This Week In Space podcast: Episode 64 —Charles Miller and the New Space Age

On Episode 64 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk the new space age with Charles Miller, CEO of Lynk and a longtime advocate of commercial space. 

You may not have heard of Charles Miller, but you should have. He was an early proponent of commercial spaceflight and was instrumental in making it part of NASA's mandate in 1998. He was a senior advisor to NASA on the topic for three years and, both before and after, a powerful proponent as a private citizen, starting a number of space advocacy groups. 

Charles also recently founded Lynk, a company that connects cell phones to satellites worldwide with their own proprietary satellites. In short, he's one of the original Space Buccaneers and one of the few non-billionaires instrumental in creating the new space age.

Also, this week: Boeing's Starliner crewed launch delayed (again), will the red giant star Betelgeuse explode? and Stars on Mars are coming to Fox.

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Space news of the week

Space books!

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Looking for a telescope to see planets and comets? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars? 

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

Host of This Week In Space on TWiT
Rod Pyle
Host of This Week In Space on TWiT
Rod Pyle

Rod Pyle is an author, journalist, television producer and Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine. He has written 18 books on space history, exploration, and development, including Space 2.0Innovation the NASA WayInterplanetary RobotsBlueprint for a BattlestarAmazing Stories of the Space AgeFirst On the Moon, and Destination Mars

In a previous life, Rod produced numerous documentaries and short films for The History Channel, Discovery Communications, and Disney. He also worked in visual effects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Battlestar Galactica reboot, as well as various sci-fi TV pilots. His most recent TV credit was with the NatGeo documentary on Tom Wolfe's iconic book The Right Stuff.

This Week In Space co-host
Tariq Malik
This Week In Space co-host
Tariq Malik

Responsible for Space.com's editorial vision, Tariq Malik has been the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com since 2019 and has covered space news and science for 18 years. He joined the Space.com team in 2001, first as an intern and soon after as a full-time spaceflight reporter covering human spaceflight, exploration, astronomy and the night sky. He became Space.com's managing editor in 2009. As on-air talent has presented space stories on CNN, Fox News, NPR and others.

Tariq is an Eagle Scout (yes, he earned the Space Exploration merit badge), a Space Camp veteran (4 times as a kid, once as an adult), and has taken the ultimate "vomit comet" ride while reporting on zero-gravity fires. Before joining Space.com, he served as a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering city and education beats. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor. 


  • Dave
    I listened to your podcast. Here a group of intelligent men had a difficult time talking seriously about an important topic. Intelligent lifeforms beyond our world visiting earth. Let us look at the facts. Is there intelligent life in our galaxy. Yes. Is the milky way galaxy a habitat for life. Yes. Does life dominate a world where liquid water is present. Yes. Is it possible a more advanced form of life can form. Yes. A serious topic deserves its due. There are 300 million potentially habitable worlds in our galaxy alone. All of the people on your podcast had a similar opinion about this topic. Perhaps someone who believes we are not alone could have been added to the podcast. It reminds me of our only true source of information concerning UFO's. The military. They investigate all UFO claims. What did you see? Classified. Never an honest answer. Not a speck of truth in any conversation. Make a joke. Provide everything but the real truth concerning this very important question.
    Reply
  • Mergatroid
    "There's no middle ground on SpaceX's Starship, it seems. You love it, or you hate it; you're an Elon Musk fanboy or a grizzled Old Space curmudgeon. "

    I realize that many comments about SpaceX are polarized, but I disagree in general.

    Years ago I started out as a Musk fanboy, but over the years I have seen that he is a bit of a dick. Twitter proved that to me. However, I still admire what he has done with SpaceX.

    Most of the bad things I hear about SpaceX are actually from people who don't like Musk, and somehow think that should include SpaceX. Dumb people IMAO.

    Starship itself is quite the project6, and if it works out it will be the most advanced ship on the planet, capable of doing things no other ship can achieve right now.

    Credit where credit is due.
    Reply
  • Mergatroid
    Dave said:
    I listened to your podcast. Here a group of intelligent men had a difficult time talking seriously about an important topic. Intelligent lifeforms beyond our world visiting earth. Let us look at the facts. Is there intelligent life in our galaxy. Yes. Is the milky way galaxy a habitat for life. Yes. Does life dominate a world where liquid water is present. Yes. Is it possible a more advanced form of life can form. Yes. A serious topic deserves its due. There are 300 million potentially habitable worlds in our galaxy alone. All of the people on your podcast had a similar opinion about this topic. Perhaps someone who believes we are not alone could have been added to the podcast. It reminds me of our only true source of information concerning UFO's. The military. They investigate all UFO claims. What did you see? Classified. Never an honest answer. Not a speck of truth in any conversation. Make a joke. Provide everything but the real truth concerning this very important question.

    There is a difference between knowing that there could be other intelligent life in our universe and claiming they have visited us. In other words, there is no logic to claiming any UFOs are of alien origin.
    Currently we know of no way that could be achieved. Without resorting to science fiction, there is no way to travel faster than light, and generational ships could be destroyed or the crew killed of by radiation or having objects slam into it. Highly doubtful anyone would use a ship like that to visit us and stick around.
    And unless we see some evidence of FTL travel, there is no point claiming it exists.
    Reply