TechVibe Radio is back on air at ESPN 970 AM every Saturday at 8:00 a.m.
In this episode, learn how Astrobotic is pioneering affordable planetary access that promises to spark a new era of exploration, science, tourism, resource utilization and mining. Learn more about its upcoming missions to the moon and get insight into what it's like to work there. Rumor has it that Astrobotic is hiring.
Plus, the company will celebrate its new headquarters in the North Side next week.
Transcription:
I could not be more excited about today's show, because I'm going to go out and just say it right now. We are probably talking to what is not just Pittsburgh's coolest tech company, dare I say possibly the world's coolest tech company? Because how often do you get to talk to people that are putting stuff into space taking stuff to the moon, from Pittsburgh. Astrobotic is what I'm talking about. And we got the cast and crew hanging out with us today, Audrey, I cannot wait to blast off. No pun intended. Okay, I had to say it, I had to say it, I can't help myself. There could be many things going on today. And it just might come out of my mouth, I can't help it.
I got it. I'm just gonna be here to slam down. Okay. It'll be like optimal. So we're thrilled to have all of you here today. And we're gonna we're really gonna jump in. So let's jump in. And have everyone introduce themselves. We'll start with John, who we've known and been a fan of for a long time. Absolutely. So John, introduce yourself really quickly, and then pass the baton to the gentleman who are doing some of that heavy lifting for your team. Absolutely. Sounds good. Well, thanks for having me on here. Appreciate it. So I'm the CEO of Astrobotic. We got started as a business about 13 years ago, and we are building spacecraft to fly and land on the moon. So with me today is our mission director for mission one sharada, and our chief systems engineer for our mission to Sean Dreier, and I'll let you guys introduce yourselves, everybody.
Before you go there, just real quickly, john, give us a little bit about your background.
Sure. So I'm a mechanical engineer by training coming from New Jersey originally moved to Pittsburgh and studied at Carnegie Mellon. And that got started with Astrobotic. 13 years ago, originally as an engineer. And then, many, many years later, we were having our big breakthrough moments this year. So in the last two years about Astrobotic is one of about 300 million of NASA contracts. Wow, really exciting big numbers. And that means that we've got three missions now on the books for for future missions. The first one is a lander going in 2021. Second one is a rover going into 2022. And a third one is a very large lander called Griffin going in 2023. And it's all happening right here in Pittsburgh.
That's what it's all about. Right? Okay, so now let's pass the baton.
Yeah. How about you SRA. Let's start with you and what you do at Astrobotic?
Right? Well, thanks so excited to be here and talk to you guys. So my name is Sharad Bhaskaran, I'm the Mission Director for permanent mission one, which is our first lunar lander mission. And I've been here about about four years Astrobotic. And prior to that, I was with Lockheed Martin spent a lot of years working on Space Shuttle space station programs. So but this is, by far the most exciting job I've had to get the keys to a lunar lander mission is super epic. For me, so great to great to be here.
And that's what brought you to Pittsburgh . So yeah, absolutely. Love it. Love it. And so Shawn, how about you, man? What is your What is your jam at Astrobotic?
Yeah, so first off, pleasure to be here. This is really great. I am the lead systems engineer for the Griffin mission that john mentioned, and it's to deliver the NASA Viper rover to the South Pole, the moon, sometime near the end of 2023. Originally, I was born in the Pittsburgh area, spent a lot of my childhood here, and then took a hop up to Michigan, with the family and then made my way back to Penn State where I got an aerospace engineering degree. And from there I made made my way down about 18 years ago to a company called Orbital Sciences Corporation, where I got into the space business. So I've been in the business for a while as a systems engineer on a number of NASA programs and then recently found my way back to The Pittsburgh area to come work at Astrobotic earlier this year. So I'm very happy.
We're glad you're back in Pittsburgh, because where else can you do your job? But in Pittsburgh, right, that's what's so cool about it.
Exactly.
So john, big stuff is happening. And Astrobotic, as you mentioned, $30 million in contracts. But when it comes to space, you have your own new space. Now you're going to be launching this out. I set it again, I'm sorry, Audrey, don't, don't yell at me. This week, the grand opening is happening of your new space. Tell us about what's going on new space for the space company.
