No. 34: The vibrant signals of the space economy is calling
Read why the space economy is more than moon landings, Mars explorations, and billionaire space races.
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First, some numbers:
1.5 million - future jobs in the space economy rising from 400,000 today
$1 trillion - projected value of space economy by 2040
80% - Commercial space activity of $357 billion is 80% of the total space economy in 2020
The Growing Space Economy
No longer constrained by government-sponsored public programs, the commercial side of space ventures and explorations is opening up new opportunities for the future. Packy McCormick summarizes five reasons for the growth value of space.
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Space-for-Earth
We often see popular narratives propagated across the press and social media that say space is a pissing contest for billionaires. That is ridiculously reductive. The reality is that the vast majority of value (99+%) generated in space is not from providing joyrides to the rich. Most of the value comes from driving benefits back to Earth.
How so? Let us count but a few reasons…
Location, location, location: The US’s GPS, China’s BDS, the Eu’s Galileo, and Russia’s GLONASS provide the indispensable utility of global navigation. Looking forward, states and startups like Xona Space Systems are developing newer position, navigation, and timing (PNT) services for self-driving cars, drones, and other emerging technologies.
Bringing transparency to Earth: Since the beginning of the space age, militaries have used on-orbit reconnaissance assets to spy on enemies and frenemies alike. That’s all classified, but the advent of commercial satellite imagery has helped show the world when and where the emperor has no clothes (such as Russian war crimes in Ukraine and Chinese concentration camps in Xinjiang). This is driving the formation of a cyberpunkish sub-vertical of hiding stuff from satellites, but that’s a topic for another day.
Fighting climate change: What gets measured gets managed. To understand our changing Earth, we use remote-sensing satellites to observe it through multiple modalities. Satellites help us track greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, sea level rise, melting polar ice caps, and so much more. And finally, here’s your fun fact of the day: you can see cow farts from space.
Earth observation (EO) for everything else: Beyond cow farts, you can use satellites for so much: detecting tax evasion, tracking illegal deforestation, inventorying earthquake and landslide damage, monitoring volcanoes, planning hyper-specific ski trips, and predicting retail earnings by counting cars in parking lots.
Spillovers: NASA regularly catalogs technology spinoffs developed for space that have now been commercialized. Examples include air filtration, autonomous navigation, EVs, flying cars, and spacesuit designs repurposed for race car drivers. Just like the loads of Formula 1 technology that make its way into passenger car production, space technology often becomes commercialized and cost-effective here on Earth.
Read the full long form read The Space Economy via Not Boring
For further reference:
The future of the space economy via McKinsey
Fans are the new creators
One of the most significant trends in web3 is the re-imagining of fandom: the blurring of lines between fan and creator, between canon and “fanon,” and how fan labor is funded and rewarded.
This trend is best encapsulated by two major shifts:
The divide between fans and creators is disappearing. Fans are exerting significant influence or even co-creating the original work (casting into question what “original” even means)
Fans are employing new business models & funding sources to create derivative projects, where previously these had been nonexistent
The end result is an expansion of what creativity on the internet can look like, with greater access, financial upside, collaboration, and fulfillment.
Read the full post by Li Jin via her newsletter
Five things to know about skills education
It's back-to-school season. But for some in the U.S., especially full-time employees, traditional education is not an option. Yet they want to grow their skills, position themselves for promotions, or transition to a new career. Cue skills-based education. Fortunately, there is growing support for skill-based programs such as boot camps, certificate programs, and workforce training, especially in the wake of the pandemic and the Great Reshuffle.
However, there are some glaring omissions from the conversation on upskilling and reskilling as it relates to the digital economy and in-demand jobs for today's labor market. And company leaders who are willing to invest in skills programs and need a skilled workforce to scale and weather economic downturns should be mindful of these five factors when it comes to skills-based education.
Read What Professional Development is Missing via Inc.
Till next time…
The people with whom we spend our time determine what conversations dominate our attention, and to which attitudes and opinions we are regularly exposed.
-Darren Hardy, The Compound Effect
Cover image: SpaceX