Anatolii Papulov: CEO & Co-Founder of NewOrbit, Opening Earth's Lowest Orbit

Full show notes, key topics and links: https://www.astroben.com/episodes/anatolii-papulov-neworbit Most satellites fly high to stay safe from the thin air of low Earth orbit. NewOrbit is flying lower. Anatolii Papulov, CEO and co-founder of NewOrbit, joins Ben to explain very low Earth orbit (VLEO): the closer-to-Earth region that offers sharper imaging and stronger signals, and that is hard to stay in because of drag. We cover how NewOrbit started at a kitchen table in 2021, why the company is based in Reading, the challenges of flying this low, and how its NEO-1 satellite uses an ion thruster powered by xenon to stay there. We also talk about testing, applications, the launch timeline, scaling up, and space debris. Ben also opens the episode with the week's space headlines. Timestamps 00:00 Intro and space headlines 02:36 Welcome to the show 03:48 The space bug: how Anatolii got into space 05:17 Origin story 08:04 Meeting Ruslan 09:43 The 2021 kitchen table 11:31 Why Reading 13:18 What is very low Earth orbit (VLEO)? 15:31 The three enemies of flying low 17:32 The ion thruster 19:14 How do you test it? 20:23 Applications 22:26 NEO-1 timeline 23:36 Launching, then descending 24:02 Advisors 25:15 Scaling up 27:05 Space debris and Kessler syndrome 29:00 Quick-fire questions 30:36 Outro Links NewOrbit: https://neworbit.space NewOrbit careers: https://neworbit.space/careers NewOrbit on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/neworbit-space/posts/ Enquiries: sales@neworbit.space ESA GOCE mission (VLEO background): https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/GOCE/ESA_launches_Earth_Explorer_mission_GOCE Follow the Astro Ben Podcast YouTube: youtube.com/@astrobenpodcast Website: astroben.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astrobenpodcast/ X: https://x.com/gambleonit TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@astrobenpodcast LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/79072939/ Look up. Listen in. If you enjoyed the episode, please like, subscribe and leave a review, and it helps other people find the show.