Today's episode is sponsored by Altek Space, which provides custom manufacturing of essential parts and components for rockets and satellites (including SmallSats). Find out more at https://www.altek-inc.com/space

Our guest host is Tess Hatch, a former aerospace engineer and current partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, where she invests in all things deep tech with a particular focus on the space industry. She’s backed industry-leading space companies like Spire Global ($SPIR) and Rocket Lab ($RKLB). Today, Tess is coming for Ryan’s job at the helm of Pathfinder.

The interviewee: Payload’s own Rachael Zisk. Rachael joined the Payload team as our fourth employee in the early days of the daily newsletter and has been working to shape our coverage of the space industry ever since. She’s also the author of Parallax, Payload’s weekly newsletter covering all things space science.

This week’s episode runs the gamut from the inner workings of Payload to musings on the future of the space industry.

SNEAK PEEK

Rachael’s roots in storytelling
The duck boat photographer to science writer pipeline
Joining Payload as employee #4
The highs and lows of the daily newsletter biz
Two key ways to determine the success of a Payload story
Plus: who Rachael would bring to space, the rocket she would take, and what her next Payload deep dive might cover.

CHAPTERS

01:12 Intro
03:05 Origin story...also, what's a duckboat?
04:23 Path to becoming a space reporter
07:06 How'd you end up at Payload?
10:40 Best part of the job, and where there's room for improvement
15:19 Day in the life
18:26 What makes Payload stand out to its readers?
21:13 The orbital debris dilemma
26:35 Why isn't MEO popular? (MEO = medium Earth orbit)
26:59 Rachael's next deep dive topic
33:05 Predictions for 2023
36:32 Tess's thoughts about 2023
41:34 Common misconception about Payload
43:43 Rapid fire questions

SHOW NOTES

Parallax: https://parallax.payloadspace.com/subscribe

Rachael’s socials: https://twitter.com/rachaelzisk / https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaelzisk/

Tess’ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tesshatch/ / https://www.bvp.com/team/tess-hatch

Rachael’s Payload profile: https://payloadspace.com/author/rachael-zisk/

Ada Ride’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ada_ride/?hl=en

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 12,000+ decision-makers across commercial, civil, and military space. Payload began as a weekly newsletter sent to a handful of friends and colleagues. Today, we have three media properties and publish across multiple platforms. Our team is distributed across four time zones and two continents. We aim to inform but also educate and entertain, and we serve a highly concentrated audience of decision-makers in the commercial, civil, and military space sectors.

Space in 2023, starring Rachael Zisk and Tess Hatch

Valley of Depth

Space in 2023, starring Rachael Zisk and Tess Hatch