Creating a sensor to test the atmosphere of Venus was just the start for Space AM, one of the UK's recently announced 'Defence Unicorns' in which the MOD is making unprecedented investment. Building technology for defence was not what Chris Isaac, CEO of SpaceAM, originally set out to do, yet the unique advanced technology he and his co-founder created in the commercial sector has proven to be of immediate interest to the military. On this episode of Sensing the Signal, we talk to Chris Isaac about the technology, the problems it is addressing, and the journey towards becoming a UK defence unicorn.
Outline
00:00 — Recap: the Defence Investment Plan and the SME problem
01:00 — A possible biomarker on Venus sparks a private mission race
02:33 — Sycamore seeds in the woods, and the birth of Space AM
05:46 — From art school and hypercars to a letter from the US
09:40 — Designing for sulphuric acid: coatings, sensors and every last gram
13:11 — Five years of Venus R&D turns out to be dual-use
17:03 — Fundable but unfunded: soldering irons, demos and dead ends
21:33 — Named a Defence Unicorn, and why the money moved so fast
25:40 — Eight-layer boards nobody in the UK can build
30:03 — Sovereign capability, medical spin-offs and ISO 27001 in six weeks
33:26 — The Formula One parallel: hard problems pay dividends elsewhere
37:50 — The hire he didn't see coming, and a very expensive fire door
41:12 — Sovereign AI: shrinking large models onto a grain of rice
43:36 — VCs, Series A, and the ambition to become a UK neoprime
45:24 — Host debrief: what this says about UK defence innovation
