Turning Space Debris Into Opportunity with Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri

Susan Wise: Welcome to Stars Launch Pod: Space Technology and Research Sciences, brought to you by StarSciences.org — where we connect, collaborate, and accelerate. I’m your host, Susan Wise, and today we’re very excited to have with us Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri. He’s the Chief of Staff at CisLunar Industries, helping drive big ideas in space power transformation and in-space panel discussions, which bring conversations to audiences all around the world. We’re thrilled to dive into your story today. Welcome to the show!

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Oh, thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here.

Yeah, so at CisLunar Industries, we’re focused on developing and deploying critical power infrastructure for space — anything that needs power in space. We built this power conversion technology originally to power our own product, which was a modular space foundry designed to process materials like metal in orbit.

There’s a lot of metal debris floating around out there, and our ultimate mission is to take those resources in orbit, melt them down, and turn them into usable materials — for building, propulsion, and other applications.

Right now, though, we’re focused on the power aspect of that, because we built our own power supply that turned out to be quite unique and highly scalable. We can mass-produce these power processing units for things like electric propulsion, e-beam welding — really, for anything that needs power in space to support in-space manufacturing.

It’s incredibly exciting to be part of a company bringing what once felt like science fiction into reality. For example, our foundry uses what some might consider a precursor to tractor beam technology — if you’re familiar with Star Trek lore.

Susan Wise: Of course!

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Right? So, it’s really cool to see that technology becoming real. We’re having a blast doing it.

Susan Wise: You know, the focus is to eventually go back to the Moon — and hopefully, maybe to Mars one day. These are the types of things we’d utilize there, right?

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Exactly. We see a path not only in cislunar space — the space between Earth and the Moon — but also on the lunar surface, where we could power facilities and even create recycling centers. Beyond that, we want to make it possible for humanity not only to survive, but to thrive — and to go beyond Mars and further into the solar system.

Susan Wise: I love that. When you talk about recycling, you really mean space junk — that type of recycling?

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: For sure. That’s a big part of it. There’s so much debris in orbit. Our goal is to utilize as much of that as possible and turn it into something new. Right now, we have to launch everything from Earth — and that’s heavy and expensive.

So, if there are resources we can tap into in space — on asteroids, or on the lunar surface — why not? We want to enable that, so we can establish a permanent human presence out there.

Susan Wise: Sure.

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Repurposing — absolutely.

Susan Wise: So, what has been your biggest “aha” moment on this journey?

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Oof — I think the biggest “aha” moment for me has been realizing that space needs everyone’s voice — a wide variety of skill sets.

For a long time, I didn’t see a path for myself in the industry because I’m not an engineer. It always felt very technical, and I thought that was the only way in. But that’s not true.

If the industry is going to continue expanding and truly help humanity move forward into space, we need everyone — not just engineers. That’s been a huge realization for me.

A lot of the work I do now — when I’m out speaking, for example — is about inviting more people to lend their voice and skills. Whether you’re in sales, marketing, HR, finance — whatever it is — you can have an impact in this industry.

Susan Wise: I love that, Ubaldo, because that’s really what Stars Launch Pod is all about — connecting, collaborating, and bringing people together to share knowledge.

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Absolutely.

Susan Wise: We’re all kind of working toward the same thing.

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Exactly. It’s a human endeavor, and it shouldn’t be left to just a small group of people. Everyone should have a voice — whether they want to go to space or not. Ultimately, humanity is united by one thing: looking up at the stars every night. We all share that, no matter where we are on the planet.

Susan Wise: What do they say — all of us together are greater than each of us alone?

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: I love that. Exactly.

Susan Wise: Along your journey, I’m sure there have been challenges — because challenges give us opportunities to grow. What’s been your biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: I’d say imposter syndrome. A lot of people in this industry deal with that.

The Apollo era gave us this idea of “the right stuff” — grit, discipline, and a kind of elite standard. That image can make people feel like they don’t belong. But it shouldn’t be that way.

As I said earlier, this industry needs all of us. Getting over that imposter syndrome took some time, but once you start meeting people in the industry, you realize it’s actually a small yet supportive community. Everyone’s there to help each other — and that imposter feeling fades quickly.

Susan Wise: Right. You have to believe you can do it — and then surround yourself with people who lift you up and help you reach those goals.

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Exactly.

Susan Wise: Do you have a piece of advice you’d like to share with our listeners?

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Yeah — if you’re interested, go for it. Start reaching out to people — friends, contacts, even your network on LinkedIn. See who’s working in the industry, reach out, and have a coffee chat.

That’s actually how I did it — it’s how I met our CEO. We became friends first while we were both getting established in the space industry here in the U.S. Eventually, we found an opportunity to work together.

So that’s my advice: if you’re passionate about space, start connecting. Don’t wait. Just do it.

Susan Wise: When it comes to passion projects — is there a specific one, past or present, that you’re really focused on?

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Yeah — for me, it’s The Traveling Space Panel. A group of us started it a little over a year ago to have conversations that bring together diverse voices.

We talk about how to create more intentional collaborations between the space industry and other fields — art, music, culture, entertainment — and how we can inspire each other to build even greater things.

It’s also a reminder that a lot of us got into this because of science fiction — Star Trek, Star Wars, The Expanse, or whatever your favorite might be. It’s about remembering that spark and keeping the fun alive.

For me, it’s also an invitation — to anyone out there — to say, “Hey, we need your voice. Come join us.”

Susan Wise: When you have these panels, how can someone get involved or find out more information?

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: We try to speak at as many conferences and events as we can. I’d say look for public events — especially space conferences or festivals.

We’re also trying to branch into other venues like Comic-Con, where we know there are a lot of people who love space and sci-fi. Those audiences are curious and open — they’re exactly who we want to reach.

So, keep an eye out for events like that, and come check us out.

Susan Wise: You never know when you’ll tap into a great idea. Even if you just attend, you might learn something unexpected.

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Exactly. It’s happening more and more — we’re seeing crossover between science fiction and the real innovations happening in space technology today.

Susan Wise: I love your story. Thank you for sharing it with us today — we really appreciate you.

Ubaldo “The Space Ace” Ciminieri: Thank you very much. This was awesome.

Susan Wise: Ubaldo, thanks again for joining us here on Stars Launch Pod. Remember — we connect, collaborate, and accelerate. We’d like to invite you to join StarSciences.org — you can receive a free one-year membership by entering the promo code FRIENDS321.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review and subscribe. And until next time — keep looking up.