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From Space Domain Awareness to Space Intelligence: Building the Infrastructure for Real-Time Decision Making in Orbit | The Pair Program Ep101
On this episode of The Pair Program, we’re exploring the infrastructure behind the rapidly evolving space economy, and what it takes to turn awareness in orbit into intelligence teams can actually act on. Today’s guests are Rich Minford, COO at Turion Space, and Zachary Kirstein, CRO at Northwood. Together, they bring perspectives from both sides of the equation: sensing and operating in orbit, and the ground infrastructure needed to move critical data back to Earth.
In this episode, they discuss:
- Why the space economy is shifting from awareness to actionable intelligence
- The infrastructure and latency challenges standing in the way of real-time space operations
- How Turion and Northwood are approaching the next generation of in-orbit and ground infrastructure
- How commercial space, national security, and new Space Force acquisition models are shaping what gets built next
About Rich Minford: Rich Minford is Chief Operating Officer at Turion Space, where he leads go-to-market teams and the internal functions turning engineering breakthroughs into a scalable commercial business. Previously, he spent more than a decade at Palantir Technologies, leading its international oil and gas business and deploying AI and data systems across intelligence, security, and energy.
About Zachary “Zak” Kirstein: Zak Kirstein is Chief Revenue Officer at Northwood, where he leads commercialization of the company’s space-to-Earth communications technology and infrastructure. Previously, he held leadership roles at Loft Orbital and Palantir Technologies, including serving as Program Manager and Chief Architect for the U.S. Space Force’s Warp Core platform.
This episode is supported by Defense Unicorns
Defense Unicorns builds platform technologies that help deliver mission-critical capabilities faster and more reliably. Their open architecture approach enables secure, scalable systems without vendor lock, creating flexibility across the software ecosystem. Backed by a team of engineers, innovators, and veterans, they bring deep experience across defense and federal tech. Get in touch at hello@defenseunicorns.com
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