My three-year-old son’s dino phase is ending. His fascination with space has begun.
A Buzz Lightyear teddy now guards his bed. He had me ask “the lady on my phone” (ChatGPT voice mode), “How do astronauts pee in space?”
There’s something about rockets and astronauts that light up young imaginations. For too long, all we’ve had to tell kids about space were 50-year-old stories. The last human walked on the Moon during the time of rotary phones. Two generations have grown up without seeing a single human venture beyond low-Earth orbit.
Good news, my fellow Rational Optimists. After a half-century hiatus, we’re back! And it’s not just Elon Musk’s SpaceX or Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin. A new bull market is emerging in space.
A small Texas company just planted its robotic boots on the Moon. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost stuck a perfect landing in Mare Crisium, a lunar plain the size of Alabama.
It’s carrying NASA gear to poke at moon dirt and gather data we’ll need to build permanent bases there. Here’s a picture from the first successful touchdown by a US lunar lander in 53 years.
Looks fake, but it’s real:
Intuitive Machines’ Athena also flew 238,000 miles to the Moon. It stuck an imperfect landing near the Moon’s south pole, touching down on its side and cutting the mission short. Space is hard.
Japanese company ispace’s Resilience rover is due to land on the Moon on June 5, equipped with scoops to grab precious moon rocks.
We can thank Elon Musk for unfreezing the space industry. SpaceX’s reusable rockets slashed the cost of reaching space from $30,000/lb to $1,200/lb—a 96% cost reduction!
Were it not for SpaceX, the US would still be begging Russia for space access.
New question on The Rational Optimist Society entrance exam: When you look up at that silvery orb in our night sky, do you see: (a) a cold rock, or (b) humanity’s next economic frontier?
Mark my words: We’ll manufacture computer chips on the Moon in our lifetimes.
Chipmakers like Taiwan Semiconductor spend billions of dollars each year building plants. These plants require immaculate cleanliness.
A dust speck smaller than a germ can sabotage the intricate patterns etched onto silicon wafers. Engineers shuffle around in bunny suits inside “clean rooms,” where the air is up to 10,000 times purer than hospital operating rooms.
Space’s near-vacuum is a chipmaker’s dream: sterile, zero dust, zero moisture, and zero contamination. Nature’s perfect clean room.
Imagine unboxing your new iPhone 25 and running your finger across “Manufactured on Luna” engraved on its case.
Don’t laugh. The “launch, build, return” space industry is already emerging. LA-based startup Varda has shown us it’s possible to manufacture things in space and ship them back down to Earth.
Varda is making impossible-to-replicate drugs in orbit. Its second “space factory,” carrying drugs grown in microgravity, parachuted back to Earth last week.
That streak of light cutting through the atmosphere is medical innovation literally falling from the sky:
We’re inching toward a future where “launch, build, return” is as routine as a FedEx pickup. That same heat-shielded capsule technology could bring moon-made computer chips back to Earth.
And we haven’t even touched on AstroForge, which just launched the first asteroid mining prospector. Its Odin craft is on a 300-day journey to survey an asteroid believed to be rich in metals. Imagine the wealth locked behind space rocks.
There’s almost too much happening in space. This is the private takeover of space my friend Matt Ridley predicted back in 2010 in The Rational Optimist.
“Why care about space when Earth is a mess?” It’s a fair question. The US has sunk over $650 billion into space in 70 years. A grump might snort, “For what?”
Well, what do water filters, LASIK eye surgery, GPS, cordless tools, and smoke detectors have in common? We only have them because we went to space.
While we’re not living in space (yet), the act of going to space is the ultimate pressure cooker for ingenuity. Space exploration is like an R&D lab for Earth. The technologies we develop racing to the Moon rain back down on us.
NASA developed memory foam for spacecraft seat cushions. Scratch-resistant lenses were built for astronaut helmet visors. Wireless headphones originated from radio systems built for rockets. Your smartphone camera is a direct descendant of sensors created to snap shots of distant planets.
At least a dozen objects in your home only exist because some engineer had to solve an impossible problem in space.
Space Race 2.0 is already delivering new technologies. With 7,000 satellites whizzing overhead, SpaceX’s Starlink beams high-speed internet to the most remote corners of Earth. It’s already connected 4.6 million customers worldwide.
Starlink recently inked a deal with T-Mobile, which will expand internet connectivity to almost anywhere. Simply point a Starlink dish at the sky. High-speed broadband for everyone.
If you live in rural America with unreliable internet, Starlink may have already changed your life. Imagine what it’ll do for the rest of the planet.
SpaceX is also an incubator for great new ideas.
Radiant Nuclear was founded by former SpaceX engineer Doug Bernauer. He recognized the potential of nuclear power when exploring energy solutions for Mars colonization. The company is building mini nuclear reactors so compact and safe, you can transport them by truck.
Another team of SpaceX engineers, who designed life support systems for SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, spun off a startup. It’s creating ultra-efficient air purification systems for hospitals, reducing infection rates by 47% in early trials.
The second reason space matters can’t be typed into a spreadsheet... but I think it’s more important. Space is pure optimism fuel.
We started The Rational Optimist Society to fight pessimism and apathy, especially for our kids. We all have two options to protect our kids from being disillusioned by the exaggerated negativity in corporate and social media.
One, try to shield them from the negativity. That’s practically impossible. We choose option two: Show our little ones all the amazing humans solving hard problems and pushing humanity forward.
Space exploration might be the single best way to do that. Seeing spaceships punch a hole in the sky is an instant reminder that humanity rocks.
I haven’t seen a rocket launch up close yet. I’m hoping to change that soon. Friends tell me it’s an emotional experience. People cry as they look up in awe, feeling the ground shake beneath their feet.
When a teenager watches a 15-story rocket land itself, their perception of what’s possible fundamentally changes. No lecture needed. It’s obviously amazing.
When Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon in 1969, an entire generation thought, “If we can do THAT, we can do anything.”
The “Apollo Effect” was real. The number of science and engineering PhDs in America doubled during the Space Race. Steve Jobs was 14 when Apollo 11 landed. Bill Gates was 13. Jeff Bezos, born the year after the first Moon landing, was so inspired by space he’s now spending billions of dollars building rockets with Blue Origin.
A recent study asked American teenagers what they want to be when they grow up. The #1 answer: YouTuber.
This is worrying. We need better heroes!
Exploring space is the best way to reopen what Joe Lonsdale at American Optimist calls “The Frontier.” We humans need a frontier. When we stop exploring, we stagnate.
When JFK told America in 1961, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade,” the US had a grand total of 15 minutes of human spaceflight experience. We had no idea how to fly to the Moon, land on it, or return.
A mere eight years later, Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface.
Two more important things to know about space:
1: Space used to be the domain of lumbering government agencies. Now, it’s a playground for nimble startups. From launch providers and satellite services to space mining and orbital manufacturing, the space economy will be worth trillions.
There’s always a bull market somewhere.
2: Aerospace engineering has been largely a dead-end career choice. Now, it’s one of the most sought-after skill sets in the world.
Kids fascinated by space today will have unprecedented opportunities to work in the industry tomorrow. Not just as astronauts, but as engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs.
Tell your kids the final frontier is open for business. Maybe one day, they’ll call home from the Moon.
If you’re wondering, the phone in your pocket is already capable of sending texts to a phone on the Moon.
Introducing AI agents
America’s two leading artificial intelligence (AI) labs—OpenAI and Anthropic—recently launched AI agents.
An AI Agent is different from an AI chatbot like ChatGPT. Chatbots answer questions. Agents do tasks for you.
You can give an agent an open-ended task like, “Plan my anniversary trip.” It will research destinations, compare flights and hotels, check your calendar, book reservations, and even suggest romantic restaurants—without you micromanaging it.
OpenAI’s first AI agent, Operator, can navigate websites, click buttons, fill forms, and scroll pages using a computer just like humans do.
Unfortunately, Operator is “unavailable” where I currently live in Europe. European stagnation, a story for another time...
C’mon, Europe!
But my American friends rave about Operator. I’ve seen demos of it ordering groceries, scheduling haircuts, and ordering stuff on Amazon. It breaks down complex tasks into steps and works autonomously until the job is complete.
Anthropic also debuted “Computer Use,” which lets Claude take control of your computer. Give it a task, and it’ll move the mouse, type commands, click buttons, and even write code.
Welcome to the self-driving internet!
Within five years, you’ll have a team of specialized AI agents working for you. These digital helpers will know you and be tuned into your habits and quirks.
Your health agent will notice your sleep patterns are off and adjust your lights to help reset your circadian rhythm. When you mention a nagging cough, it’ll book a doctor’s appointment at your preferred clinic.
Your chef agent will see you’ve had a stressful week at work and know the salmon in your fridge expires tomorrow. It’ll suggest an easy 15-minute recipe.
I’m most looking forward to networking agents. My business trips are often a chaotic mess of meetings scattered across a city with no logical flow.
I’d pay good money for an AI agent that knows my network and whom I should meet… talks to other people’s AI agents to find the perfect meeting times… and clusters meetings by neighborhood so I’m not zigzagging across the city.
You need an elite personal assistant to do this today. AI agents will give us all our own Chief of Staff.
Did you know doctors spend half their time filling out paperwork instead of treating patients? Imagine an AI agent that pre-fills medical notes, listens during appointments, and flags important follow-ups.
Doctors testing out early versions of AI agents say they can finally have “heart-to-heart conversations” with patients instead of staring at a monitor.
Let’s think even bigger.
Picture an AI agent dedicated to curing cancer. It could digest every medical journal, clinical trial result, and research breakthrough ever published and then continuously run simulations, identify promising treatments, and direct research funding to the most promising leads.
AI agents are still in their early stages. They’re clunky and make mistakes. The first iPhone’s touch keyboard was frustrating, too. The next big thing is never perfect upon arrival.
Last story for today: My wife and I had dinner at Dublin’s first omakase (sushi) restaurant. Ten seats, one chef. Every detail was perfect.
The chef wasn’t wealthy, but he was doing what he loved. Why aren’t there millions more places like this?
AI agents can give us that future. Most creative ventures never get started because the economics don’t work. One guy can’t make perfect sushi, administer the business, pay rent, monitor online reviews, file sales tax returns, and manage a staff.
The stress and costs pile up… and the next wonderful sushi place is nothing but “what could have been.”
Imagine… total relief from mundane, repetitive, logistical drudgery, freeing us all to do more of what we love.
What will you do?
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Writer: Stephen McBride
Editor: Dan Steinhart
Rational Optimist Society: ROS