Space is becoming the world's next factory | The Next Big Thing

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Welcome back to the next episode here of The Next Big Thing Podcast.
We're recording a lot of episodes in June 2026, but a lot is going on in the world of technology in this particular month. So as we sit here to just level set for the audience, we are a few days ahead. If you think of big global events, the big global event that it feels like the entire market is getting ready for is the SpaceX IPO. So just to level set again for the audience, we are making this recording a few days prior to that. So if our remarks by the time this comes out, seem like, oh my gosh, these guys got it totally wrong with the details around that, just know we are a few days before the scheduled IPO on June 12th. And the reason I mentioned SpaceX is I'm joined today by Jacques Fossey, CTO of BioOrbit. And this is a company that is involved in the ecosystem and the economy of space. And so again, you really can't in June of 2026 mention space without at least alluding to the SpaceX IPO. And we'll see if there are any connections later in this conversation. But Jacques, the first thing that I think I'm interested in, as well as I think the audience is interested in, is how does one go from, say, high school, university, and then suddenly become the CTO of BioOrbit? That sounds like a big, exciting title, not the easiest title to get. And I'm just curious, like what's your background? How did you get interested in space and biology and the intersection of the two?

**Jacques Fossey** (1:50)
Yeah, of course. I mean, I'm going to preface it with saying it's a lot of luck and a lot of sweetless nights.
But no, I guess, so, yeah.
I guess my background is in systems engineering. So I went into aerospace and system engineering. I always had a fascination with space. That's where I wanted to be. That's not actually how I started out. I didn't have any GCSEs, I didn't have any A levels. So getting into university in the first place was a bit of a challenge. But I managed to graduate with a first class degree. I think basically my message would obviously be to anybody, it doesn't matter what happens at school, you can go on to achieve anything you want. And I wanted to go work for NASA. Unfortunately, I didn't quite end up working for NASA, but in my first company, NanoAvionics, I did end up working on a few NASA and ESA-adjacent missions. So I kind of got there a little bit.
But yeah, I was working in the space industry for a few years, and absolutely loved it. It was my passion career. But yeah, still kind of was still trying to find something that I don't know, that I loved, that you're working in the space industry, you're always working on maybe like defense-adjacent projects or things that could be used for dual purpose. So when I finally met Katie, the founder and CEO of BioOrbit, and what she was describing in terms of making drugs in space, like making cancer treatments in space, that could basically benefit everyone here on Earth. I kind of just very much fell in love with it. And this was before there was like any money in the bank. It was a week, worked for several months, just like evenings and weekends, like applying for grants, trying to make materials for investors to try and invest in the company. And then very lucky, kind of we were able to get some money in the bank and was able to actually like make this thing a reality and became my full-time job. But yeah, and like I say, a lot of sleepless nights, you just kind of, it's startup life. You don't really have much of a life. You know, if you want to get to a point where you're actually building, actually making an actual company, you kind of have to devote and give it all your energy. So yeah, that's pretty much how I've landed where I am now. It's just by saying yes and yeah, just hacking at it basically.

**SPEAKER_1** (4:28)
And it's interesting to also think because in the world of space, in the world of entrepreneurial space, I feel like we and the general listener is very familiar with the archetype of the centimillionaire, the billionaire that is coming up with a rocket company, the idea of the space tourism, the Richard Branson type stuff, Virgin Galactic, the Blue Origin stuff, and Jeff Bezos, and I know recently they had some issues on the pad, but ultimately those are the companies that get the attention. But what is it like sort of not focusing, like being a space company, but not necessarily focusing on like shooting a rocket from the ground to orbit, but rather thinking of it from a different angle. It feels like BioOrbit is thinking of it from the standpoint of doing science in space, which is a totally different matter than getting something from the ground on earth to say low earth orbit.