# An Interview with Shaun Meehan - Doctiloquent Dove Deployer

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2014-10-15
- Length: 2h 19m
- Episode: 220
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-10-15-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/220-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer/

## Summary

Shaun Meehan, an electronics designer at Planet Labs, discusses his journey from building sugar rockets and industrial robots to working on CubeSats. He details the technical challenges of designing agile, commercial-off-the-shelf based satellites, including power systems, FPGA compression, and autonomous mission control. Meehan also recounts his unique experience wintering over at the South Pole, highlighting the isolation and technical work involved in maintaining communications infrastructure in extreme environments.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-10-15-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer#t=0) Introduction: Shaun Meehan and Planet Labs
- [1:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-10-15-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer#t=61) Building Fred and Lefty: Industrial Robots
- [31:51](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-10-15-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer#t=1911) Sugar Rockets and High School Physics
- [51:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-10-15-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer#t=3110) Wintering Over at the South Pole
- [1:24:24](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-10-15-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer#t=5064) Joining Planet Labs and CubeSat Design
- [1:39:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-10-15-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer#t=5998) Satellite Operations and Autonomous Control
- [1:59:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2014-10-15-an-interview-with-shaun-meehan-doctiloquent-dove-deployer#t=7186) Agile Aerospace and Rapid Iteration

## Topics

- [PCB design & layout](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pcb-design)
- [Microcontrollers & dev platforms](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/microcontrollers-and-platforms)
- [Batteries & low-power design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/batteries-and-low-power)
- [Wireless & RF](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/wireless-and-rf)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Planet Labs (company)
- Fred (product)
- Lefty (product)
- Abb IRB 2000 (product)
- Dove (product)
- CubeSat (product)
- FPGA (chip)
- thyrotron (chip)
- IceCube (product)

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- [Ep 183: Stowaway Science, Cold Basements, and Warm Beers](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hackaday-podcast/2022-08-26-ep-183-stowaway-science-cold-basements-and-warm-beers) (Hackaday Podcast)

## Citing this page

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