The Rocket Part Holding Back America’s Missile Production
The US spends billions on interceptor missiles … then waits over a year for a single part to ship.
I toured the factory fixing that bottleneck, and saw how Orbital Composites is printing the world’s most advanced materials in weeks, not years.
Today I caught up with co-founder and CEO Amolak Badesha to see how he goes from one test factory to a fleet of mobile robo-factories, building defense-grade parts anywhere in the world.
In our interview you’ll hear:
The one part underpinning our whole defense industry. (3:20)
The “mother of all materials” behind the world’s fastest machines. (5:30)
How Orbital cuts a 12-month process to just weeks. (12:00)
Why a shipping container could become a front-line factory. (20:03)
How making shoes made building rocket parts “easy.” (27:12)
A transcript of our conversation is available here.
—Stephen McBride
Stephen McBride is a co-founder of the Rational Optimist Society.
