Creating Constellations, with Tim Kienberger (LeoStella)

Pathfinder

Our guest this week, Tim Kienberger, has been at the forefront of the industry's evolution from large-scale satellite buses to the small satellite revolution. As the current CEO of LeoStella, a joint venture between Thales Alenia Space and BlackSky, he is helping the company redefine small satellite manufacturing.

In today's episode, Tim reveals insights into the production of small satellites and the unique challenges of managing a joint venture. In addition, we discuss:

• LeoStella’s origin story
• Cislunar spacecraft needs
• The impact of Starship on small satellites
• Scaling challenges of small sat startups

And much more…

• Chapters •

00:00 - Introduction

00:22 - Tim's career overview

02:40 - Thales/Blacksky JV

06:56 - Core offerings and customer makeup

09:01 - Current demand

12:19 - Product roadmap

14:03 - Capability needs from LEO to cislunar

17:53 - Government customers

19:50 - Balancing customization vs standardization

23:18 - Production hurdles

26:16 - Competitive landscape

27:36 - Challenges for new startups

31:32 - Impact of Starship on the small sat market

40:18 - Long-term funding needs

42:19 - What would Tim be doing if he wasn't in the space industry

• Show notes •

LeoStella's website — https://leostella.com/

LeoStella's socials — https://twitter.com/LeoStellaLLC

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace

Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes

• About us •

Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 15,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world. Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers.

Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing three media properties across multiple platforms: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern (https://newsletter.payloadspace.com/) 2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com) 3) Polaris, our weekly policy publication, hits inboxes Tuesday (https://polaris.payloadspace.com/) 4) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (https://parallax.payloadspace.com/)