubeSLS is still a national disgrace – Casey Handmer's blogWhat is going on with Mars Sample Return? – Casey Handmer's blogNASA awards Rocket Lab study contract for Mars Sample Return - SpaceNewsFollow CaseyCasey HandmerCasey Handmer, PhD (@CJHandmer) / XTerraform IndustriesFollow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the...
2024-10-111h 02
Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)Energy economics and rocket science with Casey HandmerPatrick McKenzie (patio11) is joined by Casey Handmer, rocket scientist turned CEO of Terraform Industries. Casey discusses the rapid advancements in solar power, the bureaucratic challenges of NASA, the incomprehensible success of SpaceX, and the evolving energy landscape. Casey touches on his experiences at JPL revealing how the organization’s fear of waste and rigid processes often stifle innovation and efficiency.The conversation then shifts to Terraform Industries' mission to create synthetic natural gas from sunlight and air, potentially revolutionizing the energy sector. The conversation dives into the complexities of large-scale systems, from space exploration to renewable en...
2024-08-151h 25
Theo Jaffee Podcast#17: Casey Handmer - Terraform, solar, space, Hyperloop, and how to thinkCasey Handmer is the founder and CEO of Terraform Industries and a physicist, immigrant, pilot, dad, solar enthusiast, Caltech physics PhD and former Hyperloop One levitation engineer and NASA JPL software system architect.
0:00 - Intro
1:40 - Why don’t other people do what Terraform does?
2:51 - Why is solar better than nuclear fusion?
5:27 - Could carbon emissions actually be good?
8:38 - Why isn’t anyone stopping global warming with sulfur?
13:20 - Can America build something like Terraform?
20:53 - Solar and nuclear
23...
2024-06-251h 00
ManifoldCasey Handmer: Terraform Industries and a carbon-neutral future — #57Casey Handmer (PhD, Caltech, general relativity) is the founder of Terraform Industries. He is one of the most capable and ambitious geo-engineers on planet Earth!Terraform Industries is scaling technology to produce cheap natural gas with sunlight and air. Using solar energy, they extract carbon from the air and synthesize natural gas, all at the same site.March 2024: "Terraform completes the end to end demo, successfully producing fossil carbon free pipeline grade natural gas from sunlight and air. We also achieved green hydrogen at
2024-04-041h 02
First Principles with Christian Keil#2: Casey Handmer - Pulling Methane From Thin Air (Terraform Industries)Sponsor: Remove your personal information from the web at JoinDeleteMe.com/FP20 and use code FP20 for 20% offDeleteMe international Plans: https://international.joindeleteme.com======Episode 2: Casey Handmer, the polymath founder and CEO of Terraform Industries, explains the first principles behind his idea to synthesize hydrocarbons (starting with natural gas, or methane) from the atmosphere.======(00:00) - Intro(00:56) - What Terraform Industries is Building(02:00) - Casey's Background as an Engineer(04:15) - Why Synthetic Hydrocarbons are an Urgent Need(06:30) - The Importance of Hydrocarbons(10:40...
2024-03-0656 min
Startup DadAstrophysics, Saving the Planet and Raising Three Kids | Casey Handmer (father of 3, founder of Terraform Industries)Casey Handmer is the founder of Terraform Industries, a company that is turning CO2 into natural gas through solar electricity. He's an astrophysicist with a PhD from Caltech who has worked on frontier technologies at NASA and Hyperloop. He's also a husband and the father of three kids. Including a newborn! In today's conversation we discussed:* Productivity and priorities* How to make it work without a support structure* How to work on having optimism be the default so you can build a better future* How he and his wife (also an...
2024-02-1554 min
Valley of DepthStarship is Misunderstood, with Casey Handmer (Terraform Industries)Our guest this week not only has a PhD in theoretical astrophysics but is also a pilot, musician, entrepreneur, language enthusiast, and a thought leader on how humanity can create a better future for itself. No, we’re not constructing a dating profile, but describing Casey Handmer, the founder of Terraform Industries, a startup focused on scaling technologies to produce cheap natural gas with sunlight and air. Today, Casey joins us not to talk shop about his company's innovations but to share his vast knowledge on a subject he's deeply passionate about—Starship, Starlink, and the future of spa...
