Roid Rage

Alexander Ermenko (Sasha), Principal Mechanical Engineer at AstroForge and former 29-year JPL engineer. He recounts why he left JPL and how private teams move faster. Conversations cover building spacecraft with no rulebook, designing for asteroid missions, balancing proven tech with novel mining systems, and managing risk and institutional knowledge in high-stakes projects.

Yuri Hideyatov, a rare gases supplier with about a decade handling xenon and negotiating global supply, joins to explain where spacecraft propellant comes from. Xenon’s surprising origin as a steel‑plant byproduct is revealed. They discuss supply limits, market shocks when big buyers strain the market, and practical alternatives like krypton and argon.

Andy Ryan, senior payload scientist at AstroForge and former lead on OSIRIS‑REx thermal analysis, explains how Bennu turned out to be a boulder-strewn surprise. Short chats cover why missions expected sand, the TAG sampling drama, thermal tools like lock-in thermography and CT scans, and what porous, cracked rocks mean for mining, planetary defense, and future low-cost asteroid visits.

A deep dive into an end-to-end RF test that did not go exactly as planned. They explain why the team built an in-house anechoic chamber and how it keeps everyone safe during high-power tests. The conversation covers crosstalk problems, pin-mapping surprises, antenna placement tradeoffs, and practical setup details like cable feedthroughs and safety meters.

They debate a major Artemis reshuffle and whether NASA is finally more transparent. A secret year-old Lunar Trailblazer failure and delayed disclosure get roasted. The conversation tears into mining as a stubborn ‘hand-crank’ industry that cannot scale for the energy transition. They mock an absurd asteroid-mining market forecast and unpack rare-earth supply pressures hitting aerospace and chips.

They dissect Artemis II’s wet dress rehearsal and the rollback triggered by a helium flow issue. They critique Starliner’s program management versus other spacecraft. They walk through Deep Space 2’s recent structures, acoustics, and qual+6 dB overtesting rationale. They preview a Hall thruster hot fire and debate redundancy, acceptable astronaut risk, and launch/rideshare plans.

They dig into Artemis II's wet dress rehearsal and concerns about hydrogen leaks and testing goals. They debate SpaceX's shifting priorities, Starship funding, and realistic Mars timelines. A spike in platinum and metals markets prompts talk of supply shocks, mining disruptions, and refining bottlenecks. Personal drama surfaces with a stolen car and catalytic converter theft tied to rising metal prices.

They unpack rapid mission planning for rideshare launches and why speed and scalability matter. Listeners hear about 'magic boxes'—modular automation that replaces manual steps. Discussion covers hardware-in-the-loop testing, portable racks, and automating ground-station and navigation checks. They also talk tooling choices, CI-driven pipelines, and how to turn tribal knowledge into repeatable code.

A behind‑the‑scenes reveal of a new in‑house laser testing facility and the surprisingly fierce debate over its beige walls. Deep dives into laser classes, safety, ventilation, and making lab setups behave like lander payloads. Practical talks on power, spot size, optics alignment, and how to scale experiments toward industrial asteroid mining.

A deep dive into composite materials, from carbon fiber facesheets to aluminum honeycomb cores. Conversations about Kapton films and conductive versus insulative layers. Detailed looks at machining safety, vibration surprises, and how material choices shape solar array deployment mechanics. Explanations of hinge designs, magnetic latches, and why rollout arrays were passed over.