Building the future of space defense

Time Markers

00:00 – Episode introduction
00:54 – Guest introduction
01:09 – What Golden Dome looks like today
02:06 – Why hypersonics change the mission
02:56 – System-of-Systems challenge
03:23 – Voyager’s role in Golden Dome
06:43 – Key tech to close capability gaps
08:59 – What Voyager is waiting to hear from the Pentagon
10:00 – The role of AI/ML in future missile defense
10:17 – Voyager acquisitions
10:43 – Future M&A outlook
13:41 – The rise of dual-use technologies
16:36 – Who can move the fastest in 2026

Transcript – Matt Magaña Conversation

This transcript has been edited-for-clarity.

Mike Gruss – Matt, hello and welcome to the Space Minds Podcast. I’m Mike Gruss from SpaceNews, and today we’re joined by Matt Magaña, who is the president of Defense and National Security at Voyager Technologies. Matt, thanks so much for joining us. If 2025 is defined by one national security space story, it has to be Golden Dome. So let’s start there. Tell me what this looks like to you and what you thought about when you first heard about this program.

Matt Magaña – Well, first, you know, thanks for having me on. Always fun to talk about, you know, the organization, the business, and what’s happening in the industry. So super excited to be here. For me, I’ve been doing Golden Dome for 25 plus years. Golden Dome is really a strategic thrust to go drive the capability that we’ve been trying to put together for a very long time, but really a much more focused push into driving the capabilities that we need to actually do the mission, because the mission has changed over the years, and we just have not been able to keep pace with the amount of technology and scalability that is needed for Golden Dome.

Mike Gruss – So like hypersonics, for example.

Matt Magaña – Hypersonic is a good example. I mean, we’ve known about them. We understand them. We’re understanding more every day. We’ve been doing our own development on testing capabilities here in the United States. And we know how much of a problem that it is, and going after that threat is not just a single program. It’s not like I can create a sensor in space and we have an answer. It means that I need to be able to have real, full domain awareness from sensing, tracking, left-of-launch, intercept. It’s a whole integrated plan that has to be done in order for us to go after these threats.

Mike Gruss – The beloved system of systems.

Matt Magaña – System of systems. Yeah. When you say it that way, it seems audacious and super hard for us to go do, but I think when you break it down, that’s what the government has been focused on—how do you break down the problem, and then how do you go after each one of the sections so that we can tear it apart in order for us to put it all back together and actually run the mission that we need to do?

Mike Gruss – So how are you thinking about how Voyager fits into this? Because there’s talk about lots of companies, and what’s surprised me this year is how everyone says, “Hey, it’s not just going to be me, it’s going to be me and my competitor-mates, or dozens of my competitors, or hundreds of my competitors. It’s going to be a massive effort.” So how are you thinking about Voyager’s role here?

Matt Magaña – Yeah, like I said, I’ve been doing this a long time. Sitting in a role where I got to see across intelligence, the DoD, commercial, civil, international—especially when you look at the space side or the interceptor side—there’s no single company out there that’s going to be able to go do these things. And even taking an individual company, it’s really hard for them to execute the programs because the objectives have changed. It’s not an unlimited amount of money and an unlimited amount of time. This means we have to move much faster. We have to think commercially, and at cost points that allow us to hit the mission.

And thinking about hypersonics—you only get that threat if you have capability at scale, where it’s not just one sensor or one interceptor. You need multiple shots on goal, and that means producing them at a very, very high scale. So when we focused Voyager, it was: Where do we have dual-use capability? Where can we produce at scale? And what are the technologies where there are gaps today—where innovative small companies fall into the valley of death and can’t scale?

Our intent is not to be an end-to-end system. This is us being passionate about a mission that needs to get done. We’re going to help everybody close the gaps they have to get that mission done.

Mike Gruss – Let me ask two quick follow-ups: Do you know what some of those gap-closing technologies already are? And what does success look like here?

Matt Magaña – For us, and really how I structured the business, are what I’d call defense systems—think the weapons side. For a long time we’ve had weapons in production, but they’re very expensive, and you need a multitude of capabilities to get these advanced threats, both tactical and strategic. The technology exists, but scalable technology does not.

A good example: we are on Next Generation Interceptor doing our roll control system. That’s a new, innovative start-stop technology for solid-rocket propulsion. You can apply it to tactical or strategic weapons, final-stage maneuvering, precision control, roll control. Nobody today has that capability at a price point that scales to hundreds or thousands of units a year—which is what you need.

Across all these areas—strategic weapons, space-based interceptors, tactical systems—there’s just not enough scale. Our goal is to provide those enabling technologies at scale.

Mike Gruss – One more Golden Dome question: What are you waiting to hear next from the Pentagon or from General Gutlein?

Matt Magaña – I think we’re well connected with what’s going on. Obviously it’s a process. With the government shutdown and budget timing, the money will be there. It’s a lot of money. A lot of conversations are happening on what’s coming first. Some things we’re already moving out on because time is of the essence.

We’re focusing our design and capabilities now, not waiting. With propulsion systems, we know everybody needs them. On the tech side—AI and ML will be critical for Golden Dome. That’s an area where we’re investing heavily. We’ve acquired EMSI and LeoCloud, and put partnerships together with Palantir, Latent AI, and Infleqtion. We’re pushing hard because latency and speed of targeting are going to be major challenges.

Mike Gruss – Let’s talk about acquisitions. Voyager announced several recently—ExoTerra and Estes Energetics. How do these change what Voyager can offer?

Matt Magaña – We IPO’d in June, which enabled these acquisitions. We’ve closed six in the last 230 days. Estes and ExoTerra help close gaps in propulsion. There are very few manufacturers of solid propellant and motors. We need small motors and small batches of propellant for our control systems. Estes brings that.

They also bring chemical manufacturing capabilities that largely moved offshore over the last 10–15 years. We’ve received Title III funding to rebuild that capacity in the U.S. Estes is the only remaining U.S. manufacturer of black powder—critical for propulsion systems. We’re rebuilding their Louisiana factory.

Mike Gruss – So should we expect the same pace of M&A in the next 230 days?

Matt Magaña – You can expect more announcements. Not sure I can keep up that pace, but there are a lot of gaps out there. If a technology adds capability we can scale, we’ll probably go after it.

Mike Gruss – You mentioned dual-use technology earlier. It’s becoming a bigger conversation, especially in Europe and increasingly in the U.S. How are you thinking about dual-use in this moment?

Matt Magaña – That’s really what I designed the organization around. Electronics is a good example. Historically in space, electronics boxes were $10–15 million with 15-year missions. Now that curve has come way down—automotive-grade parts, five-year missions.

On the weapons side, we’re seeing a shift because of the volume of weapons needed and the sophistication required. The gap between space electronics and weapons electronics is narrowing. Our electronics business is truly dual-use—half for satellite processors and radios, half for classified weapon systems.

It’s a great opportunity to scale and drive commonality, while absorbing cost across both domains.

Mike Gruss – Where does this conversation head in 2026?

Matt Magaña – All that money will be flowing from the government. It will be about who can move fastest to get technology and capability into place. You’ll see peaks and valleys—some technologies accelerate faster than others. For us, dual-use helps drive scale. I see 2026 as a hockey-stick moment: If you’re not ready now, you’re behind. We’ve been gearing up to make sure we’re ready to absorb that work.

Mike Gruss – Well, we’re out of time for today. Matt, thank you so much for joining us. And thanks to our listeners and viewers. A reminder that all episodes are available on your favorite podcast platforms and that our latest news is at SpaceNews.com.

Matt Magaña – Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.