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Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen

Things Mikkel Says on Podcasts

Where to Find Them

Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen has been a guest on Core Memory .

Recently: “He Spent $100 Million On A Sky Computer - EP 96 Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen” on Core Memory (November 2026).

What They Said

“You have a direct relationship between the altitude of your antenna… and the population density under that antenna that you can serve… So ultimately, unless space entrepreneurs get to a point where they bring space closer to the surface of the planet, they will always be a niche product struggling with densification.” — Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, Core Memory

Ashlee Vance said he is skeptical a stratospheric platform business is needed, given how fast Starlink has grown. Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen says he isn't pitching against satellite constellations, and argues that antenna altitude limits how many users a satellite network can serve.

Core Memory · 2026-11-12 Permalink → Listen →
Core Memory
Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen

Let's unpack that.

Ashlee Vance

Okay.

Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen

…And the reason for that is that you have two reasons for that. You have a direct relationship between the altitude of your antenna, AC antenna on a tower or in the stratosphere in space, and the population density under that antenna that you can serve, because there's a direct relationship between the altitude and the antenna and the amount of traffic you can put under that cone, right? So ultimately, unless space entrepreneurs get to a point where they bring space closer to the surface of the planet, they will always be a niche product struggling with densification. You do see some known constellations that are aiming at moving their fleets closer to the surface from 340 to 290 miles as far as I understand. That's still a far cry from the 12 miles we're at. Adding to that, that to maintain signal strength, your power consumption grows with the cube of the distance, and we're still 30 times closer to the surface of a planet. We have some rather significant…

Ashlee Vance

we're heading to this world where we've got autonomous vehicles, we've got drones. I mean, I wrote about this in my last book. So I buy into this theory. I mean, I think we need this ubiquitous, high-speed internet fabric that is going to be this glue for the modern world. And you're saying that…

Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen

governments around the world agree with this because the hype, the ubiquitous network that the private sector is trying to build is a carbon copy of the hybrid space architecture that governments are trying to build. Because of that layer cake that you need for constant resilient connectivity, LEO…

Ashlee Vance

if everything goes according to plan, sometimes when I write about satellite internet, you know, it was like half the world, 3.5 billion people, cannot be reached by high-speed internet today. Satellites are serving some of that now. I mean, how many of these do you think? 15 million of that. Of…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.
“Historically, there has been a lot of attempts to build stratospheric aircraft… It always started with a lot of promises and a lot of fanfare and very little flying, if any. In fact, when we started out, we were able to identify about $12 billion that the U.S. government had put into building the quote-unquote stratospheric airship. And nothing was up there. And so we very deliberately decided to fly first and talk afterwards instead of talk first and then hope you can fly.” — Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, Core Memory

Ashlee Vance said Sceye had stayed under the radar, even though someone putting $100 million of their own money into aerospace usually draws attention. Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen explains the quiet as a deliberate choice, set against a history of high-altitude platforms that were announced loudly and never flew.

Core Memory · 2026-11-12 Permalink → Listen →
Core Memory
Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen

Yeah.

Ashlee Vance

…I just feel like I feel like Sky's been a little, you know, somebody puts $100 million of their own money into an aerospace effort. It tends to get a ton of attention. But I feel like you've been a little under the radar, but you guys have been building up to this point where you're starting to.

Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen

Yeah. Let me unpack that. Historically, there has been a lot of attempts. To build stratospheric aircrafts, PAPs, stratospheric platforms. And they haven't ended up. They got a lot of different. And it always started with a lot of promises and a lot of fanfare and very little flying, if any. In fact, the U.S. government, when we started out, we were able to identify about $12 billion that the U.S. government had put into building the quote-unquote stratospheric airship. And nothing was up there. And so very deliberately decided to fly first and talk afterwards instead of talk first and then hope you can fly. Yeah.

Ashlee Vance

Yeah. I mean, you know me. Look, I love aerospace. Everything. I think what you've built is extremely cool. I have covered some of these stratosphere balloons, these airships. They've tended to end. It's very difficult business. Yeah. Yeah. And so

Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen

we're talking to you because we've graduated from testing at this point.

Ashlee Vance

Yeah. And I know we talked about it before, but you still, if I'm being brutally honest, just on the satellite front, I just feel like it really has gone so much faster and farther than anyone would have expected. And it's going to make life difficult for you guys. Even though I see the use cases…

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

Collections They Appear In

Startups & Venture