GPS 31 US operated Global Positioning Satellites orbit 12,000 miles above the earth. Every smartphone on earth uses them, free of charge, courtesy of the US government. GPS is the invisible clock that holds the modern world together. Cell towers, stock markets, power grids, air traffic control. All of it synchronizes to atomic clocks in orbit, accurate to within nanoseconds. It's mission critical infrastructure. And it lives in space. NUKES In 1962, the US detonated a 1.4 megaton nuclear weapon in orbit. There were only 24 satellites circling the globe at the time, vs thousands today, and the blast knocked out a third of them. SPACE For years the media framed the space race as a billionaire vanity contest. Musk as the hare, Bezos as the tortoise. But per Rocket Dreams, they missed something: "Elon Musk doesn't get caught napping. He doesn't nap. He barely sleeps. He runs hard, all the time." Nearly 25 years after founding SpaceX, Musk is taking the company public in one of the largest IPOs in history. Whether you see it as infrastructure, defense, multiplanetary survival, or the world's most ambitious AI play, the market has spoken on how seriously it takes space. The valuation still seems wild to me. But it's hard to bet against the man who doesn't nap. Book: Rocket Dreams by Christian Davenport
Full Transcript
Since SpaceX is about to IPO, I want to talk about the significance of space using GPS and nuclear bombs as examples. And I know SpaceX is a huge AI play inside of a rocket company, but this part from rocket dreams is fascinating. 31 US operated global positioning satellites orbit 12,000 miles above Earth. Everyone with a smartphone uses them free of charge courtesy of the US government. There's no cost whether using things like Google Maps or Waze to know your location. But there's also an additional largely unknown variable, time. GPS is the primary backbone for determining precise time worldwide. Each satellite carries multiple highly accurate atomic clocks that allow humans anywhere on Earth to synchronize within nanoseconds. Cell towers use it to send messages, stock markets use it to record trades, air traffic controllers use it to guide jets, power grids use it to sync electricity flow. It's mission critical for so many different industries. And the US put this network in space when it was largely thought of as a peaceful sanctuary. And now space has the potential to become a war-fighting domain. So what would happen if a nuke was detonated in space? Well, we did this. In 1962, the United States detonated a 1.4 megaton nuclear weapon in orbit. At the time there were only 24 satellites circling the globe versus thousands today, but the blast knocked out about a third of them. It also left a belt of radiation for months, disabled streetlights in Hawaii, and damaged the electrical grid. So it's been a known concern for decades. Donald Trump officially directed the Pentagon to begin establishing Space Force in June of 2018. The US Space Force was officially established as the first new branch of the armed services in 1947 in December of 2019. At the time a lot of people thought this was ridiculous. Netflix even released a comedy series starring Steve Carell. >> The president is creating a new branch. Space Force. Which Mark will run. >> What? >> Which I thought was pretty funny, but that's beside the point. Space is now very serious. What's wild is that SpaceX was founded by Elon Musk in 2002. And for decades many media headlines made it about the billionaires race to space. In this race Musk was sometimes depicted as the hare and Bezos as the tortoise. For this book which I really enjoy, they failed to account for one thing. Elon Musk doesn't get caught napping. He doesn't nap, he barely sleeps, he runs hard all the time and drives his employees to do the same. And now nearly 25 years later whether it's a matter of industry or defense, putting humans on other planets or orbital AI, the importance of space is clear in what will be one of the largest IPOs ever. Valuation still seems well to me but it's hard to bet against the man who doesn't nap.
Original Description
GPS
31 US operated Global Positioning Satellites orbit 12,000 miles above the earth.
Every smartphone on earth uses them, free of charge, courtesy of the US government.
GPS is the invisible clock that holds the modern world together. Cell towers, stock markets, power grids, air traffic control. All of it synchronizes to atomic clocks in orbit, accurate to within nanoseconds.
It's mission critical infrastructure. And it lives in space.
NUKES
In 1962, the US detonated a 1.4 megaton nuclear weapon in orbit.
There were only 24 satellites circling the globe at the time, vs thousands today, and the blast knocked out a third of them.
SPACE
For years the media framed the space race as a billionaire vanity contest. Musk as the hare, Bezos as the tortoise.
But per Rocket Dreams, they missed something: "Elon Musk doesn't get caught napping. He doesn't nap. He barely sleeps. He runs hard, all the time."
Nearly 25 years after founding SpaceX, Musk is taking the company public in one of the largest IPOs in history.
Whether you see it as infrastructure, defense, multiplanetary survival, or the world's most ambitious AI play, the market has spoken on how seriously it takes space.
The valuation still seems wild to me.
But it's hard to bet against the man who doesn't nap.
Book: Rocket Dreams by Christian Davenport
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