Refueling the Space Economy, with Daniel Faber (Orbit Fab)

In this episode, Daniel Faber, CEO of Orbit Fab, a US-based company that is pioneering in-space refueling infrastructure, shares his journey from Tasmania to becoming a leader in the space economy's refueling efforts. Additionally, we delve into:Orbit Fab’s mission and servicesThe need for refueling capabilitiesThe economics of fuel depotsViability of asteroid miningAnd much more…• Chapters •00:00 - Intro00:35 - Gas stations in space01:44 - Daniel's background05:49 - Origins of Orbit Fab10:46 - Initial customer base11:48 - The demo mission13:05 - How does Orbit Fab make money today?14:26 - Working with launch providers15:25 - Structuring contracts20:25 - Do small satellites need refueling?23:02 - Contracting with the DoD24:11 - Partnership with Astroscale26:27 - Findings from the demo mission27:54 - RAFTI standardization29:10 - The inflection point for refueling34:30 - The competition35:57 - Fundraising environment39:07 - Milestones investors should watch for39:58 - Viability of asteroid mining44:53 - What Daniel would be building if he wasn't building Orbit Fab46:06 - Companies that excite Daniel• Show notes •Orbit Fab's website — https://www.orbitfab.com/Orbit Fab's socials — https://twitter.com/OrbitFabDaniel's socials — https://twitter.com/_DanielFaber_Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislamPayload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspacePathfinder 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/)