Guest:  Barry Matsumori;  Topics:  The Impulse Space - Relativity Space first commercial mission to Mars, Impulse space orbital development and transportation services model and timeline, commercial to the Moon, possibly Venus and much more.

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We welcomed for the first time Barry Matsumori, COO of Impulse Space to the program to discuss their upcoming commercial Mars mission with Relativity Space plus their orbital commercial plans including their hardware currently under development.  The first part of our discussion was focused on their partnership with Relativity Space for the first commercial mission to Mars.  We discussed the Relativity Space 3D printed rocket, the Terran R, but for the most part, we focused on Impulse Space since our guest was the COO of Impulse Space.  We did not learn very much about the commercial mission payload as information on it was not yet public.  However, we did learn that it was within a 5 meter payload fairing, that the company was aiming for the launch window 2.4 years from now, that Impulse was in regulatory discussions with the necessary government agencies, that planetary protection would factor in and that the mission would be sterilized for Mars.  Before going to their orbital plans, our guest talked about lunar commercial missions, Insitu development and even the possibility of a commercial mission to Mars.  For more of the discussion topics relevant to their Mars mission, follow the Tags as they do a good job of summarizing the discussion topics in the order discussed for the program.  In addition, when we switched to talking about their orbital plans, continue following the tags as they support the balance of our discussion in the order the listed items were discussed.

Around the second half of the program we took a call from Fremont John who propelled us into the orbital development part of the Impulse Space business plan.  Check it out at their website, www.impulsespace.com.  Impulse Space orbital plans strive to achieve low cost commercial orbital missions while being able to access any orbit.  In fact, their theme which you will see on their home page says "Economical and nimble last-mile space payload delivery." Impulse is developing two vehicles, the Mars Cruise Vehicle and the Mars Lander.  Our guest discussed propulsion, orbital timelines, LEO and GEO orbits and services, making space more affordable, plus in response to a listener question, he addressed cislunar development.  To make it convenient for you, as I have done with other guest summaries, I've copied the Tags below for your easy access and following.

Tags:  Barry Matsumori, Impulse Space, COO, SpaceX, Virgin Orbit, BridgeComm, optical communication technology, Mars partnership  with Relativity Space, launching first commercial mission to Mars, multiplanetary existence for humanity, commercial payloads to Mars, 3D printed launch vehicle Terran R, development of space transportation services for the inner solar system, Mars Cruise Vehicle, Mars Lander, trans Mars injection, reusable launch vehicle, 5 meter payload fairing, government and commercial customers, inspiration,  The Impulse Space commercial payload timeline to Mars, regulatory issues and concerns, sterilization of vehicle and payload, planetary protection, lunar missions, additional cargo mission destinations, description of commercial market for Mars, EIR concerns, anti-mission blowback, sending images back to Earth, using the DSN, propulsion system to be used, launch windows, multiple missions per launch window, investor financing, bureaucratic challenges, docking, depots, refueling, propellant, +/green technologies, lunar insitu development, Impulse full business model, first orbital mission timeline, missions to Venus, searching for life missions, ELEO orbit, equatorial launch sites, cislunar development, orbital debris concerns, LEO and GEO, infrastructure development, cost per kk/g, Impulse Space program summary.

Additional topics covered in the orbital part of the discussion included orbital plane changes and the energy consumption to doing such a maneuver.  Listen to what he said about such changes and energy consumption when doing it.  Post your comments about their plan on our blog.  We want to hear from you.  Harold from Boston was pressing our guest for a Venus mission time line.  There was no Venus mission timeline as we learned nothing was set on a potential Venus mission.  I also found it interesting when he was asked about a private life searching mission for Mars or elsewhere.  By private, the listener meant commercial.  Don't miss how Barry responded to this question.  Given the recent ELEO discussion we had with Rand Simberg, Jack in Houston sent in a note asking Barry about ELEO.  Barry was not enthusiastic about ELEO but listen to all he had to say on the ELEO subject,  Let us know your thoughts on ELEO.  Our blog's the place do that.  Before closing the discussion, Barry responded to the cislunar question I mentioned earlier.

Don't miss the excellent summary Barry gave us at closing. Please post your comments/questions for our guest on our blog for this show. You can reach Barry through me or Impulse Space.