Standardizing Satellites Buses, with Ian Cinnamon (Apex Space)

Valley of Depth

Ian Cinnamon is the CEO and Co-founder of Apex Space, a startup manufacturing satellite buses in the 100-kilogram class that can support ~100 kgs of payload. It aims to sell Aries, its first product, into the commercial space market and support EO and communications missions. Apex says Aries will be available as an off-the-shelf platform that can be configured with specific subsystems to support certain customer needs.

Ian previously was an Investor and Entrepreneur in Residence at Village Global. Prior to Village, Ian founded Synapse Technology, an AI security startup that exited to Palantir. Max Benassi, Apex’s other cofounder, formerly built vehicles at SpaceX and served as Astra’s director of engineering

Today’s episode is brought to you by SpiderOak Mission Systems, a US-based software company that builds space cybersecurity products and solutions for civilian, military, and commercial space operations.

• A sneak peek •

Ian and Mo talk about Apex’s origin story, the complexities of satellite bus manufacturing, and the size of Apex’s target market. They also discuss:

• The long-awaited history behind the Cinnamon family name
• Why the Apex team is best suited to tackle the satellite bus market
• How to successfully work with commercial vs. government customers
• The importance of the SpaceX Transporter-10 mission
• The geopolitical tailwinds supporting the space industry
• And much more…

• Chapters •

• 00:00:00 Intro + SpiderOak Ad
• 01:11:00 The Origin of the Cinnamons
• 03:31:06 Introduction to Apex
• 07:57:11 Difficulties of in-house bus development
• 09:52:02 Apex vs. Terran Orbital vs. York Space
• 13:19:19 Working with the government customer
• 18:08:16 Quantifying the satellite bus market
• 21:47:09 Refueling in LEO, is there a market?
• 25:31:11 Capital flows in launch vs bus manufacturing
• 28:32:04 Difficulties of bus manufacturing
• 30:38:01 SpiderOak Ad
• 31:17:03 SpaceX Transporter 10 Mission
• 32:21:16 The Apex Team
• 38:38:02 Ian’s background as an investor and operator
• 43:18:06 Geopolitics as a tailwind
• 46:23:09 Rapid Fire! (Mentors/figures, startups Ian is excited about, how to spend free time)
• 49:43:14 Outro

• Show notes •

Apex - https://www.apexspace.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/playlist?list=PL\_uY3GaNf67hP-i6TRWF2n06xMv1kdkZ6
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.

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