From Merlin to Mira, with Tom Mueller (Impulse Space)

Tom Mueller is best known for his instrumental role at SpaceX as propulsion CTO, but he’s now turned his sights to his new venture, Impulse Space. Founded in 2021, Impulse aims to provide reliable and economical in-space transportation services. The company services include GEO/GTO/LEO logistics, in-orbit servicing, spacecraft life extension, active debris removal, and situational awareness.The company plans to operate within Earth’s orbit and beyond, including lunar and Mars missions, which Mueller believes will open the gateway to space resource transportation, asteroid mining, in-space manufacturing, and propellant depots.Last summer, the company announced a partnership with Relativity to launch the first private mission to Mars and just last week Orbit Fab announced that it would use a vehicle developed by Impulse Space for an in-orbit refueling demonstration.In addition to Impulse’s origin story, Mo and Tom discuss:Building propulsion systemsInitial target marketsEngineering thrusters vs enginesMira’s first mission this OctoberLessons learned (and memorable stories) from SpaceXAnd much more… This episode is brought to you by SpiderOak, a US-based software company that builds space cybersecurity products and solutions for civilian, military, and commercial space operations. Learn more at https://spideroak.com/ • Chapters • 00:00 - Intro and Ad spot 01:41 - Why rockets and why propulsion? 03:25 -Early work at TRW07:43 - Introducing Impulse 10:54 - The size of Impulse's market12:59 - First product: Mira 15:19 - Second product: Helios17:00 - Small thruster performance 20:31 - Competition in orbital transfer vehicles 22:16 - Chemical propulsion vs electrical? 23:10 - What are some of the elements/process of innovation that you're applying from SpaceX? 26:38 - Relativity mission 28:56 - Efficiency in getting propellant from the Moon vs the Earth 31:03 - Building and recruiting a team 33:22 - Spider Oak Ad break 34:29 - Why is launch so hard? 37:55 - How do you bounce back from failure? 38:52 - Future of rocket propulsion 40:42 - Starship and the future of engineering constraints42:26 - What other companies excite you? 43:32 - What's harder, designing a championship-winning F1 car or a new launch vehicle from scratch? 46:46 - Do you spend more time racing or tinkering? 48:19 - The future of racing electric vehicles? 49:41 - If you could race a lap in your favorite car, who would you take with you? 52:57 - Most memorable moment from your time at SpaceX 54:29 - When do you think we'll be back on the Moon? Mars?• Show notes • Impulse Space's website — https://www.impulsespace.com/Tom's socials — https://twitter.com/lrocketMo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes • About us • Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 15,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world. Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers. Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing three media properties across multiple platforms: 1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern (https://newsletter.payloadspace.com/) 2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com) 3) Polaris, our weekly policy publication, hits inboxes Tuesday (https://polaris.payloadspace.com/) 4) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (https://parallax.payloadspace.com/)