Episodes
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
John Olver – Emisshield, Inc.
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
In this episode:
We meet Dr. John Olver, President, CEO, and founder of Emisshield Incorporated, located in Blacksburg, Virginia. Dr. Olver has extensive experience working in the engineering, environmental, chemistry, and physics fields, and has more than 20 patents and/or patent applications in numerous industries.
In our conversation, Dr. Olver discusses how emissivity ― the ability to radiate ― inspired him and his team to build upon an existing technology developed by NASA for heatshields in the X-33 and X-34 programs. His company, Emisshield, uses this protective ceramic coating concept to make existing materials more thermally efficient across multiple commercial platforms, including power generation, aerospace, and even textiles. John also explains the company’s two priorities while advancing the technology: Keeping the concept environmentally friendly, and simple enough to be applied by everyday hardware store tools.
“We’re enhancing thermal performance, be it heating or cooling of any piece of material,” Olver says. “What we’re really doing is taking the technology from NASA and making composite materials and structures that enhance cooling and/or heating up for an industrial process, or everyday use in clothing, or anything like that.”
To learn more about Emisshield visit http://www.emisshield.com.
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom © copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
Dylan Taylor – Voyager Space Holdings & Space for Humanity
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
Wednesday Nov 04, 2020
In this episode:
We meet Dylan Taylor, who is an active pioneer in the space exploration industry as a CEO, investor, thought leader, and futurist. Currently, Dylan serves as Chairman & CEO of Voyager Space Holdings, a multinational space holding firm that acquires and integrates leading space exploration enterprises globally. He previously served as a director for Fortune 500 company UMB Bank and is the former Global President of Colliers International. Dylan is also the founder and board chairman of the nonprofit organization Space for Humanity, and a cofounding patron of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.
In this episode, Dylan discusses what inspired him to shift his professional focus from banking and real estate to financing space exploration, his thoughts on how commercial space and government agencies can harmoniously complement each other, which space initiatives have the best chance of being realized in the near future, and shares Voyager’s ethos for acquisitions. He gives what he believes are realistic timelines for humans returning to the Moon and getting boots on the ground on Mars, and also shares his reasons behind founding Space for Humanity.
In describing Space for Humanity’s mission and criteria for selecting the citizen astronauts they intend to send to space via commercial space flights, Taylor says, “That narrative can be, look at these amazing kinda ‘everyday citizens’ that are committed to going to space, coming back, and the covenant is: ‘We’ll send you, no cost to you — but when you come back, you need to impact the world in a positive way.’ So, it’s sort of a fellowship, if you will.”
To learn more about Voyager Space Holdings, visit https://voyagerspaceholdings.com.
Note: This podcast was recorded on May 19, 2020, predating the successful SpaceX/NASA Crew Dragon Demo-2 launch (originally slated for May 27, 2020, actually launched on May 30, 2020), which is why it is referred to here in future tense and as occurring on a different date. This recording also refers to a lack of mask wearing in Colorado which predates the statewide mandatory mask order instituted by Governor Jared Polis on July 16, 2020.
Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom (c) copyright 2015 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged