Newt's World Episode 881: Kam Ghaffarian on the Future of Space Travel
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Aug 17, 2025 
Kam Ghaffarian, space and energy entrepreneur who founded Axiom Space and X-Energy, shares his journey from Iran to building commercial space ventures. He discusses private space stations replacing the ISS, multinational missions that inspire students, the case for orbital data centers and space manufacturing, and why small modular nuclear reactors and nuclear propulsion matter for lunar and Mars ambitions.
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Basement Startup Fueled By Moon Dream
- Kam Ghaffarian moved to the U.S. at age 18 inspired by the Moon landing and built Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies from his basement after mortgaging his house for $250,000 in 1994.
- SGT grew ~60x in 10 years, illustrating how personal risk and obsession with space launched his entrepreneurial path.
SMRs As The Power Backbone For AI
- Small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) are crucial infrastructure for scaling AI because AI requires massive, reliable power that wind and solar alone can't supply.
- X-Energy developed SMRs and secured Amazon AWS as a partner and customer for AI data centers and Dow Chemical for a plant in Texas.
Commercial Station To Bridge The ISS Gap
- Kam saw a lifecycle gap: ISS will retire by end of decade so a private commercial station is needed to preserve continuous human presence and enable new industries.
- Axiom raised ~$800M, built a Power Payload Thermal Module, and holds the sole NASA contract to connect to ISS.