On Episode 138 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with Scott Tibbitts, who spun $7 of hardware store parts into a 150-person, multimillion-dollar space company making tech for NASA that allowed deep space probes, starting with the Cassini mission to Saturn, to operate in the harsh environment of the outer solar system.
Scott's tiny actuator replaced expensive, failure-prone explosive squibs with a device that could be tested (you can't really test something that goes *bang*), cycled, and tried again if it didn't work the first time. And it all started with his work at a water heater company and a few dozen cold calls that ended with one to NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab.
There's much more to this story--including some intriguing advice for entrepreneurs--but you'll have to tune in to learn more! See you there.
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Space news of the week
- Starship flight test 6-view from space
- AND...FAA primed to grant 25 Starship launch licneses
- 100th woman in space!
- Scott Tibbitts
- "From the Garage to Mars" (Amazon Affiliate)
Model Falcon 9!
Looking for a telescope to see planets and comets? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide.
Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.
About This Week In Space
This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?
Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.
Rod Pyle is an author, journalist, television producer and Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine. He has written 18 books on space history, exploration, and development, including Space 2.0, Innovation the NASA Way, Interplanetary Robots, Blueprint for a Battlestar, Amazing Stories of the Space Age, First On the Moon, and Destination Mars
In a previous life, Rod produced numerous documentaries and short films for The History Channel, Discovery Communications, and Disney. He also worked in visual effects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Battlestar Galactica reboot, as well as various sci-fi TV pilots. His most recent TV credit was with the NatGeo documentary on Tom Wolfe's iconic book The Right Stuff.
Responsible for Space.com's editorial vision, Tariq Malik has been the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com since 2019 and has covered space news and science for 18 years. He joined the Space.com team in 2001, first as an intern and soon after as a full-time spaceflight reporter covering human spaceflight, exploration, astronomy and the night sky. He became Space.com's managing editor in 2009. As on-air talent has presented space stories on CNN, Fox News, NPR and others.
Tariq is an Eagle Scout (yes, he earned the Space Exploration merit badge), a Space Camp veteran (4 times as a kid, once as an adult), and has taken the ultimate "vomit comet" ride while reporting on zero-gravity fires. Before joining Space.com, he served as a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering city and education beats. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University.
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