Guest: Dylan Taylor; Topics: Commercial space policy and investments, industry trends, available capital, NewSpace, traditional space, important timelines and more.
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We welcomed back to the show Dylan Taylor, CEO of Voyager Space Holdings. Our primary discussion focus was on commercial space, NewSpace, industry trends, the commercial space bull market trend, new investment tools, entrepreneurism, new policies, administration changes, staying the course with Artemis and much more. We started our 90 minute discussion with Dylan introducing us to his company, Voyager Space holdings, select companies making up the Voyage group of companies, why they are part of Voyager and what they bring to the table. Our guest spelled out the company criteria to be part of the Voyager Space Holdings program, typical growth expectations along with goals and timelines. In addition, management perspective and analysis, innovation, leadership were all explained and stressed as being vital to Voyager Space Holdings.
As I have done with other programs, I am repeating the tags and key words below because they provide a quick look and summary to major themes and topics discussed today. By focusing in on this "mini Table of Contents," you the listener will get a good plus concise summary of our discussion. Plus the order of discussion (with a few exceptions).
Tags/Key Words: Dylan Taylor, Voyager Space Holdings, commercial space investments, commercial space bull market, prime companies, industry roadmaps and timelines, scaling up activity, innovation, pandemic influence on commercial space, DOD space, civil space, NASA, China, National Security issues, hypersonics, bipartisan policy, commercial growth, NanoRacks, IPO compared to SPAC, capital multiplier effect, transportation, LEO focus, destinations next big thing, government regulation, space debris example, two space ecosystems with China and the US, commercial human spaceflight, European valuations compared to US valuations, outposts, free space structures, O'Neilian habitats, commercial SSP, Artemis delays, 10 year time line forecast, space settlements, St. Jude lotto for space tourism, Bloomberg calls for SLS cancellation, Orion, The High Frontier Film, free space interest, the O'Neil vision, rare Earth minerals, fusion, chemical propulsion.
Based on listener questions, several additional topics stood out for me. One such standout came as a response to an email early in the show by Paul regarding business results with Dylan breaking down into segments government, DOD, Civil, NASA plus other space agencies and activities. Our guest included comments about China, national security space, hypersonic activity, plus he talked about space policy which as he said has traditionally been bipartisan. Dylan then talked about NanoRacks as an example so make sure you hear what he said as it was in context with this part of the discussion.
Another listener question I found interesting was one asking if Voyager preferred a company having gone public through a traditional IPO or a SPAC. Listen for the answer and they why behind his answer. Perhaps you have some thoughts on this and if so, post them on our blog. Other sources of public equity were discussed in this part of the program. Dylan talked about other companies, the haves and have nots, plus the model and the multiplier effect.
Much was said about space transportation and a focus on LEO. He talked ten year timeline and a focus on destinations. When asked if government regulations might be a risk to the timeline, he offered "wise" commentary. Don't miss it. Dylan also cited space debris as an example where regs would likely be needed, then he mentioned a newly acquired Voyager company, Altius, and their capture mechanism.
Fremont John called to talk about outposts, NanoRacks, and O'Neilian stations. Our guest had even more to say about NanoRacks in combination with the UAE and AI R&D plus more. After John's call, another listener asked Dylan for his thoughts on commercial SSP. Here our guest talked about needed space infrastructure, said the key was power redistribution and said it was on the Voyager road map.
Dylan was asked if the delays talked about with Artemis were critical. He said we needed to go to the Moon sooner, not later. This was an important topic so don't miss all of what was said regarding Artemis, delays, timelines, and international competition. Another question that stood out to me focused the increasing debt of the US, our growing unfunded national debt, and rising inflation. This was a full discussion which our gusts connected to the importance of having sustainable space development. After this part of the discussion, I asked Dylan to tell us what he saw for Voyager and the industry ten years from now. When asked about space settlement, said it too was on the table. Martian, lunar, and free space. All of it was on the table.
An interesting note from Tony in Pasadena focused on the St. Jude lotto contest offering up a free flight to space. Evidently the program was not going well despite being advertised on the Super Bowl. Tony wanted to know if this mean that people were not that interested in going to space. As you will hear. both Dylan and myself were not that familiar with the program. We did spend time talking about it and Fremont John sent in additional information. You can find out more about it at www.stjude.org/get-involved/other-ways/inspiration4.html. Breaking news on this story, Monday morning a winner of the contest was announced, a cancer survivor. You can read one of the many stories about the contest and the newly announced winner at www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/spacex-bone-cancer-survivor. Before moving on, another listener, this one from Boston, asked Dylan if space investing was now sufficiently prime time to be used for retirement investing. Don't miss his short reply. I believe the contest was named Inspiration 4.
As we were moving toward the end of the program, Dylan was asked about the Bloomberg op-ed that called for the cancellation of SLS. This was a good topic of discussion, even prompting a call from SLS John (Ft. Worth John). John's point was that so many things were and are connected to SLS that if it got killed, Orion would likely go as would other programs. SLS is deep within the system.
Before ending, Dylan talked about his upcoming film production, The High Frontier. The release will be April 17 with a global release planned but not yet finalized. Find out more about it at https://gerardoneillthemovie.com. Listen to what Dylan said about the making of the film, who is in it and watch the trailer. Also, we talked about an increased interest in free space stations or O'Neil space stations. Dylan talked about the challenge to monetize private space stations. Before ending the program, one final comment that got my attention dealt with fusion energy. It too is part of the road map talked about during this program.
Please post your comments/questions on TSS blog for this program. You can reach Dylan Taylor through me or Voyager Space Holdings at https://voyagerspaceholdings.com.
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