#97  Besan Dahboor Engel | How to scale from aid to orbit: designing space-ready infrastructure [EN]

Episode von Working With Startups From Science von Bartosz Kajdas · 23. Juni 2026 · 1 h 24 min

Welcome back to another visionary episode of Startups from Science!

Today, we dive into the fascinating new space age with Besan Dahboor Engel. Known in the space community by her call sign "Astra," Besan is a Deep Tech Entrepreneur, R&D Astronaut Candidate, and the Founder & CEO of ReVora.

🌍 Space-to-Earth: Revolutionizing Global Food Security

Besan is pioneering the commercial connection between the space sector and global food security. Through ReVora, she leads the development of sustainable, AI- and data-rich food infrastructure utilizing advanced closed-environment and hydroponic farming. By leveraging space-grade materials, her work focuses on creating regenerative agricultural models. These infrastructures are capable of sustaining life in extreme environments on Earth—such as the water-scarce deserts of the Middle East—while actively laying the groundwork for lunar habitats and multi-planetary living.

🚀 The "Overview Effect" and Astronaut Training

Beyond her work in venture creation, Besan is preparing for a historic 2029 orbital mission with Titans Space Industries aboard the Genesis Space Plane. She views space not merely as a distant frontier, but as an essential economic infrastructure layer vital for our planet's global food security, energy, and AI. In this episode, she discusses the profound "Overview Effect"—the scientific realization of Earth as a borderless, interconnected system. Besan explains how this perspective serves as a driving force for global cooperation, human capability, and sustainable peace-building.

🧠 Diversity and the Expansion Mindset

With a universal perspective shaped by living and working across four continents, Besan shares her unique journey of navigating the deep tech sector as a female founder and mother. As a certified mindset coach, she delves into the psychology of entrepreneurship. She explains the necessity of shedding old identities to build a resilient inner "operating system" for continuous growth.

"A winning mindset is embodying fluid identities without compromising inner values."

Instead of yielding to external circumstances, true expansion comes from continuously embracing change and new identities while staying fiercely anchored in your core mission and positive values.

📈 Top 3 Key Learnings

Radical Responsibility: True resilience demands taking 100% ownership of your outcomes.

Continuous Identity Expansion: Scaling a startup requires rapid evolution.

Action-Oriented Reframing: In the face of setbacks, acknowledge the situation, reframe it logically, and immediately focus your energy on executing the very next logical action.

🎧 Who Should Listen?

If you are a Founder, Entrepreneur, Space Stakeholder, or Impact Entrepreneur working in GreenTech, SpaceTech, or AgriTech, this episode is an absolute masterclass in merging high-level mission design with practical scalability.

🔗 Links, Mentions & Resources

Listen to the full episode: podcast.startupsfromscience.de

Follow Besan Dahboor Engel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/besandahboor/

Partners: @ReVora, @Space Economic Forum, @Titans Space Industries

Hashtags: #DeepTech #SpaceTech #FoodSecurity #StartupsFromScience #AgriTech #ImpactFounders #ExpansionMindset #Sustainability #OverviewEffect #Entrepreneurship

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