Space Phoenix Interview + Weekly Recap #15

05/01/2026 57 min

Listen "Space Phoenix Interview + Weekly Recap #15"

Episode Synopsis

This week Harrison and Paul break the news of Space Phoenix’s $7.5m seed raise and new customer Flawless Photonics during an exclusive interview with CEO Andrew Parlock. They discuss Space Phoenix in the context of other developments with in-space manufacturing, highlighting Space Forge’s plasma generation for on-orbit furnaces and Ombra’s $180,000 contract for an anaerobic bioreactor. They also address growing orbital congestion, noting China’s 90 successful launches in 2025 and its deployment of 136 Guowang satellites, and SpaceX's decision to lower the altitude of about half its Starlink constellation following a near-miss incident that led China to raise safety concerns at the UN General Assembly. Other key topics include China’s acceleration of sovereign space traffic monitoring with the Xingyan network, a collision involving the SpainSat NG II satellite on its way to GEO orbit, and US and European defense contracts awarded to companies such as CACI, L3 Harris Technologies, Avio, and Zenno Astronautics for network modernization, hypersonic motors, and autonomous satellite operations.