That's right. Yeah, we we bought a building in North side, we're just a couple blocks from Heinz Field and a couple bucks from the Science Center. We're really, really happy to be here in Pittsburgh, north side, we've got 47,000 square feet under roof. about one third of it is complete. We're actually having our grand opening this week. But inside the building, we've got our cleanroom, where we're going to be building up the spacecraft, the lander that's going to fly to the surface, the moon, we also have Mission Control here. So it's not going to be Houston, we have a problem. That's going to be Pittsburgh, we just landed on the moon. Exactly. And it's all right, right here in under roof Astrobotic, and we've got about about 100 employees right now. And then the second phase, the building is going to be kicking up. So we're going to be making additional improvements and investments in the area. And we're really thrilled to be able to be doing this in Pittsburgh, north side. And just so excited for for the region in Pittsburgh, that we're going to be leading the country back to the moon. That's what could you guys talk about what's a typical day? Like? Can you talk about like, what's your typical day? Should you want to start like what?
Sure, yeah. The boss, so you know, he's got like, Boss stuff today.
So yeah, and just to just to clarify, like, so like, my, my role is Mission Director, I'm really a project manager. So I run the whole project, ultimately responsible for make sure the spacecraft gets to the moon, but also responsible for the cost schedule management, risk management, all the technical oversight to the program. So on a daily basis, we can be a lot different every day can be a lot of different phases, you know, solving technical problems, or working with to solve technical problems, some days is dealing with more administrative things like staffing, some days looking at cost charts and schedule schedules. So it's really, it's really, I like that part of it. Actually, I like the fact that when I'm sitting here during the deck and change directions every five minutes or 10 minutes to look at something different and talk about something different, but it's overall just making sure the program's on track. And they were gonna, you know, we're gonna deliver this spacecraft and payloads on time next year.
That's a lot of pressure.
Yeah, you feeling pretty confident right now?
Yeah. I mean, you know, this is, hey, even if I was a Lockheed Martin, this would be a risky, risky endeavor. You know, it's trying to land a spacecraft on another planetary body. regardless how many times you've done it, or how many years you've done, it's still challenging. But that's, that's what that's what makes it fun, to be perfectly honest. It's that challenge and doing something that's in our case, in this case, never been done before. Nobody's ever landed a commercially developed spacecraft on other planetary body, you know, so we're trying to become the first company out of Pittsburgh, you know, to, to do this. And that's what makes it really, really fun, exciting. And it's challenging, no question. But that's you guys. Like I can be making history here. That's what I think is just so amazing. I mean, this is just some thing. This is like history in the making.
Absolutely. This is this is opening up the solar system to commercial activity. And we want to be at the leading edge of that we want to prove that can be done and approved, they can done a fraction of the cost of what traditional programs and government programs have done. So you know, this is a leading edge. Absolutely.
So remind our listeners, we are talking to the cast and crew at Astrobotic. When it Pittsburgh's it's nice to have the world's coolest tech companies as literally sending craft into space landing on the moon, and just a joy to talk to you guys today. And so let's move over to Sean real quick. I mean, you got a couple more years for your mission goes off. And you got a little more breathing room, but I'm sure just like sharada You must be like just crunching it day in and day out.
Oh, absolutely. And the same every day, sometimes a little bit different. And, and and the job is going to certainly change as the mission goes through, you know, each of its phases. You know, right now, yeah, we are in the early phase. So, you know, a lot of my day is is trying to pull together, you know, all the system level type of requirements, what is the lander capabilities need to be, you know, what do we have to do from a con ops perspective to be able to, you know, do what the customer needs us to do and deliver that rover. So a lot of that is getting that early work documented, you know, working with with all the great subsystem leads and the other engineers on the program, to make sure that you know, everything at the system level is flowed down to so that they understand You know, what kind of requirements and work that they need to do and vice versa. And so it all, you know, fold back into to a successful mission. So, you know, a lot of my day is is starting to pull together those big pieces of the documentation and and, you know, a lot of meetings working with with all the other engineers on the team.
So is this the most fun you've had? in your career?
Yeah.
