Creating artificial human retinas in zero gravity. Mining rare minerals on the moon. There seems to be no limit to what could be possible if we continue to take our more important industries to space. Join Mike Massimino and Mike Greenley on this episode of Next Giant Leap as they explore the industrialization of space. Dr. Joan Saary sheds light on the potential of designing medical treatments in microgravity and treating astronauts in orbit, and Dr. Gordon Osinski explains the exciting future of resource extraction on other planetary objects.

You might not know it, but you interact with space technology countless times on a daily basis. In fact, the space economy has become so ubiquitous that some estimate that its value could reach as high as $1.8 trillion by 2035. On this episode of Next Giant Leap, hosts Mike Massimino and Mike Greenley are joined by Alex MacDonald, former Chief Economist at NASA. They discuss the surprising history of private investment in the space industry, the many reasons for the current boom, and how you might get a job in the space world.

For many of us, the idea of a space-based arm of the military calls to mind images from science fiction. But the real-life world of space defense has become increasingly integral to military operations on land, at sea, and in the air. In this episode of Next Giant Leap, hosts Mike Massimino and Mike Greenley explore the world of space military technology. Guests Major General (Ret.) Kim Crider formerly of the United States Space Force, and Brigadier-General Chris Horner of the Canadian Space Division walk us through the many innovations in this fascinating arena, and attempt to answer one crucial question: how do you secure a domain with no borders?

Over the last decade, the world of space exploration and innovation has exploded. On this episode of Next Giant Leap, season 2 hosts Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA Space, and Mike Massimino, Columbia Engineering professor and former NASA astronaut, take a look at the new space race with former Congresswoman Jane Harman and China expert Dean Cheng. They discuss the role of space in national security, the potential for space-based conflict, and the role of private space companies in this new era.

Welcome back to Next Giant Leap! This new podcast series is brought to you by GZERO Media and the Canadian space company MDA Space.

 Space might be a big place but the United Nations regards it as ‘congested, contested and competitive’. This latest episode of Next Giant Leap, a podcast produced by GZERO Media in partnership with the space company MDA Space, explores the threats and tensions as space becomes busier and of greater strategic importance for an increasing number of countries. “We have to avoid, by all means, that it becomes a Wild West,” says Tanja Masson-Zwaan, a space law expert at Leiden University in the Netherlands. She adds, “We have regulations, laws and treaties that have been in place for the last fifty years, but we need more to govern this new frontier of space utilization, because the rules that we have are basic principles and do not go into the details.” Satellites are now being deployed to Low Earth Orbit at a rate of thousands every year. This zone of space is already littered with old defunct satellites and the remains of discarded sections of rockets which have accumulated over more than five decades. The risk of collisions is increasing, raising fears of a runaway cascade of space debris. Tests of anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons have showered still more debris into Low Earth Orbit. Since 2007, China, the United States, India and Russia have conducted ASAT tests. Last year the United States announced its own moratorium on ASAT tests and, through a United Nations resolution, it has called for other nations to follow suit. So far China, Russia and India have not signed up. So is space set to become a new theater for conflict and weapons proliferation? “Look at how satellites have become embedded in our way of life,” says Kevin Whale, senior director of defense strategy at MDA. “If we wreck space, it’s almost one step down from nuclear catastrophe”. Within a few years, a new phase of the space race will begin. Both the United States and China will be competing to get people to the moon and exploit its resources, particularly water ice in craters at the lunar south pole. According to Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, “The Outer Space Treaty says space is the province of all mankind, meaning it's open to usage really by everybody. On the other hand, the principles say we should avoid harmful interference. And so the question is, how do we go about balancing those two imperatives: open to everybody but avoid harmful interference?” Host: Kevin Fong Guests: Tanja Masson-Zwaan, Scott Pace, Kevin Whale

