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Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
61–70 of 155 posts
Re: Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
#62I've worked in aerospace and have been reading HN for over a decade. Here's some adult advice, for both the OP and HN in general. Space is a waste of time unless you're a government or a bored billionaire. Objects are too far, and lift is now a commodity. (SpaceX will probably end up shutting down due to lack of lift demand, hence their polluting the sky with micro satellites now.) So if you really want a career in s…
> installing ADS-B.
Can you tell me a bit more about it?
Re: Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
#63Start by assuming SpaceX will be successful with Starship and Starlink. That means they drop launch costs to $20/kg at scale, find themselves with NASA-level funding from Starlink subscriptions, and start building permanent installations on Mars and the Moon.
Figure out something they're going to need for those. Musk has said they're relying on other companies to provide the infrastructure to actually live on Mars. Be one of those companies. If it's something modest but really useful, you don't have to be a big company at first.
Or, recognize that everybody's building lightweight, expensive, super reliable satellites because launch is expensive. Figure out how to build the cheapest possible satellites instead. Your financial constraints will give you a different mindset than people with serious resources.
Re: Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
#64I've worked in aerospace and have been reading HN for over a decade. Here's some adult advice, for both the OP and HN in general. Space is a waste of time unless you're a government or a bored billionaire. Objects are too far, and lift is now a commodity. (SpaceX will probably end up shutting down due to lack of lift demand, hence their polluting the sky with micro satellites now.) So if you really want a career in s…
> installing ADS-B. Can you tell me a bit more about it?
Re: Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
#65Governments with space programmes will fund lots of research-type projects as well as purchase goods and services they actually use.
But if you'd best pick something you can do for the million or two they might give you like niche software or analysing EO data or space imagery or lightweight materials rather than hope to launch a cubesat constellation or get to Mars.
Re: Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
#66How does anybody bootstrap anything these days? Marketing and kickstarter!
Re: Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
#67Space based solar like CassioPeia is an interesting format. Designed in a way that you can start with a smaller scale model to prove the concept and then work upwards.
Re: Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
#68How does anybody bootstrap anything these days? Marketing and kickstarter!
Given marketing encompasses ‘only building things people want’ this actually isn’t too far off base.
Re: Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
#69Look for some NASA/US Gov RFPs and open contracts for some low level manufacturing/sub-contractor work on their space missions(or sub contract work from prime contractors). Get the necessary certifications. When you do win bids, hire the right people, then provide the services, and money starts coming in. I'm sure there is a banker or financial institution out there that'll hand out funding to someone that actually h…
There are a lot of companies that set up shop right next to Boeing, and simply provide services to them. Probably all the other big aerospace companies, too. That sounds like a great way to get your foot in the door.
Re: Ask HN: How would you bootstrap a space company?
#701. Use Deep RL to predict stable 3D protein structures that would not normally occur in Nature 2. Simulate gravitational dynamics to winnow down candidate crystals that cannot be synthesized in terrestrial conditions because they would collapse under their own weight 3. Find novel applications for those proteins such as DNA data storage and computation 4. Design a prototype microgravity factory that operates at scale…
Each one of those steps is a billion dollar company.
Sounds like a 5 billion dollar company in the making then! :)