So far, it's up there? I certainly I've it is. I mean, I can't I can't I can't knock any of my prior programs down. Because I've been very fortunate to have worked on some very cool missions in the past. And and Absolutely, I mean, taking something to the moon, you know, how, how much cooler does he get than that? So this is certainly as equal as some of the cool things I've got to do.
So, Shawn, if we go back to you being the boss now and you coming up as a practitioner, but now you being the boss, what about what about your day? How cool is it to spend time I'd like to shadow you one day?
Yeah, that's a great ideology. I like that.
It's fun. I mean, I'm a mechanical engineer. And I like to think of myself as a builder at heart. And I spent a lot of time working with my hands and building things physically and and now building a company. So it's more about finding the right people bringing in the right talent like like shroud and Shawn to lead these missions. It's all about mixing that together and finding finding the best that we can do and giving the tools and the resources that people need to to succeed. So we we home robotics, we import space, we mix that together. And Pittsburgh is a great base for for growing US based company.
And so this the actual location in the north side, there's got to be a lot of fun, even though we've had the pandemic, we know will eventually all the back to that location. And we'll be looking around and trying to be a part of your environment and living off of your, your joyful work. What do you what has surprised you about being on the north side? Anything?
Well, the thing that I like about it is how close we are to, you know, something as historic and monumental as Heinz Field, right right there. And Pittsburgh, of course, is known as a city of steel with the Steelers. And now just a stone's throw from it. We're also going to the moon. And that's a pretty cool, great honor to be a part of that that story. And I hopefully something that the whole city is proud of when we when we launch to fly, there will be a parade when this happens. I'm telling you right now, there better be a freakin parade. Because you guys are gonna be playing Pittsburgh, literally on the map when it comes to this type of thing. Like everyone's gonna be like Pittsburgh, yeah, they put stuff on the map. Yeah, absolutely. And there's just so many firsts with this mission. And to have that all coming coming from the hometown here. It's gonna be the first commercial mission ever to the surface of the moon, it'll be the first time that that America will go back to the moon in nearly 50 years. It'll be the dawn of commercial enterprise on the surface of the moon, there's going to be six new nations that are flying with us to land on the surface moon for their Apollo moments. This is quite a momentous time and quite an opportunity for us. And it's just a real honor to be a part of it. And I'm just so proud of the team that we have here. And so excited for them for for next year's launch.
Super cool stuff. Everyone's got to keep their dial tuned right here to ESPN 970. And because we have more Astrobotic coming our way we got take a quick break, recognize some sponsors and have a little bit of fun, but we are coming right back with Astrobotic. This is Jonathan Kersting.
So we're from the Pittsburgh Technology Council where we have awesome members like Astrobotic part of what we do. couldn't be more proud. right back after this quick break. Learn more at PGH tech.org.
I told you'll be right back with more Astrobotic here on tech vibe radio. This is Jonathan Kersting.
And this is odd for you. So Audrey, I'm telling you, I'm having way too much fun. I'm trying to control myself and be good. I'm trying to keep the space stuff down to a minimum. But I like to do I thought about coming back in and going three to one. I wasn't going to do that, even though I just did it. I can't help it. I can't help it. It's just so cool. There's a company like Astrobotic, that using Pittsburgh and turning it into an actual space center. As simple as that. And we of course, john Thornton with us. We have Sharad Backstrom with us and Shawn Dreier, guys, thanks for being part of our conversation today.
Well, thanks so much for having us, sir.
Before we took the break, we mentioned the big grand opening on the north side. And you're talking 47,000 square feet. That's a lot of space. And you've got 100 people that are working for you guys right now. I know you guys are in full blown hiring mode because it takes people power to get stuff into space.
What do you guys that's right. Yeah. Yeah. So just a couple years ago, we were about 20 people. And now we're getting over 100 articles. So we're looking for engineers of all sorts, shapes and sizes, and maybe Sharad, you could speak to to some of the the individual openings that we have, but we're really looking for top talent from from Pittsburgh region and all over the country.
