We've gone from about 2,500 satellites in low-earth orbit in 2020.

So that's like 60 years of doing stuff at space to get to that point.

And by the end of this year, we'll be at around 10,000.

So it's growing exponentially.

It'll get to 100,000 in the next decade quite easily, I think.

And we've never dealt with anything like this.

I'm Mary Long, and that's Ashley Vance, a writer at Bloomberg, an author of the new book,

When the Heavens Went On Sale, The Misfits and Geniuses, racing to put space within reach.

Deirdre Willard caught up with Vance to discuss how much failure it takes to get above the Earth's atmosphere,

what life is like in outlaw space towns, and how to separate the real players from the hype in the space industry.

Quick note, this conversation was recorded before Virgin Orbit announced that it was shutting down.

Well, the book title kind of refers to what I would call a sea change in the world of getting to space.

You don't need to have a government anymore to have a rocket.

You just need a lot of money.

So what are some of the pros and cons of the current state of space exploration?

Well, a lot.

Both sides.

Yeah, you know, I mean, my book really is about this moment in time when basically for like 60 or 70 years,

we had a handful of governments that did most of the things in space.

And then we moved to this billionaire phase where really SpaceX, Ineon Musk are kind of the only success stories, you know, writ large.

And then now this era of venture capital.

And so the major pros are the things are moving much more quickly than they ever have before.

...