Friday Sep 09, 2022

#78 Bleddyn Bowen, War in Space

This week we talk about military space. The military has been part of space exploration since the beginning, and it continues to be very important, including as a major customer of, and even occasional investor in, commercial space companies. So it makes sense that we spend some time talking about military space in this podcast. I suspect there will be several episodes on this topic, but my first guest, in this episode, is Professor Bleddyn Bowen from the University of Leicester. He has literally written the book on military space, aptly called “War in Space” and will soon publish another one. We talk about his books, the recent establishment of the U.S. Space Force, how one should think about space as a military domain, about relevant space capabilities, and a few other things. Enjoy!

Prof. Bleddyn Bowen's books:

https://www.amazon.com/Bleddyn-E-Bowen/e/B09X5QSTNW/

Opportunities to learn more about space & the space economy:

Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
Raphael is designing a new, live-taught course. Join the mailing list to get updates and early access: https://jfx8zhjodpz.typeform.com/to/t0VSuhVD
Raphael's introductory book on the space economy recently came out in its Portuguese translation: https://www.amazon.com/Para-Cima-Economia-Espacial-Portuguese-ebook/dp/B09X5WV3WC/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1ROKTHNSCZCRI. Stay tuned for the English translation, which should come out soon.

The Space Business Podcast is sponsored by NanoAvionics.

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Timestamps

0:00 Intro

3:15 The space domain as a military domain

8:00 Which problem(s) could the Space Force solve?

12:08 Bleddyn's books

13:03 Why Space warfare?

14:52 Analogies to space a military domain

19:30 Key capabilities

24:12 Space defense companies