ASCEND reposted this
Astrodynamicist | Space Environmentalist | MacArthur Fellow | National Geographic Explorer | TED Fellow | Global Space Evangelist | Professor | Spacecraft Navigator | Co-Founder & Chief Scientist | CorrFRSE
I get no shortage of people the world over, contacting me many times a week, asking me for advice about their ideas on providing space situational awareness products and services. I genuinely love 🫶🏾 seeing more people involved in an area that still has problems that loom large. But there is usually a time in my conversation with them where they get a bit disappointed and it’s when I tell them that I firmly believe that there’s no business to be made in the area outside of governments. 🤷🏾♂️ I know plenty of major investors who are relying on hope to get their “promised” return on investment. Others are sensing the truth in my opinion and clenching their pocketbooks on SSA and rightly so. History provides us with evidence that I touch upon in this latest article of mine and even this buzz about cislunar SSA will also find its steady state as a government regulated and controlled “market” where government is THE customer. My advice? Collaborate, partner, consolidate, and knock on government’s door and say, “I’m your indispensable part of the solution” and let’s move on. The turf wars and mud flinging, while unsurprisingly human, just delays the inevitable and gets in the way of contributing to clear decision-making on the government’s behalf. To the government: I applaud your efforts to hire the expertise you require to finally become a competent customer of the industrial base you require to solve this problem. 🙌🏾 Move quickly without haste. Level ⬆️