Episode 97: The New Commercial Space Age

Peter and Dan discuss recent breakthroughs in the commercial space industry, highlighting a slew of new startups entering the marketplace, whether in analytics or rocket engineering. As we witness the shift from a heavily government-funded space industry to one propelled by privately funded companies, the world will soon see more and more access to space. In this episode: Peter gives an update on the commercial space industry, as well as the challenges and opportunities of mining precious metals and rocket fuels on asteroids and the Moon. Dan narrates the story of two great historical inventions that allowed for deep water navigation: the sextant and chronometer, which enabled accurate measurements of latitude and longitude, respectively. These tools were critical to expanding the reach of human exploration across our largely water-coated planet. Fast-forward roughly 250 years, and Peter shows how they serve as a useful analogue for some of today’s pioneering commercial space rockets. Peter demonstrates how pioneering companies’ opening of the space frontier is unlocking a new abundance mindset in the commercial space sector… One in which we’re now witnessing a surge in capabilities and new opportunities.