FoS Tom Mueller

🚀 The FUTURE of SPACE (FoS) video podcast, hosted by Daniel Fox, is a candid and informal conversation between Fox and leaders, investors, innovators, educators, celebrities, movers and shakers, who are shaping the future of humankind into outer space and here on Earth. Just like how two friends would chat and philosophize together, with one thing missing, a glass of wine! 🚀

Our Guest today is Thomas Mueller. Tom is the Founder and CEO of Impulse Space, a company specializing in in-space transportation and logistics, including last-mile satellite delivery, Mars and lunar transport, and other initiatives supporting the growth of the space economy. As one of the founding members of SpaceX, Tom played a pivotal role in building and leading the propulsion development group, responsible for designing the engines and propulsion systems for the Falcon and Starship launch vehicles, as well as the Dragon spacecraft. He spearheaded the development of the Merlin rocket engine, which powers the Falcon 9—the most reliable launch vehicle in history. Additionally, he assembled and guided the original team behind the next-generation Raptor engine, a key technology that will one day help humanity become a multi-planetary species.

You can find all podcast episodes on the FUTURE of SPACE website and remember to subscribe to the audio version on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and other platforms.

Tom Mueller: Wikipedia / Linkedin / Twitter

Impulse Space: Website / Instagram / Linkedin / Twitter

• 00:00 Introduction

• 01:10 3 words for Space? INFINITE. INSPIRING. FUTURE.

• 03:00 Vision of Space from a young age

• 04:10 What is the HUMAN story of Space?

• 04:35 The incentive for progress

• 07:25 AI leading a revolution

• 09:45 AI and Nuclear

• 12:50 Going Faster in Space

• 15:22 The curse of being an engineer

• 16:35 What is next at Impulse?

• 18:25 Methane - the ultimate fuel

• 19:30 Being an Optimist

• 20:30 The Psyche of Hard Edge Leaders

• 22:30 From logger to SpaceX

• 24:15 Fascination with engines

• 25:00 Rankine cycle

• 26:25 Nuclear Thermal and Rocket cycle

• 27:25 GROK not ready to be an engineer

• 28:20 My father, a role model

• 31:20 The engineering of logging

• 33:00 Huge Porsche fan

• 36:40 3 words of wisdom? TRUTH. CURIOSITY. KINDNESS.

• 38:30 Conclusion