2024-02-061h 00
Space Cave267 – Terraform Industries with Casey Handmer pt. 2Continuation of a vast conversation with the incredibly bright Casey Handmer, PhD.
2023-12-231h 18Space Cave266 – Terraform Industries with Casey Handmer pt. 1Casey Handmer, PhD is back to discuss leaving JPL, his new company Terraform Industries, and so much more. Music at the end from Sir Chloe with Leash.
2023-12-1555 min
Parlons FuturLucie Nurdin, ingénieure chimiste chez Terraform Industries, la startup qui va sauver la planèteNe rêvons pas, il va être très difficile de décarboner significativement notre monde avant très longtemps. Pensez au shipping, l'aviation, la chaleur industrielle, la gestion de l'intermittence intersaisonnière des énergies renouvelables...
Mais tout n'est pas perdu : au rythme où les prix de l'énergie solaire photovoltaïque baissent, dès l'année prochaine dans les endroits les plus propices, et bientôt presque partout, il sera possible, avec la machine de Terraform Industries, de produire du méthane de synthèse grâce au CO2 de l'atmopshère à un coût plus bas que le méthane...
2023-09-261h 17
MULTIVERSES1 | Casey Handmer — Mining the AirCasey Handmer is the founder of Terraform Industries (TI).TI is pioneering air-to-fuel technology to manufacture methane (natural gas) from the air. Currently, we continue to extract enormous quantities of hydrocarbons from the crust, burn them, and release carbon dioxide. Instead, TI wants to mine the air: displacing the transport of carbon from the crust to the atmosphere.Casey Handler has a PhD in theoretical astrophysics from Caltech, he’s worked at Nasa’s JPL and on Hyperloop One.His blog is at caseyhandmer.wordpress.comTwitter at @CJHandmerTerr...
2023-05-111h 31
Age of Infinite: A Project Moon Hut SeriesUnpacking the Interactions Between Environmental Hostility and Technology Dependance w/ Casey Handmer #51In This Episode
Join us as we explore the future of human existence beyond Earth with Casey Hanmer, founder of TerraForm Industries and former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer. In this thought-provoking conversation, Casey shares his insights on the challenges and possibilities of establishing sustainable habitats on the Moon and Mars. Key insights include the necessity of developing advanced technologies for resource utilization, the importance of self-sufficiency in extraterrestrial environments, and how these innovations could ultimately benefit life on Earth.
Casey recounts his journey from theoretical physics to practical applications in space exploration, highlighting his...
2022-07-122h 42
WunderdogCasey Handmer: Is cheap, giga-scaleable carbon capture possible?Casey Handmer: On leaving Hyperloop One and NASA to bet on cheap, giga-scaleable carbon capture.
First he took a PhD in gravity waves, then he got a position at Hyperloop One because of some truly shocking problem-solving skills (as far as I can tell, just listen to the episode and see if you agree), and THEN he worked at NASA JPL, where the literal rocket science happens. Every single one of these topics could have been their own 2 hour 40 minute podcast - but we hardly go there.
This episode focuses on Casey's current endeavour after he...
2022-03-312h 40
AIAA Los Angeles Section Podcast(2021 September 11) The SpaceX Starship is a very big deal and Countering Misconceptions in Space JournalismRSVP and Information: https://conta.cc/361vdvcThe SpaceX Starship is a very big deal and Countering Misconceptions in Space JournalismSeptember 11, 2021, 10 AM PDTby Dr. Casey Handmer Physicist (PhD Caltech) and Software Engineer
2021-09-112h 13Space Cave203 – Exploration with Casey Handmer pt. 2JPL Physicist Casey Handmer, PhD (@CJHandmer) is back to chat more about science, space, travel, exploring new planets, and more. Music at the end from Mike Henry with Panther in the Hay.
2019-11-111h 12Space Cave202 – Exploration with Casey Handmer pt. 1Casey Handmer (@CJHandmer) has a PhD in Physics from Caltech and currently works at JPL (his views are his own), and he has one of the most engaged minds you will likely ever come across. He knows lots of things about lots of subjects. Just check out his blog to see for yourself. He was … 202 – Exploration with Casey Handmer pt. 1 Read More »
2019-11-0459 min