Space Business Podcast #132 - Karthik Gollapudi, Sift: Complex Hardware Telemetry

Space Business Podcast

My guest this week, Karthik Gollapudi, led the software team for SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. In this role, he realized the importance of monitoring complex hardware systems in order to detect faults or ideally prevent them before they even happen. That led him to become co-founder and CEO of Sift, a venture-funded startup dedicated to monitoring and analyzing hardware telemetry, and Sift is the topic of this week’s podcast. Enjoy!

Follow us:

Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/podcast_space

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/raphaelroettgen/

Instagram - www.instagram.com/raphael_space/

Learn more about space & the space economy:

• SPACE ECONOMY BOOK: Raphael's fully revised introductory book on the Space economy, "To Infinity" is available in e-book, paperback and audiobook formats - https://a.co/d/6jIQ2LO
• Check out the edX/EPFL Space Economy MOOC: https://www.edx.org/course/new-space-economy
• Upcoming newsletter - sign up: https://spacebusiness.substack.com/

Timestamps:

00:00 Episode intro 01:46 Elevator Pitch
02:31 What Telemetry is - for Non-Technical Audiences
03:37 Telemetry Data in Space Missions
06:54 Historical Context and Modern Challenges
13:11 SIFT's Role in Anomaly Detection
18:02 Product Details and Customer Use Cases
20:43 Exploring Diverse Aerospace Ventures
21:32 Market Approach
22:12 Company Journey and Product Evolution
23:24 Origin Story
24:22 Addressing Complex Engineering Challenges
27:16 Customer Feedback and Product Development
29:08 Future Milestones and Vision
32:45 SpaceX Alumni Ecosystem
33:42 El Segundo: A Hub for Space Startups
36:51 What else is interesting in Space & Sci-Fi Favorites