Let's discuss space.
I'm very involved in my university's undergraduate space organization, and I've had the pleasure of attending the most recent Space Symposium (annual huge space conference in Colorado) and have had conversations with a lot of space startups in the Bay Area. It's a super exciting field to be in.
On one hand, the pace of innovation is skyrocketing. SpaceX and their reusable first stages are the most obvious example. Companies like Planet Labs have taken a completely different approach to the traditional build-an-expensive-thing-then-wait-and-pray business model and instead launch a "flock" of small satellites. This keeps their costs down, risk down, and they are able to work 24/7 instead of waiting until the next space launch. It feels as though the aerospace industry actually has its mojo back and people are convinced we could do some really cool things in space and are willing to try it.
On the other hand, the demand still isn't there because there is currently almost no reason to go to space. Planet Labs has a huge number of satellites in the air taking pictures of the ground, but they are still struggling because nobody wants to buy them. It is a catch-22 problem because there will be no reason to go to space until people actually go to space and establish the infrastructure required for people to want to go to space.
I'm very involved in my university's undergraduate space organization, and I've had the pleasure of attending the most recent Space Symposium (annual huge space conference in Colorado) and have had conversations with a lot of space startups in the Bay Area. It's a super exciting field to be in.
On one hand, the pace of innovation is skyrocketing. SpaceX and their reusable first stages are the most obvious example. Companies like Planet Labs have taken a completely different approach to the traditional build-an-expensive-thing-then-wait-and-pray business model and instead launch a "flock" of small satellites. This keeps their costs down, risk down, and they are able to work 24/7 instead of waiting until the next space launch. It feels as though the aerospace industry actually has its mojo back and people are convinced we could do some really cool things in space and are willing to try it.
On the other hand, the demand still isn't there because there is currently almost no reason to go to space. Planet Labs has a huge number of satellites in the air taking pictures of the ground, but they are still struggling because nobody wants to buy them. It is a catch-22 problem because there will be no reason to go to space until people actually go to space and establish the infrastructure required for people to want to go to space.