Yeah. Yeah. So we, of course, to do a spacecraft mission, you know, you have to have a lot of different types of disciplines, engineers, thermal, mechanical, avionics, electrical, and system engineers, you know, so we need a wide variety of skill sets. And it's, it's really exciting to see us be able to attract people that come from the space industry, to Pittsburgh, because again, Pittsburgh doesn't have, you know, prior to us and really have a homegrown aerospace industry. So it's really exciting to bring people from, as Sean said, orbital, myself, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, NASA, you know, all these people have great backgrounds to to Pittsburgh to do this, and they're attracted, because this is a really cutting edge mission. So leading edge mission, and so we are definitely hiring. So, you know, for people that want to do something that's different, and with a very unique, kind of forward leaning company. You know, we don't have all the kind of bureaucracy of big companies, we operate very much more in a more agile manner. And we're more creative, I think, and so we, you know, we have a lot of advantages to working here and, and the facility, brand new facility. So we get, we're getting a lot of attention from the industry, and from space industry because of what we're doing. And the more we progress towards our flight, the more that visibility increases, so, you know, come on board and join the ride faster seat.
Looking for some examples of jobs that are open right now.
Yeah, so we have right now we have system engineering job open, we have what we call a payload submitting entering job which is actually managing the interface between our commercial and government payloads on the spacecraft. We're looking for some thermal engineering, guidance, navigation control, which is the the team that actually navigates and the spacecraft itself. We have I think, is still propulsion engineering position for someone to be part of the propulsion engineering team, which is the the engines and the tanks and all for the spacecraft. We also are looking for a chief engineer and the chief engineer is the, you know, I look at the chief engineers, the senior spacecraft expert in the company, and that person should have a good broad background in spaceflight and developing spacecraft. So that's the key position. We're looking for a department director for the planetary lander department, which is kind of again, very growing organization. So, yeah, a wide variety of skill sets, we need some, some don't require, just let me say things some don't actually require spaceflight experience. So they should people should really look at the website, like a job descriptions. And if they feel like they have a relevant background that could be applied to spaceflight, please, please apply.
I'm planning to resume in tomorrow. I might be able to fit inside.
We'll give it a shot.
Do you it does everyone need to have? Are you? I mean, are you having any students? Do you take any students that are just newly grads?
Absolutely. Absolutely. We have a good mix of early career which is fresh outs all the way to you know people, a lot of experience like myself. So everything in between. We like a good mix of people that that brings, I think a more a wider variety of ideas and perspective. dues to the table. You know, someone from fresh out from school has comes in here and see something that they may see, you know, wondering why we're doing it a certain way? raise the question, you know, ask that question. We are open to ideas from everybody, senior, Junior doesn't matter. Everybody brings fresh ideas to the table, and we're always evolving and growing as an organization. So yeah.
And how are you doing? Through COVID? to these last seven months, I know that you moved, your move into the facility was almost at the onset of COVID. So how is that? How are you doing? How's everyone doing? And how is everyone working?
Yeah, so it does create some challenges. You know, we are an organization that is actively building and testing elements of a spacecraft. And so you can't do that remotely, you know, you have to be in the office and, and here testing and so we were finding balances between the people that can that need to be in here, and building and testing and versus the people that can work more remotely. But we've we've adapted, we have, of course, a lot of supply chains, that support us in providing components and equipment. And so, you know, we've been working with all them try to stay on schedule, and make sure they understand this is a priority. And so it's, it's, you know, we're adapting just like everybody else.
Well, I think hats off to all of you, because people might not know how seriously, you've really taken it. COVID right. From the beginning, I've had the luxury of knowing that. And I've been quite impressed in how methodical and intentional and adherence to safety that you've been and considered right at the onset. So because we can't work from home in your world, right, you need to be there. And you need to make sure that it's a safe environment. And I think you've really done an amazing job holding on to those protocols. And particularly, as we get into the winner, you're still, you know, working on a budget, you're working on a timeframe and none of that is changing. So I you know, I applaud your efforts on safety, and consideration of every factor, because it's not easy during these, these these times of pandemic.
Absolutely. I have a question for john. Why has it been 50 years since having regular missions to the moon, it seems like the wish once you're there, you should keep going. It's like, Why stop? and How exciting is that fact that we're going back? And it's Pittsburgh leading away?
