
Ron Epstein
Dr. "Rocket" Ron Epstein is a senior aerospace & defense equity research analyst (managing director) at Bank of America Securities in New York, a regular aviation/defense podcast panelist.
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Jul 31, 2026
Declining costs mean more rising rockets; launch costs key for space industrialization
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TJ ThorntonHOST
Um, but aside from launch costs and sort of getting to reusability or at least getting to the point where a cost decline that much more, what are some of the other challenges of space-based or orbital data centers?

Ron EpsteinGUEST
Let's hope NIMBY is not an issue, right? Uh, uh, maybe it would be if you're on the moon or you live on an asteroid.

Ron EpsteinGUEST
So where, where are the challenges? Um, the, the first challenge we already talked about.

Ron EpsteinGUEST
Can you build this infrastructure affordably? And the real driver for that is launch.

TJ ThorntonHOST
Um, how does satellite options, you know, the cost of satellite broadband, um, currently compare to more conventional offerings, um, both in terms of, yeah, the price paid, but also, uh, the effectiveness or the speed? And where do you think we could be, um, in a few years, ten years?
Epiphan + HETMA = InfoComm 2026
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1:31speaker_0HOST
So when they come by your booth, which is booth number C8719, what are the things they're saying to you and they're looking for and how do you all address that as a company?

Ron EpsteinGUEST
The most common thing I've been hearing, which is kind of fun, is somebody walking up and just saying, I want to talk to you.

Ron EpsteinGUEST
Sometimes you have shows and you're waiting for traffic flow to hit your way by noon, one o'clock.
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4:15speaker_0HOST
that kind of hits on something, well, obviously you guys make great products from, you know, the Pearl Nexus, your cameras now and all that, but it's not just a device, it's a platform, right? So talk a little bit about that.
Voices from NWMET 2026
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32:25Ryan GrayHOST
there's nothing it's but everyone's busy you're busy also but that idea that that it is the opening of a conversation to meet somebody new at a show like this not the one chance to try and get a po put out or something like
Another Delay For 777X—How Bad This Time?
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Joe AnselmoHOST
out.And Ron, we talk about, uh, orders from China, and we talk about certifications, but the really big overarching thing is supply chain, isn't it? That's, that could be the showstopper, um, and, and, and-

Ron EpsteinGUEST
Yeah, 100%, right? Um, and, you know, I think, you know, the, the unfortunate thing with the, uh, the, the, uh, facility that GKN had in Southern California with the tank filled with, I can never pronounce the name of the chemical, that you use to, to make windows and windscreens is just one example of where things can kinda go off the rails in the supply chain.

Ron EpsteinGUEST
Um, you know, the supply chain from, you know, everybody I talk to seems to be getting back to normal, but still fragile.

Ron EpsteinGUEST
And, you know, normal before COVID and everything we've been through was still kinda fragile.

Ron EpsteinGUEST
So, you know, the, I think the risk to everybody's ramp, right? I mean, whoever you are, whatever you're building, is, is supply chain, and to some extent, labor.

Ron EpsteinGUEST
And as you guys all know, we're in an environment where, you know, commercial OE is ramping, defense across multiple programs is ramping globally, and then also you've got, you know, the industrial gas turbine market ramping to support, uh, the build-out of the hyperscalers.