Keeping up with a torrent of updates from dozens of space companies, just for a single year, feels like a herculean task even for a beat reporter focused solely on this industry. But what perhaps interests me most is what permeates beyond the “space bubble” – especially as I straddle what the industry cares about, versus what the CNBC audience (and the broader American public) wants to read.
That, combined with the fact that NYC isn’t exactly a space stronghold, means I see how rarely the space bubble reaches the rest of the country — especially the average investor. Looking back at 2023, my most-read stories were spectacular highs and lows, like the moon landings of ispace and India or Starship’s pair of fiery test flights.
For comparison, the space industry doesn’t command people’s day-to-day attention in a way that, say, the tech world does. Throngs of investors follow FANG stocks, and consumers look for updates about new iPhones or changes to Netflix pricing. The space industry doesn’t draw the same widespread attention to new spacecraft deliveries or rocket prices, even if those in the bubble care a lot.
So then how do space companies, especially publicly-traded names, break out to connect with folks who aren’t focused on space? Does the industry need to break out of the “space bubble” into the mainstream? Or is the insulated nature of the industry a permanent feature that must be factored into any company’s messaging?
I explored these questions recently in a conversation with Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus, as 2024 is shaping up to be the year the U.S. returns spacecraft to the moon. A veteran of NASA, the most recognizable name in space, Steve is now tackling this messaging dilemma as an executive whose company could attempt to land its first lunar mission during the middle of the trading day.
For the past few years, Altemus has focused on keeping shareholders engaged while preparing the IM-1 mission to the moon. Now he needs to inform investors, as well as the broader public, about how the effort progresses after its scheduled launch next month and provide reassurance if it faces any challenges or setbacks.
“We built resiliency into our business so that we’re not a one-off kind of company that built a lunar lander and is going to throw it to the moon, hope for the best and if it succeeds, you go on, and if it fails, you go under. It’s not like that,” Altemus said.
Therein lies the tension the company faces, between reaching millions through an inspiring and exciting mission to the moon, versus setting itself on a long-term path to making lunar missions routine. Intuitive Machines will attempt to balance both in a manner similar to Japanese company ispace’s first moon mission earlier this year, during which the company laid out a series of milestones to showcase the technological progress of the flight. Altemus emphasized that the company’s milestones will track how successful it is along the way, and not just whether it lands on the moon.
But Altemus also doesn’t want “routine” to mean “boring.” He compared a lunar spacecraft to a Formula 1 racecar, pointing to “the thrill of pushing the envelope in engineering a system that’s so finely tuned that it’s on the edge at every moment.” That’s the kind of excitement he wants to showcase alongside building a stable company.
“You could make money a whole lot of ways – but this isn’t just about making money. It’s about achieving something while running a business and innovating,” Altemus said.
Programming note: Investing in Space will be on hiatus next week for the Christmas holiday. Watch for the next edition on Dec. 28