Yes, we should regularly go to the moon. Absolutely. But the first we have to go back to the beginning. The first time the motivations Why did we do Apollo that it was all about showing off the big rocket Okay, saying Well, my big rocket can be more than your big rocket called war. So but but now it's now it's really about commercial, right? It's about it's about the next step. It's about making the moon a permanent regular place a home potentially. So we need to go to the moon because it's the nearest neighbor, it's the place we're going to learn to live off the land. It's the it's how we're going to go and actually use materials from another planetary body, we're going to learn how to do that on the moon. The first thing potentially being water ice at the pole of the moon. If we can extract that you can turn it into rocket fuel, so the moon could become a gas station? Can we learn to 3d print materials and replacement parts from the lunar regolith? Can we create lots of power from the surface with like printing 3d solar panels for example. So it's all these stepping stones to learn to live off the land and to go to another planetary body and extract those resources and really separate our reliance on earth. And that's the big push back to the moon now that's why we need to go back and why we need to keep going back and I think another big thing that's changed since the Apollo era is that the costs have come down dramatically Hmm, we can now do missions to the moon for hundreds of millions instead of billions of dollars it's a it's a totally different cost paradigm it's opening up a lot of possibility if you just look at our first mission we've got about a dozen non NASA customers on that one that are sending things up to you know first four countries going to the surface the moon will have some sponsors going to the moon will even have individuals for a program called DHL moon box sent all about making it accessible and and commercial regular affordable flights is making that possible.
So john, are you going to um, you know, take out like a plot of land on the moon so that you have you know, a place for your later years that you on the moon is like a second home, this waterfront property there right here, right?
Maybe someday, but But currently, it's an interesting thing. Can you claim land on the moon and claim resources so there's actually no legal grounds to claim land on the moon. There aren't there. There was this guy out there that was selling moon dirt. And moon plots, and he made lots of money, but there was no one that said he could actually sell it. And also no one to say that he couldn't sell it. But but there's so there's no, there's no laws on that when you can't claim moon territory, but what you can do, there's actually new legislation in the US and also in Luxembourg, interestingly enough, that you companies can own what they extract. So it's a first step toward resources. So you could go you can land, and then you could potentially own what you extract. So that means you could potentially sell that water fuel, you could potentially sell the earth metals that you find and maybe the Platinum that you find. So it's the first step. But But of course, everything starts with transportation. And that's what Astrobotic is in the business of foundationally.
I'd like to see the moon place where we just don't fight with each other.
And absolutely, moon and space is hard enough, right? We need to be exactly right. That's my dirt, not yours.
First of all, you we are honestly, I was gonna say over the moon, we are honestly I would have busted you out? Or if you would have said no, and I'm giving you Jonathan's resume number one, number two, I we are really impressed. We are huge champions. And anyone who's listening to this really needs to go out to Astro bot box website just to see just a little little window into the work that they're doing. Because it is some of the most proud, proud, you know, work that we've witnessed in the time that we've been together, Jonathan, you know, over these, these 13 years, that's as long as I've known john Thornton. And the fact that you're bringing people from all over the world to come here is really remarkable as well. And we owe a lot to you for that because you're opening up the window to Pittsburgh as well in terms of your work in a way that many other companies just cannot because if you want to work on these, you know, this exciting project to have to live here. And you have to be here. So this isn't working remotely. This is actually hands on work. So my hats my hat goes off to you. We have to be a champion. I love Jonathan's idea about having the parade because I think that will be I want to see you at the beginning at the beginning of the parade. Okay, it'll put to shame any Steelers Super Bowl parade. All I can say okay, well, thank you, Audrey. It's great, but this isn't good. This would be afraid I'll be a fan of so it's gonna be 100% cool. It's really exciting to be here in Pittsburgh doing this and just for all the Pittsburghers out there. There have been only three nations that have ever landed on the surface of the moon and they've all been superpowers. Pittsburgh nation will be the next Oh I love the job.
Oh Oh, I love that. I love that we Yeah, you what you do for our brand is just a gift that keeps on giving can't thank you all enough. Good stuff. Great. Sean, great seeing you sir rod. And of course, john. Hats off to all of you.
Thank you for inviting it's great to be here. You guys make Pittsburgh proud that is for sure. So glad to be part of tech vibe radio when honored to talk to you guys. This has been Jonathan Kersting.
And this is Audrey Russo and we are from the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Learn more about us at PGH tech.org. Then going out there and enjoy the rest of your Saturday everybody.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai