The Coming Space Boom of 2036 and Why We’re Not Ready with Jason Michaud


In Episode 280 of The Business Development Podcast, Kelly Kennedy sits down with Jason Michaud, founder and CEO of Stardust Technologies, to explore the coming Space Boom of 2036—a defining moment that could reshape global economies, industries, and human potential. Jason shares his mission to make space accessible for everyone while warning that Canada and much of the world are not prepared for what’s coming. From helping pioneer the world’s first Indigenous space agency to collaborating on THEIA, a lunar analog habitat designed to simulate life beyond Earth, Jason and his team at Stardust are leading a bold vision for humanity’s next frontier.
Together, Kelly and Jason unpack why the world isn’t ready—from outdated education systems and short-sighted policy to the urgent need for infrastructure and leadership in the new space economy. This conversation is a wake-up call for innovators and entrepreneurs everywhere: the next great race has already begun, and the decisions we make in the next decade will determine who thrives in the new age of space.
Key Takeaways:
1. The next great economic shift is already on the horizon — the Space Boom of 2036 will redefine how nations and industries operate.
2. Most of the world, including Canada, is not prepared for the coming wave of innovation, infrastructure, and opportunity that space will demand.
3. Space exploration is no longer limited to governments; it’s becoming a commercial and entrepreneurial frontier that rewards vision and action.
4. Education systems need to evolve now to prepare the next generation for space-focused science, engineering, and business leadership.
5. Canada has the talent and potential to be a leader in space, but only if it invests early and builds the ecosystem to support it.
6. Collaboration between Indigenous communities, governments, and private companies can create a more inclusive and ethical space future.
7. The development of analog habitats like THEIA is critical for preparing humans to live and thrive beyond Earth.
8. The companies and countries that move first in the next decade will define the standards, technology, and culture of the new space economy.
9. Making space accessible for everyone isn’t just a dream — it’s an urgent necessity for long-term human progress and survival.
10. The countdown has already begun; those who wait for the future to arrive will be left behind when the new space race takes off.
If you’re ready to grow alongside other driven entrepreneurs and business leaders, join The Catalyst Club—a private community built on support, growth, and connection for people serious about building something that lasts.
If you’ve been looking for a place to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs who truly get it, I think you’ll love it.
Welcome to episode 280 of the Business Development Podcast.
Speaker AWhat if I told you that the next trillion dollar industry is already on the launch pad?
Speaker AIn this episode of the Business Development Podcast, I sit down with Jason Michaud, founder and CEO of Stardust Technologies, to talk about the coming space boom of 2036 and why we might not be ready for it.
Speaker AFrom Canada's role in the new space race to the innovations shaping our future among the stars, this episode will open your eyes to what is really coming.
Speaker AStick with us.
Speaker AYou don't want to miss this episode.
Speaker BThe great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years.
Speaker BValue is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.
Speaker BAnd we couldn't agree more.
Speaker BThis is the Business Development Podcast, based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and broadcasting to the world.
Speaker BYou'll get expert business development advice, tips and experiences, and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs and business development reps. You'll get actionable advice on how to.
Speaker AGrow business brought to you by Capital.
Speaker BBusiness Development, CapitalBD CA.
Speaker BLet's do it.
Speaker BWelcome to the Business Development Podcast.
Speaker BAnd now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.
Speaker AHello.
Speaker AWelcome to episode 280 of the Business Development Podcast and today it is my absolute pleasure to bring you Jason Michaud.
Speaker AJason is a visionary in the space industry and he hails from Daboulville.
Speaker AJason overcame the challenges of an isolated upbringing to pursue his passion for stem.
Speaker AHe became the first in his family to graduate from high school and studied computer sciences at college boreal.
Speaker AIn 2014, Jason founded Stardust Technologies with a mission to revolutionize the space industry through innovation and accessibility.
Speaker AUnder his leadership, Stardust has launched numerous international projects, including the groundbreaking Anangaka Festival, the largest space festival in Canadian history, and has collaborated with institutions such as the Canadian Space Agency and the National Research Council of Canada.
Speaker AJason's contributions to space exploration are vast and varied.
Speaker AFrom his work on the Serenity Project to his development of the first Indigenous space agency and the creation of thea, the world's first lunar analog habitat.
Speaker AHis efforts have not only advanced technological innovation, but have also empowered Indigenous communities and promoted STEM education.
Speaker AThrough initiatives like the Stardust Space center and the Stardust Alliance, Jason has inspired countless youth to pursue careers in stem.
Speaker AJason Michaud is not just making strides in space.
Speaker AHe's creating a legacy that bridges the stars and the earth, ensuring that space exploration is inclusive and innovative and within everyone's reach.
Speaker AJason, it is a honor to have you on the show today.
Speaker CIt's a pleasure to being here today and after many tries, I do appreciate you being patient with me and I'm very excited.
Speaker CI love your energy and I'm really excited to get into it.
Speaker ADude, me too.
Speaker AI love space.
Speaker AI've talked about this like a lot and I haven't met.
Speaker AI've been trying to get Canadians on here to come and chat with me about space, and it's hard, man.
Speaker CYou got.
Speaker AYou guys are busy.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker COr too shy, you know.
Speaker AYeah, for sure.
Speaker AWhatever.
Speaker AEither one.
Speaker AEither one.
Speaker AYou know, I just think it's incredible that we have people like you representing Canada out there.
Speaker AAnd so just first off, before we get started here, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for doing the incredible things for Canada that you are doing.
Speaker CAnd I'm, I'm.
Speaker CI gotta do it because if I don't do it, no one else is going to do it.
Speaker CAnd we gotta make space, space more accessible to everyone because if we don't, then we're going to have other kids repeat the same thing as I went through when I was growing up.
Speaker CJust no accessibility.
Speaker CAnd you're stuck in an industry that you don't want to be with.
Speaker CAnd we need to create what the changes that we wish to.
Speaker CTo see.
Speaker AAbsolutely, absolutely.
Speaker AAnd you know, it's like, it's, it's unfortunate because Canada is full of a lot of very smart people, a lot of very smart engineers doing really cool stuff.
Speaker AAnd unfortunately, they're just not getting the spotlight that they really should be.
Speaker AWe're doing some incredible things and yet it's like all you hear about is, you know, stuff coming out of the states for the most part.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CYou have a major brain drain in Canada, unfortunately.
Speaker CAnd it's.
Speaker CWhat happens is a lot of time, it's because our own government is basically competing against us and you're trying to create these opportunities.
Speaker CBut the pie is just, let's say you have a pie and then your bigger brother is like, I'm going to eat 90% of the pie.
Speaker CYou get the crumbs.
Speaker CAnd that's it.
Speaker CYou know, it's, it's almost bullying if you think about it.
Speaker CBut.
Speaker CAnd then they, they ask you, how do I change that?
Speaker CAnd whatnot.
Speaker CAnd it's really.
Speaker CWe need to advocate at the provincial level to have provincial space agencies or provincial space grant consortium like the US has.
Speaker CBecause if you go to the us, each state has a grant, a space grant consortium.
Speaker CAnd if you go to Australia, each state, provinces have their own investment in space sectors.
Speaker CSo it's really important to create these other pathways to the space sector.
Speaker CNot only be just the one pathway, if you go to the US you're able to either work with NASA or countless of businesses.
Speaker CWhether it's SpaceX, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada or Sierra Space, Lockheed Martin and whatnot.
Speaker CThere's so much opportunities, but here we eat the dreams of our kids.
Speaker CWow.
Speaker AYeah, you know, I mean, as a kid who grew up, you know, loving model rockets and flying model planes, dude, I've been doing that since I was like 16 years old.
Speaker AI just, I have a total passion for aviation and I just love space, man.
Speaker AI think it's absolutely incredible that we've gone to the moon.
Speaker AI like, I just, I think we've done some crazy stuff.
Speaker AYou know, the Saturn 5 rocket is still like the most impressive piece of machinery that humankind has created.
Speaker AAnd we built that what, like 60, 70 years ago, like what the hell.
Speaker CNothing since, you know, we just built.
Speaker AThis incredible stuff all, you know, as humanity and then we're just like, oh yeah, like whatever, we're not going to go back to the moon.
Speaker AOr it's like.
Speaker CThat'S going to change.
Speaker CUnfortunately, there's lots of changes on the horizon for space.
Speaker CAs I said earlier, space is going to become more accessible if we start focusing a lot more on commercial space and if we start building rockets on the surface of the, the moon and space habitats and whatnot, we're going there to stay this time around.
Speaker CWe're not the, the commercial sector is not planning on just sitting down and you know, wait 60 years because money doesn't come to your account on its own.
Speaker CRight?
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd to change, to do nation building and world building, you need to really work your rear off.
Speaker COtherwise you're, you're just sitting ducks and nothing happens.
Speaker CSo we really got to get together, desiloize space and really empower the future.
Speaker CAnd whatever it takes is make space accessible to everyone by going to nation.
Speaker CBecause otherwise we're only always going to think, oh, it's just the U.S. and that's it.
Speaker CIn Canada, I know not many people that know we have a Canadian space agency outside of Montreal or the sector itself.
Speaker CSo they're always like, well, you know, we launch with NASA and that's it.
Speaker CApart from that, like what do we do?
Speaker CRight?
Speaker CWe have had some great legacy stuff which are not celebrated enough and we have a wonderful company such as MDA building the Canadarm and whatnot, but there's no display of what the others are.
Speaker CSo we have A huge marketing problem when it comes to space.
Speaker CBut at the same time I feel the people that don't want to talk too much about it because as soon as they do, they get ripped on by their own people.
Speaker CIt's basically a vulture world, if you want me to put it that way.
Speaker CA lot of people are looking at, let's say you go to a place like Texas, they control millions of dollars to go establish yourself there.
Speaker CBut you go to Ontario, they have a hard time giving you $50,000 or $5, you know, so that's got to change and we got to take space more seriously rather than laughing at it.
Speaker CThere's too much politicians and people that think the earth is flat in Canada.
Speaker CNo offense, but at the end of the day we need to start with education and planting the seed of tomorrow yesterday.
Speaker AYeah, well, I, I think it starts with dreamers, right?
Speaker AStarts with people like you who looked up and said, you know what, we can do more there.
Speaker CCrazy people, right?
Speaker ALike, I don't know.
Speaker AI know there's light pollution.
Speaker AMaybe we're just not seeing the stars anymore.
Speaker AI don't know.
Speaker CYou know, as a kid that grew up in the North, I am very, I take it too for granted.
Speaker CI see the northern lights like probably 10 times this year and I see the stars and the Milky Way and everything almost like every day in the north when it's not cloudy.
Speaker CSo it's, it's, you know, you, you take it so for granted.
Speaker CYou don't really like look beyond that, but it's like, wow.
Speaker CLike you take people from the south up in the north, they're like, wow.
Speaker CLike how is this possible?
Speaker AYeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker AJason, take me back on this path, man.
Speaker ALike you're doing some incredible stuff.
Speaker AYou got stardust, man.
Speaker ALike you are a pretty cool founder.
Speaker AI just got to throw that out there for like just cool things.
Speaker AEvery once in a while I run into somebody who's doing something pretty incredible.
Speaker AI met, you know, Scott Bryson, I mentioned before this with Orbital farms, with the idea of making circular system that are self sustainable in space or on arid places on this planet.
Speaker AAnd I just see like the stuff that you're doing and you know, take me into it.
Speaker AWho is Jason Michad?
Speaker AHow did you end up on this journey?
Speaker CWell, let's start with I'm stubborn.
Speaker CMy, my, my, my family is so, so from my grandfather's side.
Speaker CThey've been in Canada since the Acadians came to Canada.
Speaker CSo like more than 400 years ago in the.
Speaker CSo like the Cajun they would call in the States.
Speaker CAnd basically my family has been really much into nation building.
Speaker CMy grandfather was one of the first workers that came to Duberville when they built the community.
Speaker CAnd one thing that really saddened me is that the people that went into business in my family always got crushed on and whatnot.
Speaker CAnd it's always been hard to start a business in the family because especially in the north, as I said, we always destroy our own.
Speaker CAnd when they want to start doing business, there was always someone to steal from you or take advantage of it.
Speaker CSo it really taught me that, you know, like, if I'm going to do business, I cannot listen to anyone and I can't even take advice.
Speaker CSo it's a very lonely world when I started, because when I wanted to start in business everyone was like, don't do it, you're not going to last more than six months and whatnot.
Speaker CHere I am 10 plus years and basically I was told by even family, like, go in the lumber industry, don't even go to college, we just want you to have a grade 12 and that's it.
Speaker CAnd my grandfather, basically he got kicked out of school when he was in fourth grade because he was deaf or not listening properly.
Speaker CI failed first grade when I was a kid because I had, I have adhd, as you could probably tell.
Speaker CAnd basically I always wanted to seek the next like big thing.
Speaker CIt kind of drove me.
Speaker CBut in one adhd sometimes someone tells you you can't do it, you're like, hold my beer, I'm going to do it.
Speaker CBut nevertheless, so I wanted to do something challenging.
Speaker CI got into the IT world.
Speaker CI studied in Kales Bar in Aptic and VR.
Speaker CI was interested in helping the mining sector through training and whatnot.
Speaker CBut I, I did a lot of it and some cool projects over the years.
Speaker CSome that worked, some that didn't work.
Speaker CLike everyone, we gotta learn that failure is a teacher and it's the best teacher.
Speaker CYou'll never get that experience in schools.
Speaker CAnd essentially at the time we saw that astronauts could.
Speaker CScott Kelly went to the ISS for a year and one of his biggest struggle was mental health.
Speaker CSo mental health people didn't really care about that before COVID people were laughing at it when we talked about it, even VR.
Speaker CSo we, we decided at the time the team to develop an application to help astronauts with mental health through the use of VR and optic feedback so that they could hug their loved ones from the International Space Station to Earth and almost feel in real time so you feel more connected with your loved ones without having to be up there.
Speaker CSo as space evolved more, I felt very lonely.
Speaker CThe space sector.
Speaker CI felt very vulnerable, very alone because I couldn't even talk to the people at the Canadian Space Agency whatnot.
Speaker CI had to get to my MP to go through the side door, not the front door.
Speaker CI had to get to the side door because otherwise no one was listening.
Speaker CYou're just a little speck of us.
Speaker CSo it's very unfortunate.
Speaker CSo at the time MDA wasn't Canadian yet.
Speaker CWhen I started, they were owned by Maxar in the US So there was not that much of a presence.
Speaker CAnd if you were in space, you were there since the 70s in Canada.
Speaker CSo if you are there, then no one else is allowed in.
Speaker CYou only get in if you know people.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CSo I got told, look, go to the US Go check out what's going on at Space Symposium in Colorado a number of years ago.
Speaker CAnd I went there and I met the whole different world that I was not expecting.
Speaker CI did not expect that because I wasn't really used to traveling.
Speaker CAnd when I got there I'm like, I found my family.
Speaker CI found my freaking space family.
Speaker CI felt like I finally belonged in my life.
Speaker CI felt like I could be myself and I could.
Speaker CYou know when you're talking to people and you're excited and you're like having the butterflies, basically you're like, look, I'm talking about the same subject and I'm not being told I'm.
Speaker CI'm weird or you know, if I talk to people in the north about space, we'll talk about.
Speaker CThey'll switch automatically to mining or something else that they're complaining about.
Speaker CAnd they won't listen.
Speaker CNo one wants to listen.
Speaker CSo I felt like I was being heard for the first time in my life.
Speaker CAnd I, after the fact, I got invited to go to Dubai and represent Canada the world stage at the World Expos during the Space Thematic Forum.
Speaker CNo one wanted to go to Dubai.
Speaker CIt was during the COVID and no one wanted to go there because they're like automatically think, oh, it's the uae and you know how we have this view of the Middle east and whatnot.
Speaker CSo I'm like, no, you, you guys have.
Speaker CYou don't understand what it is.
Speaker CSo I went there, I took a chance.
Speaker CI went there for two weeks.
Speaker CI got this opportunity to meet so many wonderful people making change in the space sector and really got to talk my mind of how it should be.
Speaker CAnd I've met some wonderful partners and business opportunities since then.
Speaker CAnd I, I really shifted my gear to be like, look, let's take nation building and economic prosperity and bring it to the North.
Speaker CI could go anywhere else.
Speaker CI've been invited to go work in the US many, many times.
Speaker CI've been told, go work in Europe and whatnot.
Speaker CBut I'm stubborn and I want my north to thrive.
Speaker CSo I want the north to really have these opportunities that I never had as a kid.
Speaker CBecause going to school as a kid, if someone showed up once in the four years you're there, you're literally like, oh, wow.
Speaker CHe inspired me.
Speaker CBut then there's no follow up.
Speaker CIt's just a checkbox.
Speaker CThe government loves to do checkboxes.
Speaker CThey don't go to the remote areas, they just go to the these city areas, these urban areas and they call it a day because hey, we got what we need.
Speaker CIt only takes one person you inspire that can change the world.
Speaker CIt only takes one or two kids.
Speaker CAnd that's what our government's not understanding.
Speaker CSo I am on a mission to change that, to make space accessible to everyone.
Speaker CAnd I started in my own backyard, started the Stardust Festival, which became the Anangoka Festival in honor of my late adoptive father, Larry Latham, that passed away unfortunately of a heart attack in the mining sector.
Speaker CBasically I wanted to create an environment where you're able to do what you love and not just work till you die doing what you're just doing for the sake of money.
Speaker CBecause if I give you an example, which is my father, he passed away two years ago and he like, the last thing I, I, I said to him is like, hey, I got invited to go to Australia for space sector.
Speaker CAnd he always wanted to go to Australia.
Speaker CI said two weeks before he died, and I didn't know he was going to die at 56 years old.
Speaker CI said, look, it would be great if we finally go.
Speaker CAnd he's like, you know, when I'm retired, we can go.
Speaker CAnd that's the mentality we have.
Speaker CWe work ourselves to debt for money, we indebt ourselves and we do not live.
Speaker CAnd the space industry makes me feel alive.
Speaker CIt really gives that once you become part of it, it's a huge family around the world.
Speaker CDon't get me wrong, there's a lot of drama, there's a lot of division, there's a lot of people hating each other and whatnot.
Speaker CThere's a lot of fakeness.
Speaker CBut you know, I just like to say it how it is and not too many people like that.
Speaker CBut we're creating a whole culture.
Speaker CWe're creating a new culture.
Speaker CAnd we want you to be part of the space sector, not just me.
Speaker CI want you to be part of it.
Speaker CAnd you are part of it now because you're talking to space people and you're going to interview more people.
Speaker CSo ultimately that's what drives me and got me to where I'm at.
Speaker CAnd now we're doing some wonderful work in the Middle East.
Speaker CWe're doing some work in different continents and bringing space and developing their space policy and education and developing some other stuff that I wish I could talk more about today, but I will later time if you're interested.
Speaker AAbsolutely.
Speaker ANo, that's incredible.
Speaker AAnd I just want to start out by saying I'm really terribly sorry about the loss of your father.
Speaker AAnd I think it's incredible that you honor him with Anangaka Festival.
Speaker AThat is.
Speaker AThat is incredible.
Speaker AHe sounds like a great person and clearly he raised a very incredible individual.
Speaker CThank you.
Speaker AYou know, before we get into that though, I just want to talk about, about the Canadian space sector.
Speaker ALike I said, I've talked to one person, Scott Bryson.
Speaker AYeah, I have very little.
Speaker ALike.
Speaker AAnd, and it's funny, I've tried to get a hold of the guys at Wyvern.
Speaker AI'm sure I'll get them eventually.
Speaker ABut, you know, we got Wyvern in our backyard here in Alberta and they.
Speaker CBuilt a knock at the door.
Speaker ABut you're right, it is, it's, it's.
Speaker AYou can almost count on one hand the amount of companies that are like advertising that they work for the space sector in Canada.
Speaker ALike, it's, it seems very small and.
Speaker CSilos and so I'll tell you, this conference is how it is.
Speaker CIt's space people talking to space people.
Speaker CIt's literally like a big circle.
Speaker CYou're going to a space conference, like IEC for an instance, you're seeing the same people.
Speaker CThen you go to another conference and it's always, hey, we should work together, we should do this.
Speaker CBut we're not talking to the non space people.
Speaker CThe non space people are the ones that are going to change the world.
Speaker CAnd we need to bring these people into the space sector so we're not like, why don't they understand?
Speaker CRather than complaining that they don't understand, go see them and make them see what space is about.
Speaker CAnd there's so much misconception.
Speaker CLike even in my own family, there's sometimes there's people that think space never happened and the moon never happened and whatnot.
Speaker CYou know, we're buddies and whatnot.
Speaker CStill love my family, don't get me wrong.
Speaker CBut I wish that there was more space education and it was not just a minor subject when it comes to science in school.
Speaker CBecause most teachers in North America, especially in Canada, will ignore the subject.
Speaker CThey won't talk about it because they don't know enough about it, but because we are not advertising that we even have it.
Speaker AYeah, and I think you're right.
Speaker AI think it is just a lack of understanding because I think, you know, it is a silo and, and probably people in the public teaching sector don't have any connection with the space sector at.
Speaker ASo why would that, like they wouldn't want to talk about it because they don't understand it.
Speaker AYou know, I mean for me, if I can bring even like a little bit of understanding, I'm proud of that.
Speaker ALike, I think that's the small contribution that maybe I can make here.
Speaker ABut space is amazing and it's the future.
Speaker AAnd I want to talk with you about that because when we started this chat Today, you mentioned 2036 is going to be a pretty special time.
Speaker AWhat happens in 2036.
Speaker CSo by 202036 is projected by all the major stockbrokers in New York City and whatnot.
Speaker CSo that space sector is going to surpass the semiconductor industry which is the largest market on the world right now, to be a trillion dollar industry.
Speaker CAnd we're literally going to have like how we had the Internet boom, we're going to have the space boom, we're going to have everyone being part of that whole CIS lunar economy where we're literally sending people to stay on the moon, but also providing logistics, whether it's food, fuel, whatever we need to support it and bringing stuff back.
Speaker CSo it's going to become part of our economy.
Speaker CAnd that's the only way we save the economy is by growing it outward.
Speaker CBecause if we just stay here, we're going to keep stagnant and people are going to still stay poor.
Speaker CSo we need to go out there and to avoid war as much as possible is to go out there to create these opportunities so that there's enough resources for everybody to share.
Speaker CYou know, and then you got the space mining, there's space health and you know, every time every dollar spent on the NASA programs as literally basically gave back five times what it was costing.
Speaker CAnd most people don't understand that.
Speaker CThe politicians don't get that, that, that dollar.
Speaker CLook at just diapers.
Speaker CDiapers were revolutionized just so astronauts didn't crap themselves in space, you know.
Speaker CYou know, like, we can thank them for that.
Speaker CUnless you're on.
Speaker CUnless you prefer the reusable diapers.
Speaker CGo ahead if you want to.
Speaker CBut you know, with my.
Speaker CTo use my.
Speaker CThose diapers and thank God they're there, so.
Speaker AMe too.
Speaker CSo I mean, like Velcro.
Speaker CI mean, like, all the.
Speaker CWe're talking because of the Internet today.
Speaker ASure.
Speaker CYou're able to do a podcast and run your business due to the Internet today.
Speaker CSorry.
Speaker CMy huskies in the background.
Speaker AAll good.
Speaker AIt's a day of dogs.
Speaker AMy last interview.
Speaker AHad a great day.
Speaker AAnd so there you go.
Speaker COh, there you go, my husky.
Speaker CEvery time I'm on a zoom or anything like that, she has to put in a few words.
Speaker AThat's right.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker CBut, yeah, you know, so any of these technologies that we're using, even like the mining sector, is like the space sector depends on the mining sector.
Speaker CThe aerospace sector depends on the mining sector.
Speaker CEverything depends on each other.
Speaker CBut we don't realize how interconnected it is.
Speaker CIf we don't have the mining sector, we don't have the space sector.
Speaker CIf we don't have natural gas, there's no starships going up there.
Speaker CSo, I mean, there's so many, like, areas.
Speaker CBut we're doing something such a crappy job at advertising it.
Speaker CAnd don't get me wrong, is because the more we put ourselves out there, we are vulnerable, and then we get people attacking us.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker AOkay, so I want to lead into that, then.
Speaker AJason, talk to me about Canada.
Speaker ARight?
Speaker AThis is our country.
Speaker AWe're proud of it.
Speaker AWe love being Canadian.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker AWhat the heck is going on?
Speaker AWhy are we not like we're the.
Speaker AWhat?
Speaker AWe're one of the biggest.
Speaker AWe are like, the second biggest land mass per country on planet Earth.
Speaker AAnd yet it feels like we're not investing at all in this Future.
Speaker AThat if 2036 is the number is 10 years from today.
Speaker AThat's.
Speaker ANo one wants to take initiative.
Speaker CNo one wants to take initiative.
Speaker CAnd they're just waiting to be invited to the table.
Speaker CWhat's going to happen is we are frozen in winter, like molass in winter dripping.
Speaker CAnd we're literally going to wait till the US has been doing it for 30 years before we get involved.
Speaker CAnd we need to change that narrative.
Speaker CWe need to create the table that we want to see.
Speaker CWe need to be the leaders right now.
Speaker CBut whenever you talk about that, people think you're crazy.
Speaker CThey don't want that, or they're afraid of what they can't control, or they're afraid of what they don't understand.
Speaker CSo because of that they are negative towards it and we need to change that.
Speaker CIf you look at historically, we had one of the best fighter jet programs with the Avro project in Canada.
Speaker CAnd we basically shut it down and went straight to the US market.
Speaker CAnd every time there's innovation, we just do not support our own people.
Speaker CDon't get me wrong, it's the same thing in North.
Speaker CPeople come up from the south to the north and we worship them over our own.
Speaker CIt's because we believe that our own are not able to accomplish what Elon's doing in the States or Jeff Bezos or whatever.
Speaker CAnd that's why celebrities or even actors or anything, they all go to the U.S. they all go to the U.S. and they don't come back because they've been burned.
Speaker CIf you look at Capis casing near here, just an hour from me, that's where James Cameron's from.
Speaker CYou don't see any signs of James Cameron at all there.
Speaker CLike that's not very advertised.
Speaker CYou go to Timmins, an hour from me, that's where Shania Twain is from this.
Speaker CThere's one sign there, but it's crumbling.
Speaker CAnd they took the museum and they built a mine on top of it.
Speaker CYou know, like we, we do not advertise what's been going on.
Speaker CSo we need to be better at advertising ourselves, at putting us outside there, but we need to be better at outreaching and going to communities and making it accessible.
Speaker CBut to do that we need funds and the government only does it for checkboxes.
Speaker CSo what we are doing is we're going to the governments in the provincial level and we're working with them to create these space policies and these talent pipelines to get you there.
Speaker CBecause if we just roll our thumbs and do nothing, nothing's gonna happen.
Speaker CNo one's gonna take that initiative because most people see it as too hard of a thing and they only chase the carrot that'll give you money tomorrow rather than a 20 year vision.
Speaker CThere's no 20 year vision, especially in politics.
Speaker CAfter three years, not my problem.
Speaker CNot my pig, not my farm, you know.
Speaker AYeah, well, you know, I've had the pleasure of chatting with a lot of very smart individuals from the government and from the private sector on this side.
Speaker AAnd it just seems like space isn't even on the radar, right?
Speaker ALike they're, they're, they're in Ag tech, they're in medtech, they're in AI.
Speaker AThat's where the money's going right.
Speaker ABut I have to ask you, what do you think was the catalyst in the US to go essentially from a national based program like NASA to a more private sector approach?
Speaker ALike, how does that happen?
Speaker AHow do we get an Elon Musk or a Jeff Bezos?
Speaker AWhere do we get a Blue origin or a SpaceX?
Speaker ALike, how do we get something like that in Canada?
Speaker AOr is that even possible in Canada?
Speaker CIt is 100% possible.
Speaker CYou, you literally.
Speaker CThey just need to put investment and incentives and more positivity because at the end of the day, like I said, if you go to Texas, they'll dump millions of dollars on you.
Speaker CYou go to Colorado, you get millions of dollars on you.
Speaker CBut here we can't even give you $5.
Speaker CWe can't even.
Speaker CYou talk about doing space in my backyard here, for an instant I was working on a project years ago where I was getting funding and everything.
Speaker CAnd then they changed the person that was in charge of the funding.
Speaker CThey put a person that knew nothing about space, that did not care about technology, couldn't even join a zoom.
Speaker CAnd that person literally said, you know, no one wants space here.
Speaker CGo get the money from them down there.
Speaker CThen we can consider building.
Speaker CBut we don't understand that we need to build for people to come.
Speaker CWe need to be builders again.
Speaker CWe need to, to change the world.
Speaker CYou need to be a builder.
Speaker CYou can't just be someone that just swoops in and take advantage of.
Speaker CThere's too many people like that, people that are just looking at finding a way to swoop into the crack.
Speaker CYou need to take risks.
Speaker CYou need to not be afraid of taking risk.
Speaker CAnd you need to have a long term vision because if it's just short term, nothing's going to happen.
Speaker CAnd the only reason the space sector is striving is because you look at people like Elon.
Speaker CHis mission is to go to Mars.
Speaker CThat's a far away mission.
Speaker CDon't get me wrong.
Speaker CThe dates are always going to change, but the goal is always the same.
Speaker CYou adapt, you fail.
Speaker CYou fail, you fail.
Speaker CLook at Colonel Sanders.
Speaker CMore than 50 years till he got his recipe proper right.
Speaker CYou know Tim Horton for an example, his first Tim Hortons was in North Bay.
Speaker CHe was born in Cochrane, Ontario, where I'm at.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd he did a Tim Horton in North Bay.
Speaker CIt never took off.
Speaker CIt was hamburgers at the time.
Speaker CAnd then it finally took off in Hamilton.
Speaker CYou look at Canada Goose as a company, they didn't take off in Canada, they took off because they went to Europe that's where they took off because of the fade and branding.
Speaker CPeople look at us when we go outside of our country and they're like, wow, a Canadian.
Speaker CBut you come back in your own backers.
Speaker CLike, look at that asshole.
Speaker AAnd so interesting.
Speaker AI love that you chatted about Canadian manufacturing because you're absolutely right.
Speaker AI think if I find something made in Canada, I'm like, yes, yes, built this, right?
Speaker ABut you don't find almost anything, anything made in Canada anymore.
Speaker AIt's absolutely bonkers.
Speaker ABut you're absolutely right.
Speaker AWe know that if it's made in Canada, it's going to be high quality.
Speaker AIf I see made in Canada, I know it's well done.
Speaker AAnd it's funny because I remember talking to my dad about this and my dad's an old guy and he grew up in the 50s.
Speaker AHe's like, he's like, man, back then we built everything.
Speaker AWe manufactured everything.
Speaker AYou're absolutely right.
Speaker AThe arrow was top of the line, a top of the line fighter jet at the time.
Speaker AThere's nothing better than it at that point in time.
Speaker AAnd it's crazy to think that.
Speaker AYou're absolutely right.
Speaker AWe went from building incredible things to essentially.
Speaker AI can barely think of anything that's made in Canada anymore.
Speaker CYou know, if you, you look at like before there was NASA, there was the Harper program, and the first spaceport was actually in Churchill, Manitoba.
Speaker CGo look at it today.
Speaker CIt's just ruins.
Speaker CThere's nothing.
Speaker CThere's just polar bears just chilling and dancing in there.
Speaker CAnd no one's really tried to restart that or anything like that.
Speaker CThe money always goes to the same place.
Speaker CIf you're not in Montreal, Ottawa or Toronto, you're screwed.
Speaker CEven in Vancouver, they're screwed.
Speaker CNo one wants to go there for space.
Speaker CYou know, we have such a large country.
Speaker CWhy is space all focus at the same area?
Speaker CYou go to the U.S. nASA has space everywhere.
Speaker CYou have Alabama, you have Virginia, you have California, there's space branches everywhere.
Speaker CYou go to D.C. see, you go to Texas, Florida, they have little branches everywhere.
Speaker CEven Ohio has a, the, the NASA Glenn research facility.
Speaker CSo if we would spread the love a little bit, we may, maybe we'd have a bit more chance.
Speaker CBut again, the government has to stop thinking that they're competing against.
Speaker CIt's almost like people are competing against their own government.
Speaker CIn the States.
Speaker CWhat they used to do is they put unlimited like contracts where you get the contract and you'd have unlimited amounts of money to build something.
Speaker CAnd then you could just ask for more if you need it.
Speaker CWell now what they did is after a lot of lobbying for people like Elon and Jeff Bezos and whatnot, they put in, okay, this is let's say figuratively $1 billion contract.
Speaker CYou do not get more, you do not get less.
Speaker CSo a company, someone that's in business is going to work their ass off to make sure they make money plus they achieve the result.
Speaker CSo they get another contract.
Speaker CWhereas someone that works at government is not going to try to do any better because if they do better, it's going to be expected of them every time.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd they know there's going to be a handout no matter what.
Speaker CAs a business, as a survivor, I mean it's the difference if I get paid next week is the difference between eating a hot dog or a can of tuna, you know.
Speaker CYou know I, I've been over 10 years not paying myself so I mean at the end of the day I know what survival is and the risk to take and no one wants to do that because it's such a hard thing to do.
Speaker CBut if you don't do it, how can you achieve this?
Speaker CHow do you learn?
Speaker CHow do you do nation building?
Speaker ATeach me, teach me what is going on in what is the Canadian Space Agency?
Speaker ABring me into that government aspect of it.
Speaker AI don't think, I don't think, like I said, I don't think many people listening to the show have any clue what it is, how they operate or what their mission is.
Speaker ACan you just bring me into the Canadian Space Agency and what they are and maybe what, how they operate?
Speaker CYep.
Speaker CSo, so, so, so again the, the CSA there's about 900 employees.
Speaker CThey're, they're basically focused on R D and providing in service support for the, for NASA's count their counterpart NASA and they, they essentially work mainly their most bigger contract.
Speaker CThey go through like MDA and Telesat and whatnot and they provide funding and research for the, the arms and stuff like that or the Canadian rover that's going, it's starting to shift towards private.
Speaker CBut again nothing that makes it openable to a non space company.
Speaker CLet's say tomorrow you have a company, you do manufacturing, you're welding and stuff like that.
Speaker CYou want to get in the space sector.
Speaker CGood luck you're not in Quebec, good luck, you're going to need a Quebec tax number, you're going to need to open a Quebec business.
Speaker COtherwise good luck we're not going to work with you.
Speaker CSo it's, it's really a political game more than anything.
Speaker CBecause the Canadian Space Agency.
Speaker CSo if you go to the States, NASA is basically its own government entity.
Speaker CYou go to Canada, you have.
Speaker CI said, which is the innovation Science, Engineering technology, the group of Canada that's focused on innovation.
Speaker CAnd then you have the CSA which is under.
Speaker CSo anything that's related to forestry or anything like that will take precedence over space.
Speaker CSo if I said wants to focus on forestry this year the CSA is only going to focus on satellites for forests.
Speaker CThey're not going to focus on anything else.
Speaker AI understand.
Speaker AOkay.
Speaker ABecause for instance, like Wyvern is doing some pretty crazy stuff.
Speaker ABut a lot of the stuff they're doing is to check out like fires and things like that.
Speaker AThey're able to see that.
Speaker ASo that.
Speaker AOkay, I get it.
Speaker ASo essentially anything that we're creating in space has to meet a different.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker AA different industry parameter or a different industry need.
Speaker ANot just space exploration.
Speaker CExactly.
Speaker CAnd then again like what happens too is like, like I've talked to some friends at NASA and like for many years and like a lot of times like when you're doing something with the Canadian government or whatnot in the States, it's literally, look, there's an election upcoming, we can't say anything anymore.
Speaker CSo they bailed on NASA more than once and NASA's like, what the hell man?
Speaker CYou should be able to still function.
Speaker CBut it's so political that they can't.
Speaker CTheir time is more focused on getting money from politicians in Ottawa than it is to helping the industry.
Speaker CBecause one election happens because there's not enough space education, they could lose all their funding.
Speaker CSo I don't blame them because they don't have their funding.
Speaker CThey're screwed.
Speaker CSo there needs to be something that happens so the new space sector is not relying on them.
Speaker CI'm not funded by the csa.
Speaker CWe work with the partners that are internationally.
Speaker CWe are self made.
Speaker CWe work on creating opportunities for the new space economy.
Speaker CWhether it's providing food, providing training, providing stuff for the next gold rush.
Speaker CYou know, at the end of the day we need to adapt or else we are not going to be able to thrive in this industry.
Speaker AYeah, absolutely.
Speaker AYou know, talk to me.
Speaker AWhat is it going to take for this shift to happen?
Speaker ABecause dude, 2036 is not far away.
Speaker ALike we're going to blink and we're going to be there and now we.
Speaker CDon'T start doing stuff now.
Speaker AOkay, so we're talking to a lot of entrepreneurs right now.
Speaker AWe are talking to a lot of startups, founders, entrepreneurs, business development specialists of all types.
Speaker AHow do we make this shift today, guys?
Speaker A10 years, 10 years from now is what Jason saying is that we are moving to a space based economy.
Speaker AWe're going back to the moon.
Speaker ANot only are we going back to the moon, we're putting, we're putting facilities on that moon so that we can go from the moon to Mars.
Speaker AFrom what I understand, my God, that is a big flipping job.
Speaker AAnd that is not just astronauts, right?
Speaker AThat's welders, that's engineers, that's electricians, that's, that could be our kids.
Speaker CIt could be you.
Speaker CI mean if they make a $25,000 a person, could you imagine that you could go in space for four or five days in space for $25,000.
Speaker CYou know, it's changing and the, some of the older generation does not like that change because they work their asses off to get to where they're at to become it.
Speaker CBut we need to embrace that.
Speaker CWe are, we raised our kids for a world that no longer exists.
Speaker CI could say like I was raised by, practically raised by my grandparents growing up and they were born in the 1930s.
Speaker CSo I mean I was raised for 100 years ago, not for today.
Speaker CRight, right, yeah, so.
Speaker CSo we're.
Speaker COld ways don't always open new doors.
Speaker CAnd we need to find new ways and get creative.
Speaker CAnd that's why if we don't talk to our members of parliament or government, they won't know what they're talking about.
Speaker CThey will probably just end up saying space, you're crazy.
Speaker CBut if we educate our members of parliament provincially that they need to be part of this new sector and that they need to do more, then it might change.
Speaker CBut why would you leave this whole industry there, do nothing about it and just focus on the old.
Speaker CEventually the old is not what's going to be paying.
Speaker CLook at what's going on.
Speaker CI'm not going to get political, but look at the tariffs that we're going to be facing soon.
Speaker CThe lumber industry is in disrepair.
Speaker CLike we have so many trees.
Speaker CBut how do we come back from these?
Speaker CLike so many people are going to lose their jobs.
Speaker CWhat is left in rural areas?
Speaker CMining.
Speaker CIf the mine empty empties, the shareholders, they just leave, they don't care.
Speaker CThere's no one else.
Speaker CSo at the end of the day we need to prepare and have other segments.
Speaker CI'm not saying abandon the old segments, but make it so that you're open minded to this new sector.
Speaker CBecause if you don't, you're going to be left behind, become a Space cadet.
Speaker CAt the end of the day, you're.
Speaker AOne of a handful of Canadians.
Speaker AReally, I genuinely mean that.
Speaker AA handful of Canadians.
Speaker AThere's less of you out there than probably any other types of founders out there.
Speaker AAnd I want to talk to you because you talked about it right in the beginning and you said being a founder in space is lonely.
Speaker AEspecially being a founder in space in Canada is extremely isolating and lonely.
Speaker AIt takes balls, it takes bravery, it takes conviction.
Speaker ATalk to me a little bit about that because that's what we're facing.
Speaker AWe're facing people who say, well, I love space.
Speaker AYou know, they're like me, I love space.
Speaker ASpace is awesome.
Speaker AI can't wait to go to the moon, I can't wait to go to Mars.
Speaker AI can't wait to see this new space based economy and what that means for our world and humanity.
Speaker ABecause that's what it is.
Speaker ANot just a nation, it's humanity, which is crazy and super cool.
Speaker ABut they're afraid, dude, they're afraid.
Speaker ALike that's, it's not easy.
Speaker AIt's an uphill battle.
Speaker AThere's a thousand other things they can start that at least in the short term feel more productive or feel like they can get that sense of reward.
Speaker ATalk to me a little bit about what it takes to be a space based founder and how you were able to do that despite all the naysayers.
Speaker CYou need to be very stubborn, have a mindset and be strong headed.
Speaker CBecause you know, like so many times I've contemplated quitting, so many times there's going to be a lot of naysayers, a lot of people just being jealous and or think you're bragging when you're talking about space.
Speaker CYou know, it's unfortunate that people that you love and that friends are, when you talk about something they're like, oh, you're just boasting, you're just boasting, you know, like space is cool but you could be part of the space sector.
Speaker CI come from a place that is already hard to just get into general business.
Speaker CI come from a place where, because I'm in the north, right?
Speaker CSo eight hours north of Toronto.
Speaker CSo, so, so basically I'm in a place where I'm told to just be a worker.
Speaker CI am from when I went to school as a kid, automatically you got adhd.
Speaker CWe're putting you in a class where you're just going to do trades.
Speaker CYou are not fit for college or university.
Speaker CYou are going in that box and that's the box you stay in because we want to put you in that box because you do not think like the others.
Speaker CI mean, at the end of the day, we, as I said earlier, we eat the dreams of our kids and we need to change, start stopping that negativity.
Speaker CThere's too much negativity.
Speaker CWe.
Speaker CThere's too much people not encouraging their kids to do what they want to do and their love and their passion.
Speaker CAnd I get it.
Speaker CIt's not easy.
Speaker CIt's easier to go and like, hey, I'm going to be a welder for the mining sector or whatnot.
Speaker CI'm just going to do that.
Speaker CBut at the end of the day, we need to be there for one another because we are not realizing we are tearing each other apart in Canada.
Speaker CWe are.
Speaker CWe're basically just doing it just because, let's say when they put a.
Speaker CA funding application we only have.
Speaker CIt's literally if I put you in a prison cell and I don't feel feed you for like 100 days, and then I put a piece of bread there and everyone's just like fighting for that piece of bread.
Speaker CIt's literally what our economy is in Canada.
Speaker CAnd then if you're that one that's like in the corner, that's like the little one, and then you have the big guy, the big guy's gonna take the piece of bread and it's gonna be like, do you have a problem with that?
Speaker CAnd you're gonna be like, no, sir, I don't have any problems with it.
Speaker CRight.
Speaker CWe need to get ourselves out of that stuff, space gel and really make it so that everyone's able to drive and have a piece of that pie.
Speaker CBut the only way to do that is to educate people that space will affect all the other sectors, whether it's agriculture, whether it's, you know, we're already doing space agriculture.
Speaker CMy neighbor has robots milking the cows and he's got.
Speaker CHe's got some satellites basically telling him his land and monitoring it from space.
Speaker CAnd I'm in the north, but they're, you know, they.
Speaker CThey talk about space like it's crazy, but at the end of the day, farmers are using it already.
Speaker CFarmers are basically in the space industry without realizing it.
Speaker AWell, yeah, and half the people I talked.
Speaker AI was literally on a phone call the other day, and this guy's like, oh, man.
Speaker AI'm like, way out in the middle of nowhere and I don't have any service.
Speaker AYeah, we'll get Starlink next week.
Speaker AIt's like, what do you think Starlink is?
Speaker CI'M on Starlink right now.
Speaker CI'm talking to you on Starlink right now.
Speaker CI mean I used to have DSL and back in the day when I was doing it, I kept telling the community, look, there's no point investing in fiber optic because Starlink is coming.
Speaker CEveryone's not believing me.
Speaker CThey're like, no, that's not gonna happen.
Speaker CThat's not gonna happen.
Speaker CAnd then sure enough, Starlink is here and then they invested millions of dollars into a system that's doing nothing.
Speaker CWhereas I have my Starlink.
Speaker CIt works.
Speaker CI'm not complaining.
Speaker AYeah, well, that's it, right?
Speaker AAnd it's like we use space technology every day.
Speaker AYou mentioned that right in the beginning.
Speaker AThe microchips from this computer and heck in this microphone even, right?
Speaker ALike it's all space based technology.
Speaker AIt's all technology that we, you know, invented and perfected back in the 60s, which is pretty crazy when you think about it.
Speaker ALike a lot of this technology that we're like mind blown about started incepted in the 60s in the space program.
Speaker CIf you asked me like 10 years ago if I thought I was going to be in the space sector, I would have told you no, this is impossible for me as an ordinary.
Speaker CLike that will never happen in my life.
Speaker AThat's incredible, dude.
Speaker AThat's like, that's just a testament to like what is possible.
Speaker AAnd I think as Canadians we forget, you know, I mean we, we're, we're too humble.
Speaker AWe're just too damn humble.
Speaker AAs Canadians we are and I reminded every day and I think we forget that we are capable of a lot.
Speaker AWe are incredible individuals.
Speaker AWe are absolutely capable, we are absolutely capable of becoming leaders in the space race.
Speaker AJust like United States is just like the rest of the world is, right?
Speaker AIt's just, it's going to take a decision to do so.
Speaker AIt's going to take somebody listening to this show today to say, damn it, I'm doing it.
Speaker AI'm doing it right.
Speaker AI'm getting in, I'm getting in on this.
Speaker AAnd I hope we do.
Speaker AI really do.
Speaker AI hope, I hope people listening to this are inspired to do something for Canadian space sector because we absolutely, absolutely need it.
Speaker AAnd we need heroes in that sector 100.
Speaker CI mean, and I'm more than happy, anyone that wants to reach out and find out more about the sector or just be connected, more than happy to take some time just talk to you about the church of space, you know.
Speaker APreach, brother.
Speaker ANo, dude, every time, every time we talk and I know like we've tried to set this up multiple times because you are just, you're everywhere.
Speaker AYou're on the road, you're here, you're there, you're Dubai, you're in NASA.
Speaker AYou're just, you're everywhere all the time.
Speaker AWhich is crazy.
Speaker AI don't know how you do it maybe.
Speaker AAre you sure you're not like interdimensional to you or what?
Speaker CYou know, I wish I had a jet.
Speaker CThe amount of driving I do is more than a hundred thousand kilometers a year.
Speaker CWow.
Speaker AWow, that is incredible.
Speaker ABut yeah, you were literally just in Dubai.
Speaker ALike you, like, you must be like still on time zone screw up here.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CBut yeah, I've been also to Japan this year, been to dc, been to Colorado and going back to, to the Middle east before the end of the year and got a few other areas to go.
Speaker CBut you know, it's.
Speaker CAt the end of the day, it's just like I said, Canada Goose had to go to Europe.
Speaker CSo to build Canada, we got to look outwards because there's no support in our own country.
Speaker CSo let's, you know, we're going to do what needs to be done and if not, we'll die try.
Speaker ADude, what is it like, have you been to NASA?
Speaker CI've been to Kennedy and I've been to Johnson Space center and, and I've been to NASA Ames and I've been to NASA Glenn and.
Speaker CYeah, a few, A few places.
Speaker CAnyways, you know, it was crazy being in Houston because I was able to walk into the original Apollo room where they still had like proper cigarette butchers and everything from the Apollo era.
Speaker CThey like kept it as a museum and it's, it's insane.
Speaker CBut I was able to go into the actual room where they have all the, the whole mission control where they're talking to the astronauts and that's, that was cool.
Speaker CI'm like.
Speaker CI went.
Speaker CI saw the Canadian one too and I'm like, wow.
Speaker CLike, it's so cool how we're interconnected between countries.
Speaker CJust let's spread the love some more.
Speaker CI've been to SpaceX as well.
Speaker CLast year I drove all the way from Houston to Boca Chica.
Speaker CI thought it was a good time in July, but it was so hot.
Speaker CRented my first Tesla and drove all the way down there and I'm like, wow.
Speaker CI spent more time recharging the thing because of the, the heat, because the air conditioning was using the battery so much.
Speaker CAnd I finally got to it.
Speaker CI'm like, wow, those rockets, that insane.
Speaker CThat's Next level, like the, the rockets are going to be as big as the Statue of Liberty.
Speaker CThe rockets.
Speaker CAnd I also got to participate in a VIP launch with Lockheed Martin at NASA.
Speaker AWow.
Speaker CBack in 2022 when they launched a modern rocket that's taking our astronauts around the moon.
Speaker CThe Artemis sls, which is built by wonderful people across the whole sector.
Speaker CAnd if you think about it like I.
Speaker CThat was my first big rocket except exposure.
Speaker CI saw the, the Falcon 9, but I, when I saw that it was 2am and the sky lit up like a nuclear bomb.
Speaker CIt was absolutely insane.
Speaker CIt went from dark to like broad daylight.
Speaker AOh my God.
Speaker AThat must been just like.
Speaker AI can, just like my, like blood is pumping, man.
Speaker AI can't imagine.
Speaker AThere's certain things, there's certain things in life that just light you up and I can't imagine what that, like the shakes and shivers you must have felt in that moment.
Speaker AIt must have just been incredible.
Speaker CYou know, it was a, it was an incredible time because I was at a very low point in my life at that point.
Speaker CThat was right after my dad died, like not even a few months.
Speaker CAnd I was so busy like taking care of the family and the paperwork and all that stuff that I was like, I, I was lost.
Speaker CI didn't know what I was, where I was at.
Speaker CAnd, and when you're lost, there's too many people that are not there to help you.
Speaker CThey're just like, they get over it kind of thing.
Speaker CBut they don't realize the amount of.
Speaker CGoes on in the background.
Speaker CAnd you know, I even had chickens to take care of.
Speaker CBut nevertheless.
Speaker CSo that was like, wow, I can't give up.
Speaker CI gotta keep going because I need to show this to the next generation.
Speaker CSo that was one of those moments where I'm like, I gotta keep going.
Speaker CI'm not quitting.
Speaker CI'm still standing.
Speaker AYes, yes.
Speaker AI can't imagine.
Speaker AI hope, I hope that at some point in my life I get to watch a launch.
Speaker AI think that'd be pretty incredible.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI gotta put it on my rocketry.
Speaker CIn Canada, in the Maritime.
Speaker CSo maybe you'll see a rocket there.
Speaker AThat would be, that would be pretty incredible.
Speaker ANot to mention the Maritimes.
Speaker AIt's just great to visit anyway.
Speaker CThere you go.
Speaker CIt's getting more expensive though.
Speaker CBut you know, if ever you want to go see a SpaceX launch, let me know.
Speaker AAbsolutely.
Speaker ANo, dude, I appreciate this connection.
Speaker AHuge.
Speaker ALike I said, the Canadian space world, I know it's small and, and not only is it small, like you mentioned it's really hard to get people to talk to you.
Speaker AIt's very tight lipped.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd most people, a lot of them are engineers, so they don't really.
Speaker CLook, I'm a college dropout, just to let you know.
Speaker CLike, I studied computer engineer, but I dropped out of college.
Speaker CIt was not my thing.
Speaker C20% of people with ADHD make it through college because of the executive function and stuff like that.
Speaker CAnd you know, at the end of the day, like, you could be a welder that just went through school and whatnot, and you want to be part of the space sector.
Speaker CIt's a mind frame.
Speaker CIt's really about shaping yourself to be around that industry.
Speaker CThere's nothing stopping you.
Speaker CYou don't need to have like 20 diplomas or 10 years behind your belt because a lot of people that get out there, they don't have any people skills and they don't know how to approach people, unfortunately.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker AYes, it's.
Speaker AAnd that's okay.
Speaker ALike, that's in all, you know, engineers of all types.
Speaker AI work in the oil and gas sector, man, I've met a lot of engineers under a lot of them.
Speaker ABut you know what?
Speaker AThey get anxious.
Speaker AThey get anxious just like the rest of us, right?
Speaker AI totally, totally.
Speaker AGet in.
Speaker AA podcast is another thing too, that if you're not really prepared for it, it can definitely feel like an anxious moment.
Speaker AIt's like at this point, I've done almost 300 of them.
Speaker AMy fear gone.
Speaker ABut I remember the beginning and how scary it was.
Speaker AEven me talking to my wall in my basement at the time, right?
Speaker CI would feel scared talking to my wall too.
Speaker CI'd be asking myself, do I have something wrong?
Speaker AOh, man.
Speaker AAnd I, I go back to that and episode three almost never came out.
Speaker AEpisode three was just about the end of the business development podcast.
Speaker ALike, what the hell am I doing?
Speaker ABut thank God I kept going.
Speaker AIt turned out to be a pretty.
Speaker CGood idea, you know, you know, if I could send a message out there.
Speaker CIt's like love each other and work together and make stuff happen and listen to people when they're going through a hard time, be there for them because there's not enough people to listen.
Speaker CPeople rather just make up and assume that everything is real when they don't actually take the time and talk to people and see their size and, you know, like the people that get uncomfortable when people are going through rough things and they make it about themselves and it's not necessarily about them.
Speaker CThey're.
Speaker CPeople need people to reach out.
Speaker CMental health's so important, whatever industry you're in.
Speaker CSo, I mean, like, I've been through some, but, you know, at the end of the day, I'm glad I had some very close friend and family to support me, because I wouldn't be here today otherwise.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker AYeah, I'm happy you are.
Speaker AI'm happy you're out there, dude.
Speaker AKeep with us.
Speaker CYou're here too, doing great work.
Speaker AYou know.
Speaker AYeah, I agree completely.
Speaker AAnd I think it's really easy to.
Speaker ABecause people see this.
Speaker APeople see this.
Speaker AThis is my work face.
Speaker AThis is me having fun.
Speaker AThis is me working.
Speaker AThis is life.
Speaker ARight?
Speaker ABut this isn't life.
Speaker AThis is work.
Speaker AAnd, you know, I love the podcast.
Speaker ADon't get me wrong, it's not a lot of work.
Speaker AI really enjoy this.
Speaker ABut at the same time, this is still work.
Speaker AThere's still an entire life happening behind the scenes right now.
Speaker CPeople don't see that.
Speaker AAnd people don't see that.
Speaker AAnd they don't see that with any successful CEO, entrepreneur, founder.
Speaker AYou know, people get Elon Musk.
Speaker AAnd don't get me wrong, I'm sure Elon Musk is fine.
Speaker ABut what I'm getting at here, we see Elon Musk and the crazy, amazing things, but I bet you Elon Musk has some personal challeng.
Speaker AGuaranteed.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CThink about it this way.
Speaker CLike, the.
Speaker CThe higher you are, the lonelier it is, because people approach you only for your merit or your money.
Speaker CThey don't actually talk to you on a personal level.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker CAnd you've been burned so many times that you have a hard time letting people in.
Speaker CYou're afraid to trust anyone because you know deep down, they're there for a motive.
Speaker CThey're not there to talk to you because, hey, you're a human.
Speaker CAnd checking in on you, they're just there to be like, look, I'm there to talk to you because I want something.
Speaker CYou know, like, you see Elon down the street, you'll be like, holy, it's Elon.
Speaker CYou see a celebrity, I don't know, Taylor Swift or whatever, you're like, holy, it's Taylor Swift.
Speaker CYou're not gonna be like, oh, cool.
Speaker CLike, she's a cool human.
Speaker CLike, I know some people from Hollywood, and I mean, like, that's why I talk to them as they are.
Speaker CI don't want them to be like, I don't want to be giggity.
Speaker CThey are human beings first.
Speaker CAnd people have a hard time distinguishing that because they only see what you put out there.
Speaker CAnd when you put Your face out there towards marketing and stuff like that, you become a target because people think that's your life.
Speaker CYou know, when I first started, I was heavy into very loud marketing and stuff like that.
Speaker CPeople thought I was one of the largest space companies in Canada, that I had more than 50 employees.
Speaker CMeanwhile, it was little me, you know?
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker CSo, I mean, it's, it's, it's hard and I understand how scary it can be, but we gotta persevere.
Speaker CAnd the key to success is determination.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker AAnd, and it's just, honestly, it's just sticking in it.
Speaker AIt really is.
Speaker ALike, so much of success is right place, right time, and we don't dictate what right place and right time is.
Speaker AWe just have to be there when right place, right time shows up.
Speaker ARight.
Speaker CLike, you gotta take those failures and see the situation in them and adapt and keep going.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AI have so many people that, that think that, like, that people can predict success.
Speaker APeople can predict when things are going to blow up.
Speaker AAnd I've talked to enough entrepreneurs at this point to say none of us knew when it was coming.
Speaker AAll that happened was we were in the right place to say yes at the right time.
Speaker AAnd we don't get to.
Speaker AWe don't.
Speaker AWe can't see the future.
Speaker AI don't care how many forecasting models you do, you're never going to be able to get it 100% right.
Speaker AAnd I think nine times out of 10, you're going to be surprised by what happens.
Speaker AThe thing that actually comes your way and blows up and makes it amazing for you, you won't have seen it coming.
Speaker AAnd that's been my experience and many.
Speaker CNo overnight success.
Speaker CYeah, there's a lot of black swans out there, you know.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CSo, I mean, at the end of the day, there's no overnight success.
Speaker CPeople underestimate and then they think you made it overnight and then everyone wants to be your friend after that.
Speaker CSo, I mean, you just gotta keep holding on and fight further and never giving up, because that's the only way you can go and, you know.
Speaker CHakuna matata.
Speaker AHakuna matata.
Speaker AJason, take us into Stardust, man.
Speaker ATalk to me.
Speaker AWhat is it?
Speaker AWhat do you do?
Speaker AAnd what are, what are the services you guys are currently providing?
Speaker CYeah, so.
Speaker CSo basically what we're focused on is creating talent pipelines for aerospace and space and defense companies through K to 12, all the way to college, university, and adults.
Speaker CSo to educate them on the space sector and these other sectors on how they can become part of It So we go where people don't want to go.
Speaker CWe go to the remote communities, whether it's the Arctic or the subarctic or like you know, in the desert if we need to.
Speaker CAnd we, we basically when it comes to K to 12, we're there to inspire.
Speaker CWe're not there to say hey, you got to work this and whatnot.
Speaker CWe don't want to force it down kids show.
Speaker CBut we want them to understand that space is an opportunity for any sector.
Speaker CYou want, you want to be a doctor, you can be a space doctor down the line or you can learn about the space sector.
Speaker CAnd then we, we then after that we focus on college and university because there's so many companies out there looking for people.
Speaker CBut the people don't know where to look.
Speaker CThey just think, hey, this is my market and that's it.
Speaker COr they'll.
Speaker CSo many people went to study in college at the same time as me and they went elsewhere because they didn't know where to go.
Speaker CThey just have degrees, but they're not even working their degrees.
Speaker CThey automatically went to mining because a lot of money.
Speaker CAnd that's what my family told me to do do.
Speaker CRight?
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CEssentially we, we make sure that they know who's out there in the new space sector.
Speaker CAnd we also work with banks or lawyers and whatnot for them to learn about the space economy because space is more than that, that you need the banks to understand in order to invest or finance and stuff like that.
Speaker CSo we're not having a conversation.
Speaker CWe're like, what's space?
Speaker CI don't know, nothing.
Speaker CSpace is not real.
Speaker CAt a high level person at government, you know, so, so that's what we've been working on called the Stardust Odyssey.
Speaker CAnd then we also have our 23,000 square feet facility where we focus on space food development and isolation training for mental health.
Speaker CAnd then as I mentioned earlier, our Serenity project focus on mental health and really creating that bridge for training for astronauts so that they can feel like they are not lost in space and that there's people connected with them and their loved ones when they're there.
Speaker CAnd then we have a few other cool creative projects.
Speaker CBut I mean like it doesn't all happen overnight.
Speaker CWe are going to share more in the upcoming months.
Speaker CYou know, we keep working even if we're not live.
Speaker CWe're doing some stuff in the background that they'll know eventually there's going to be some great space events going on and.
Speaker CBut again new space and new space accessories because we're here to bring space to everyone and that's our main focus.
Speaker CIt doesn't matter where you are.
Speaker AThat's amazing, dude.
Speaker AI'm amazing.
Speaker AFirst off, that's incredible too.
Speaker AI know we have entrepreneurs listening right now who are like, we want to support the Canadian space space industry, but we don't know where to start.
Speaker ACan they reach out to you to start us to kind of start that process?
Speaker C100%.
Speaker CAnd we, we are more than happy to work with companies on helping them, guide them in towards the space sector in order that they are able to have their PI, their framework to be part of the new space economy.
Speaker CSo if they want to be part of it, however small or bigger role, we can help them out with that.
Speaker CThat's what we do.
Speaker CAnd some of our colleagues have been working the sector from warn of 40 years and are tired of with the old space and in with the new, you know.
Speaker CSo we're here to support you anytime.
Speaker CAnd again, please feel free to reach out to my private email or website or anything like that.
Speaker CMore than happy, you can also reach out on LinkedIn or Instagram.
Speaker CWe're there for you if you want, you have questions or anything.
Speaker CEven if you would just want to say hello and have a coffee.
Speaker AAmazing, amazing.
Speaker AAnd what's the best way for them to get a hold of you?
Speaker AIs it through LinkedIn?
Speaker CLinkedIn's where I'm most active.
Speaker CI monitor my LinkedIn more than I monitor my email to be honest, because I get so many emails are a lot of spam and stuff like that.
Speaker CWhereas LinkedIn is the easiest.
Speaker AMe too.
Speaker ADude.
Speaker AI just have one final question for you because I'm curious.
Speaker AYou've done how many zero G flights?
Speaker AWhat, what are they called again?
Speaker CSo parabolic flights.
Speaker CSo like the Vomit comet they call it Other places.
Speaker CI've done four of them and I'm working on doing a fifth one.
Speaker CVery soon that, that's more details are going to come up but it's going to be a very fun one in, in the US and essentially you go up, you build some kinetic energy, you go up and then they basically stop the engine and you.
Speaker CAll that kinetic energy that was built up just basically releases and you're just free floating for 20 seconds at a time.
Speaker CYou can do backflips, you can, you, you wait.
Speaker CNothing, you could be upside down.
Speaker CNothing's going to your head because everything's just floating, right?
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CThat's why you don't want to drink Pepsi or alcohol and it's necessarily up there.
Speaker CBecause everything's floating in your stomach.
Speaker CYeah.
Speaker CAnd then I also got the opportunity to do Martian and lunar gravity at different angles.
Speaker CSo I was able to see how it would feel to balance.
Speaker CDon't get me wrong, the plane was small, but I was able to walk around and really enjoy it.
Speaker CAnd it's an out of this world experience.
Speaker CAnd I want more people to feel like that because then they'll be like, look, if I did that, I can go to space.
Speaker CSo there's great opportunities out there to do that and hopefully we can make it more accessible to people in Canada.
Speaker AThat's amazing.
Speaker AAnd the question I had was, like, what does that feel like?
Speaker AWhat is floating feel like it.
Speaker ADoes it have a feeling?
Speaker CIt's an addictive feeling.
Speaker CIt's, you know, when you're in the pool, but without the pressure.
Speaker CSo, you know, you try to dive automatically.
Speaker CYour response to you trying to like swim around, but you can't because you have nothing to push you around.
Speaker CSo you have no choice to push on things because you literally, if I would take, take a feather and a full size cow, you would basically because I took a small little cow into a zero g last time and a little feather and the cow and the feather would weight the same thing.
Speaker CIt doesn't matter.
Speaker CIt's the same way.
Speaker CSo I could, I, I could take like £5,000 and lift it with my arm like this.
Speaker CPretty much same thing as a feather.
Speaker CIt's insane.
Speaker CLike, you know you want to, you want the best diet going zero G, you're gonna lose all that weight.
Speaker AThat is incredible, man.
Speaker AYou are incredible.
Speaker AThank you for the incredible, awesome work you guys are doing on my behalf of Canada.
Speaker AI hope that things continue to just go up and up for you at Stardust.
Speaker AAnd thanks for taking the time with me today.
Speaker CThank you so much.
Speaker CNasibukuchi Miguel.
Speaker AUntil next time, this has been episode 280 of the Business development podcast and we will catch you on the flip side.
Speaker BThis has been the business development podcast with Kelly Kennedy.
Speaker BKelly has 15 years in sales in business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020.
Speaker BHis passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation and business development.
Speaker BThe show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your business development specialists.
Speaker BFor more, we invite you to the website at WWW dot.
Speaker BSee you next time on the business development Podcast.