The Startup Turning Space Into a Logistics Network
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
4.2 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2026
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This Week In Startups is made possible by:
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Sentry - Sentry.io/TWIST
Today’s show:
Want to get to space? Several launch companies can help you. SpaceX, Rocket Lab, the Russians, the list goes on. But what about once you make it upstairs, then what? Impulse Space CEO and CTO Tom Mueller is building the next stage of our orbital economy. With its Mira and Helios spacecraft, we’ll soon be able to take mass from lower orbits to higher orbits, or even to the Moon, with ease.
Meanwhile, venture capitalists are enamored with the idea of humanoid robots — robots share our shape, our work environment, and even our tools. But startups like Dusty Robotics are taking a different tack; instead of building human-shaped robots, Dusty has built a small, wheeled 'bot that can mark out building sites quickly and accurately. And it’s doing more revenue than all humanoid robotics companies combined, I reckon. Dusty’s CEO, Dr. Tessa Lau, joins Alex to go deep on purpose-built robots in today’s build-crazy market.
Timestamps:
0:00 Blue Origin, and why fixing things in orbit is hard
2:19 What Mira is and what it does
4:35 Why was the commercial demand for Mira softer than expected
5:20 Space Force demand and the GEO-capable Mira
7:08 Helios: a "rocket on top of a rocket."
10:10 Sentry - Your team should be focused on shipping features — not chasing down bugs. New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to https://sentry.io/twist and use the code TWIST
11:35 How Helios beats Falcon Heavy on price ($25M)
13:35 Reusability, in-orbit refueling, and propellant depots
15:38 Landers, the Moon base, and "Mega Helios."
18:52 NSSL and the politics of flying government payloads
20:16 Every.io - For all of your incorporation, banking, payroll, benefits, accounting, taxes or other back-office administration needs, visit https://every.io
20:51 Why the Moon matters: megastructures and data centers in space
25:09 The space talent market and the SpaceX "mafia."
30:16 Northwest Registered Agent: Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity — Learn more at https://northwestregisteredagent.com/twist
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome back to Twist. My name is Alex. Now, space companies are all over the news. |
| 0:05.2 | SpaceX has filed to go public bringing the world's leading space launch and connectivity company |
| 0:09.7 | to the public markets at last. Blue Origin is in the news for accidentally exploding a heavy launch rocket on its pad, |
| 0:16.0 | while SpaceX recently had a big success with its starship craft. Rocket Lab today is worth $67 billion. |
| 0:21.9 | It's a busy time in the market for getting mass from Earth to space. But what about the same |
| 0:27.5 | mass once it reaches its initial orbit? What if you need to move a piece of space gear somewhere else? |
| 0:32.8 | Well, you're probably going to need a new set of tools and a new set of spacecraft, even |
| 0:36.4 | engines for that work. |
| 0:38.2 | And that's what Impulse Space is working on. |
| 0:40.2 | The company just closed a massive $500 million funding round, a Series D, that brings its total |
| 0:45.1 | capital raised over the $1 billion mark. |
| 0:48.1 | To help us understand Impulse Space's technology, its market, and why its latest Helioscraft |
| 0:52.9 | could put a higher orbits and even the |
| 0:54.7 | moon into the palm of our hands. Please join me and welcoming to the show, Tom Mueller, CEO, and |
| 0:59.2 | CTO of Impulse Space. This Weekend Startups is brought to you by Northwest Registered Agent. |
| 1:04.5 | Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks in 10 minutes, you can form your |
| 1:09.5 | company and walk away with a real business |
| 1:11.7 | identity. Learn more at Northwest Registeredagent.com slash twist. Every. For all your incorporation, |
| 1:18.9 | banking, benefits, accounting, taxes, or other back office administration needs, visit every.io. |
| 1:25.7 | And Century. Your team should be focused on shipping features, not chasing down bugs. |
| 1:30.9 | New users can get $240 in free credits when they go to century.io slash twist and use the code twist. |
| 1:38.0 | Tom, how you doing? |
... |
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