About this episode

Hisham Allam interviews Jonathan Criss about his transition from SpaceX to addressing the water crisis through small-scale purification systems.

In this episode of Development Aid Dialogues, podcast host Hisham Allam spoke with Jonathan Criss, CEO and Founder of Vital Lyfe. After more than 13 years working on Dragon and Starlink, from cargo racks to reusable spacecraft, Criss left to establish Vital Lyfe, a company building small-scale purification systems for remote villages, disaster zones and infrastructure-poor communities already feeling the pressure of climate change. "All the way throughout my SpaceX career, it was just another...

People in this episode

Host: Hisham Allam

Guest: Jonathan Criss

Topics covered

• water crisis
• climate change
• purification systems
• remote villages
• disaster zones
• infrastructure-poor communities

Keywords

• water crisis
• purification systems
• climate change
• SpaceX
• Vital Lyfe
• remote communities
• disaster zones

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Vital Lyfe, SpaceX

More episodes of DevelopmentAid Dialogues

• Reclaiming Civic Space Amid Global Repression: A dialogue with Lotfullah Najafizada from Afghanistan ahead of the Ottawa Civic Space Summit · April 8, 2026 · 25 min
• Fadi Bou Ali: Green and Blue Bonds Between Promise and Hard Reality · March 4, 2026 · 27 min
• NGOs: From Band-aids to Real Impact. Breaking Silos with NCA’s Linda Nordby · February 18, 2026 · 22 min
• Why big donors can’t deliver without NGOs: A dialogue with UNICEF’s Dara Johnston · February 4, 2026 · 21 min
• Reframing Dutch Aid: Steven Collet on Mutual Interests and Smart Partnerships in 2026 · January 21, 2026 · 31 min
• Who really benefits from COP summits? Paulo C. De Miranda on power, money and climate reality · January 8, 2026 · 39 min

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the DevelopmentAid Dialogues podcast page.