In the last twenty-five years, the number of active satellites orbiting the Earth has increased from about 500 to 8,000.  “In the first quarter of this year, we deployed nearly 1,000,” says space industry analyst Carissa Bryce Christensen.  She adds, “Instead of a smaller number of very large satellites mostly far away, we are seeing many, many small satellites very close in.”  The latest episode of Next Giant Leap, a podcast produced in partnership between GZERO and the Canadian space company MDA Space, explores the exponential increase in satellites that are being launched into Low Earth orbit (LEO).  This is the zone of space between about 100 and 1200 miles above the Earth.   By the end of the decade, MDA Space’s Chief Executive Officer Mike Greenley predicts there will be tens of thousands of LEO satellites.   Many of them will be the component parts of vast satellite constellations, such as the Starlink network, offering broadband internet. Others will be providing the services which the modern world has come to depend upon: GPS navigation, defense and security reconnaissance, weather forecasting, and remote environmental monitoring.   For example, Earth Observation satellites are now the most important source of information on the pace and impacts of climate change.  Our satellite eyes in low Earth orbit have become extremely sensitive, according to Professor Martin Sweeting, founder of the UK company Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd.  Some of them are now able to resolve objects less than one foot in size from hundreds of miles above. Artificial intelligence is now being harnessed to process and interpret the vast amounts of data gathered by the new generation of satellites. Host: Kevin Fong Guests: Carissa Bryce Christensen, Mike Greenley, Martin Sweeting

There is a big difference between NASA’s current Artemis program and its Apollo program of five decades ago. This time, there is a long-term plan for humans on the moon. “We don't want to just touch it and come back and say we're done. We want to go there and stay there,” says NASA astronaut Raja Chari. He adds, “To do that, we need to go where there's resources.” In the latest episode of Next Giant Leap, a podcast produced in partnership between GZERO and Canadian space company MDA Space, Raja Chari tells host Kevin Fong that the most valuable known resource on the moon is water ice, which could be used to sustain life in lunar bases. Water ice is most abundant in craters around the moon’s south pole. NASA is enlisting commercial companies such as SpaceX, Astrobotic Technology, and MDA to help get its astronauts to the polar region and in a position to ‘live off the land’ there. One of MDA Space’s chief contributions to the Artemis program will be the robotic arm on a space station called the Gateway, which will orbit around the moon. The Gateway will be a transfer point for crew and cargo traveling to and from the lunar surface. MDA Space’s Holly Johnson is confident that the commercial space sector will be an essential enabler of the vision of a sustained human presence on the moon. For a deeper dive into the private space industry’s part in the return to the moon, Kevin talks to Chad Anderson of venture capital firm SpaceCapital. Anderson explains why people are now talking about the rise of a ‘lunar economy’. He says, “Who controls the early infrastructure is set to control things and make a lot of money.”

The new Space Age is here, and it’s driving innovation and economic growth on Earth. Next Giant Leap is a four-part series of special edition podcasts from GZERO Media brought to you by the Canadian space company MDA Space.  Today’s space race has an importance that extends far beyond the well-known billionaires making headlines. In 2024, a four-person crew of NASA’s Artemis II will return to the moon in the first human mission there in half a century. On Next Giant Leap, you’ll hear from one of the astronauts preparing to take that critical journey and why it matters. Our program also dives into the economics and geopolitics of space—from low Earth orbit satellites to the ways the business of space is transforming communication, defense, AI, and climate action. Next Giant Leap is a must-listen for anyone fascinated by space exploration and the next phase of development in this fast-moving sector.

 In November 2024, astronaut Jeremy Hansen will take one giant leap for both space exploration and his country, Canada. He will be the first non-American to fly to the moon. Hansen has been selected as one of the four crew members of Artemis II - the NASA-led mission to send humans to and around the moon for the first time in more than fifty years. In the first episode of Next Giant Leap, a podcast produced in partnership between GZERO Media and the space company MDA Space, Jeremy Hansen tells host Kevin Fong why he believes humanity needs to return to the moon and how a successful Artemis 2 flight will pave the way for the first attempt to land two people on the lunar surface since the Apollo era. Jeremy Hansen is candid about the risks which he and his crewmates will be taking on their historic ten-day mission. He’s also philosophical about the long wait he has had for his first opportunity to voyage into space.