Everything we do here is how do we affect the lives of a billion people.

Whether it's cancer research, oncology, broadly, leukemia, longevity,

trying to figure out the next generation breakthroughs and semiconductors.

I think we're going to find new chemistry for batteries to even greatly accelerate

the transition to electrical electrification. So I think of those things. And again, before we go

off and buy another insurance policy to protect the human race by putting five people on the

planet and try to regrow, I'm convinced that we need to do more here

not to screw this place up. As we wrap up the year, we're playing back some of our favorite

conversations from 2024. And this one is my interview with Tom Wee, CEO of Sierra Space

and co-author of the book We Have Lift Off. The mission of his company is to build a platform

in space that benefits life on Earth.

I met Vice back in March at Sierra Space's headquarters in Louisville, Colorado.

We talked about the research possibilities in a more commercialized space, what's to come in the orbital age,

and we're playing it on today's show because it ultimately made me, and I hope

you, a little more optimistic about the future. Maybe we'll get to the business-e stuff.

I'm more curious about the life stuff, the possibility. So, I mean, what is life in low Earth orbit

going to look like? Yeah, you know, I think it's good maybe to take a step back and think about, you know,

we're transitioning from 60 years of space exploration to a point where we're now moving

into the full commercialization of low Earth orbit.

We're transitioning from a time when just a handful of astronauts on government-owned space

stations have been doing some research on north orbit to the point where we will now be

doing building factories, building cities, finding the next generation of disruptive products

...