Abhi Dewan

When we think of domains such as Land, Air and Sea, space doesn’t immediately come to mind…but it ought to.

I went to Newlab’s Space Chips and Space Ships recently, and the founder energy was electric as always. 

Here’s what’s keeping the space pioneers up at night:

Grant Blaisdell 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗼𝗺𝗯𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲’𝘀 𝗣𝗥 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺: 

“𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵”

Why? Because your daily life is basically a NASA gift shop:

1️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗮𝗺 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀? Thank the astronauts who needed shock-absorbing, temperature-regulating materials for takeoff.

2️⃣ 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳𝗶𝗲? Phone camera’s, courtesy of NASA’s CMOS image sensor design.

3️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗡𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗔𝗶𝗿𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴? Shock-absorbing “blow rubber molding” tech from NASA.

Muhammad Hunain 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸:

“𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴, 𝘦𝘵𝘤 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵” on a couple of bits that can be easily flipped from 0 to 1 in outer space via radiation.

One ill-timed, large-scale radiation storm and we’ve got:

1️⃣ 𝗚𝗣𝗦 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀 (affecting 45,000 daily FAA flights)

2️⃣ 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺 𝗯𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀 (yes, even pre-Starlink)

3️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗹𝘁𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘀 (those high-frequency traders? Toast. And there’s a ripple effect.)

Amit Mehra (𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝟮𝟱% 𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗾𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲) 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆:

When you build a space company, you’re building for two different market segments entirely:

1️⃣ 𝗗𝗼𝗗/𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲: A segment that’s not cost-sensitive, but has incredibly high performance requirements – including for edge cases.

2️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹: A significantly more cost-sensitive segment, who’s requirements are vastly different.

And choosing which one to build for as an early-stage company could be a make or break decision.

Prad Parthiban 𝘄𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: 

SpaceX is cool, the innovation is exciting and the excitement is palpable… 

But let’s not start bashing NASA because they’re not putting people on the moon anymore – they’re still doing the crucial science that isn’t always commercially viable.

Know anyone working in AI x Energy x Space? Hit me up… it’s a frontier I’m increasingly bullish on.

(𝘗𝘚: 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘙𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘙𝘰𝘺𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘯𝘶𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝟤𝟢𝟥𝟢. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨.)