01:02:07 · Bailey Montaño, Philip Johnston, Molly O'Shea
[01:02:07] S6: I think the next thing I'm looking forward to most is obviously the launch for sure. I'm gonna be tremendously proud of this, like a lot of blood, sweat, and literal tears into this thing. As far as the whole design process goes, I would say kind of the test is my favorite part. That's where the rubber really hits the road. So this recent vibration test was a really big one. And then the cooling system was another big one where back when we were in Colorado not long ago, that was our first, like, full up integrated test of the whole cooling system, which was kind of like my baby from day one. So it was really cool to see that up and running too. [01:02:39] S1: So everybody always asks about what the hardest thing about Starcloud is, and it's the thermal system, these radiators in particular. Bailey was responsible for designing and fabricating the radiators. And also, Bailey is responsible for this satellite being here. So we had... In the end state, we only had three weeks to do the final assembly of all of the the satellite, and Bailey went down and basically built that bus by scratch... From scratch. So... [01:03:01] S0: Damn. It was fun. Where'd you build it? [01:03:03] S6: In Colorado, in our bus provider's office. [01:03:06] S0: Oh my god. Alright. So we're just leaving [01:03:08] S1: So you're... [01:03:09] S0: The main facility. We're now going over here. [01:03:11] S1: Yeah. We're gonna go to... [01:03:12] S0: You're buying up the entire
01:03:12 · Molly O'Shea, Philip Johnston
[01:03:12] S0: You're buying up the entire [01:03:14] S1: We're building a bit of a campus here. This is definitely the place where you need to be to to build AI satellites, basically, SI satellites. Yeah. So we've got now this middle section that we are... We have now where this will come online in November, and then we have access to the third one in February next year. Mhmm. And so this enables us to scale manufacturing for Starcloud three. And the reason we need so much space... One of the reasons is you have a 100 meter, almost 400 foot deployables on Starcloud three that we need to test test the mechanisms on. But also, to manufacture something like 88,000, you know, we're gonna need a way bigger facility. [01:03:57] S0: Just think Brett's gonna check. [01:03:58] S1: I'm so sorry. It's fine. It's fine. [01:04:01] S0: Manufacture 88,000. [01:04:03] S1: Yeah. Yeah. To manufacture 80,000, we're gonna need a whole bunch more space. [01:04:07] S0: So how many do you think you'll be able to produce a day? [01:04:11] S1: So we'll be up to a 100 a week from what we've got here. So 10 a day or more than 10 a day after you. So this is one of the three spaces. And so we've got about a 100,000 square foot that we can fit out for manufacturing. So we're gonna remove this wall and we'll remove that wall, and then that enables us to... This is huge. [01:04:35] S0: Oh my god. [01:04:36] S1: Yeah. It's gonna be it's gonna be quite a sight to behold when this is up front. [01:04:39] S0: You should throw a Halloween party in here with
01:04:39 · Molly O'Shea, Philip Johnston
[01:04:39] S0: You should throw a Halloween party in here with [01:04:41] S1: the Yeah. Easter We're gonna do a... We'll do an opening party sometime soon. You're very much welcome. [01:04:50] S0: Thank you. [01:04:50] S1: I know you're on the road all the time. [01:04:53] S0: You never know where I land. So... [01:04:55] S1: Who knows? Maybe wooden building in three weeks. I know. [01:04:59] S0: Okay. So in here, it's gonna look look much different than the previous [01:05:04] S1: It will look pretty similar actually to the three sixty. [01:05:05] S0: It'll look the same? [01:05:06] S1: Except with a manufacturing line, like a proper Right. In the end state, we want it to be like an auto manufacturing line. So if you... When you see a Tesla factory, you see cars going down the line, it'll be exactly like that, except with Starcloud three chassis going down the line with various things being added. [01:05:23] S0: How do... Okay. So this is crazy question. How does Starcloud three get to Starship? [01:05:34] S1: We load them on the back of a truck and then drive them down the motorway. That's it? That's it. Yeah. It's very similar to the way... At the moment, just down the road from here is where the full Starlink facility is. So they literally load all those on the back of a truck and then drive them across the country to Florida. [01:05:52] S0: Damn. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Alright. So one thing we haven't talked about yet is Starcloud has raised $450,000,000 in total. What are you using the money for? Yeah. How is the capital being utilized?
01:05:52 · Molly O'Shea, Philip Johnston
[01:05:52] S0: Damn. Yeah. Okay. Wow. Alright. So one thing we haven't talked about yet is Starcloud has raised $450,000,000 in total. What are you using the money for? Yeah. How is the capital being utilized? [01:06:06] S1: Yeah. Well, right now, launch is very constrained right now, especially from 2028, 2029 onwards. So a portion of that cash is going to reserving launch slots. A bunch of it's going to fitting out these places and then hiring and materials and everything else. Yeah. We're making about a million dollars a week on interest right now. Oh my god. A million dollars a month, sorry, in interest. Wow. Soon We use Brex. We'll be spending. [01:06:35] S0: Brex has a really good [01:06:36] S1: treasury product. We do use Brex, actually. They do have a great treasury product. So there I you [01:06:42] S0: know I get a good interest on that. [01:06:44] S1: There you go. Yeah. [01:06:46] S0: So one major thing that has been a topic of discussion as global competition heats up and satellites become the greatest asset for national security is what happens if someone tries to shoot it down or our adversaries get in contact with it, or maybe there's a listening device. Apparently there was one at OpenAI. So how do you think through the national security concerns when it comes to chips and data centers in space?
01:07:19 · Philip Johnston
[01:07:19] S1: Yeah. So it's a great point and one we think a lot about. It's actually a lot harder to shoot down a satellite than it is to, for example, blow up a data center in Virginia, which is surprising because the reason is satellites are traveling at about 17,000 miles an hour, and so to target and have some kind of kinetic impact on a satellite at that speed is very difficult. And we know this one of the reasons we have a pretty good case study actually from the Starlink satellites. So Starlink is being used in Ukraine and also Starshield and it's not like the Russians are particularly happy about that. And so both in terms of cyber and in terms of the physical security of satellites, can kind see the tactics people are using already on Starship... I'm sorry, on Starlink. And so, yeah, we're using the same kind of cryptography for making sure that the satellites are secure from that perspective. Then it's... Yeah. Anything that approaches a satellite would be very visible, so anything bigger than one inch cube you could track in space. And so we would, yeah, we would see if somebody was tampering with our satellites, and it would be considered an act of war. You know, there's this outer space treaty which governs what you can and can't do, and that would be considered an act of war on The US. And that's the purpose... The primary purpose of Space Force. One of the one of the key purposes is to... You know, they're developing interceptors and things to dissuade offensive action.
01:08:43 · Molly O'Shea, Philip Johnston
[01:08:43] S0: So as we just finished walking through the HQ, seeing the tracking of Starcloud one, the development of Starcloud two, and some of the early innings of Starcloud three, what are you most looking forward to in the next twelve months? [01:08:56] S1: Definitely, the thing I'm most looking forward to is the launch of Starcloud two. So that's gonna happen in January, and it's gonna be a huge proof point with the radiators and everything else we've designed in there. [01:09:06] S0: Exciting. Well, thank you so much, Philip. [01:09:08] S1: Thanks so much for coming. Cool. [01:09:09] S0: Hey, it's Molly. If you enjoy our interviews, check out our newsletter, sorcery.vc, where we deliver a once a week top deals and tech headlines email, and also go deeper on our podcast interviews. Subscribe to Sourcery today. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you listen. Link in description to sign up.