Last year we started to look into the satellite business. It used to be that satellites were the size of a school bus and cost a half billion dollars. But the space business is changing. Private companies are competing to get tiny satellites into orbit, driving the cost down. Commercial rockets are launching around the world, carrying satellites for universities, and farmers, and oil traders.
So we, thought, what about podcasts? Who speaks for them? Why can't they go, too? Today on the show, we go looking for our own satellite.
Along the way, we meet the father of the satellite revolution, who scaled spacecraft down to the size of a box that could hold a beanie baby, and started a revolution in orbit. We visit a satellite conference and make a few offers. And we go to Planet Labs in San Francisco, a little startup that is sending up hundreds of satellites.
Music: "Through the Looking Glass" and "Victimize." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.
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