BSV Podcast 0153: Aaron Mitchell

Balerion Principal Aidan Daoussis sits down with Aaron Mitchell, Venture Partner at Balerion Space Ventures, to discuss his path from engineering to venture. Aaron traces his career from propulsion engineering at NASA through early roles at Momentus and Impulse Space, where he led product management. The conversation examines startup execution, technical diligence, space communications and power, advanced propulsion, and the next generation of aerospace founders.Timestamped Overview00:00 – Introduction and Aaron’s transition from engineering to venture capital03:10 – Product management, engineering leadership, and the pace of startup execution05:22 – Evaluating an early-stage company as both an employee and an investor07:03 – Joining Impulse Space during its earliest period of rapid growth08:23 – Impulse’s first facility and the incremental development of the Saiph thruster10:38 – Working with Tom Mueller and the Mojave amateur-rocketry ecosystem13:18 – Amateur rocketry, propulsion scale, and the transition from solid to liquid engines17:05 – How spacecraft propulsion differs from launch propulsion19:17 – Tom Mueller’s engineering process and the development of the Deneb engine23:35 – Moving to the investor side and asking whether a problem is worth solving25:34 – Why communications remains the dominant commercial space market31:28 – Space-based solar power and the need for additional economic pillars in orbit33:12 – Nuclear propulsion, political commitment, and competing technology pathways37:48 – SpaceX alumni, employee liquidity, and a potential new wave of space startups41:47 – Space technology as an emerging venture category and closing remarks This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit balerionspace.substack.com