#157 – Natalya Bailey: Rocket Engines and Electric Spacecraft Propulsion

Lex Fridman Podcast

Natalya Bailey is a rocket propulsion engineer from MIT and now CTO of Accion Systems. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Natalya’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/natalya926
Accion Systems: https://accion-systems.com/

PODCAST INFO:
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SUPPORT & CONNECT:
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– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(06:51) – Intelligent life in the universe
(10:52) – Life in our solar system
(12:57) – Humans on Mars
(16:31) – Robots vs human in space exploration
(17:25) – AI in space
(21:30) – How rocket engines work
(26:47) – How ion engines work
(31:10) – How colloid engines work
(40:07) – Material science
(42:57) – Nuclear powered rocket engines
(47:56) – Electric propulsion out in space
(51:23) – Satellites
(56:17) – Photo of Earth from the Moon
(57:55) – Humans on Mars
(1:00:17) – Propulsion without fuel
(1:08:12) – How to build a rocket company
(1:15:10) – SpaceX and commercial spaceflight
(1:19:42) – Advice to startup founders
(1:26:18) – Book recommendations
(1:34:36) – Meaning of life