Odd Lots How LA Is Quietly Becoming America's New Industrial Tech Hub
99 snips
Sep 21, 2026 
Tom Mueller, aerospace engineer and Impulse Space founder, helped launch SpaceX’s propulsion program. Chris Power, founder of Hadrian, builds autonomous factories for advanced manufacturing. They explore why Southern California is becoming a hardware powerhouse, how America lost its manufacturing edge, the future of robotics and warfare, AI’s strategic race, SpaceX’s breakthroughs, and the trade policies shaping competition with China.
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Financial Success Can Hide Industrial Decline
- Great powers often exchange industrial strength for financial comfort after winning geopolitical dominance.
- Chris Power argues reserve currencies follow manufacturing capacity, not the reverse, making industrial decline a strategic vulnerability.
Impulse Space Builds Trucks For Orbit
- Impulse Space builds transportation systems that move spacecraft and cargo after rockets reach orbit.
- Tom Mueller compares launch vehicles with container ships and his vehicles with trucks delivering cargo to other orbits.
Manufacturing Autonomy Is Mostly Software
- Advanced manufacturing autonomy depends less on humanoid robots than on software connecting skilled judgment to machines.
- Closed-loop systems can let technicians perform delicate setup once, then safely leave CNC, welding, or robotic equipment running.
