Phased Arrays, with Shey Sabripour (CesiumAstro)

Valley of Depth

When Shey Sabripour moved to Austin, TX, more than a decade ago, he was immediately struck by the city's laid-back lifestyle and impressive talent pool (we imagine the Tex Mex didn’t hurt either). After spending a few years as CTO of local Texas startup Firefly Aerospace, Shey couldn’t resist the entrepreneurial itch any longer. Instead of following the commercial space industry flock to Los Angeles, Shey saw something special in Austin and decided it was the perfect breeding ground for his new company, CesiumAstro.

For the uninitiated, Cesium builds high-throughput, software-defined phased array communication systems for airborne and in-space platforms. Today's Pathfinder podcast invites CEO Shey Sabripour to break down how phased array antennas work—and why they’re a game changer for satellites and spacecraft trying to communicate with each other and the ground.

Shey joins us on the show to discuss:

• Cesium’s origin story
• A primer on phased array technology
• Why phased array antennas are the holy grail for satellites
• The importance of product design
• Why build in Austin, TX

And much more…

Today’s 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 SpiderOak Ad

01:09 - Shey's beginnings with the space industry

03:50 - Cesium and its mission

10:50 - A layman explaining phased array technology

16:47 - Use cases for phased arrays

20:33 - Shift in cost curve

22:37 - "Phase array antennas are satellites' holy grail"

23:47 - Cesium's core product offering

27:05 - Initial customer base

28:48 - Ad break

29:40 - Why start Cesium?

33:24 - The importance of phased array antennas

35:14 - Learnings from startups and aerospace primes

38:06 - Why build in Austin?

40:10 - How can founders building highly technical companies tell their story?

45:26 - Focusing on product design

47:58 - What else would you be building if not Cesium?

49:48 - What startup are you most excited about?

51:40 - An (unknown) underlying trend in space

• Show notes •

CesiumAstro — https://www.cesiumastro.com/

Mo'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) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (https://parallax.payloadspace.com/)