Seven, six, five, four stage engine start.

Three, two, one, and lift off.

We close with good night, good luck, and God bless all of you on the good earth.

Welcome to Next Giant Leap, a podcast from GZero's Blue Circle Studio and produced in partnership with MDA Space.

I'm Mike Massimino, Columbia professor, and former NASA astronaut.

And I'm Mike Greenlee, CEO of MDA Space, a global leader in communication satellites, Earth and space observation,

and space exploration and infrastructure.

When most of us think about the space industry, we imagine rocket launches, space stations,

and moon landings. But behind the scenes, a powerful economic engine is taking shape.

This new economy touches nearly every aspect of modern life, from the weather app you check

every morning to the GPS you use to get to work every day. That's why some estimate that the value

of the space industry could reach as high as $1.8 trillion by 2035.

This rapidly expanding sector is reshaping everything from everyday conveniences to global markets.

So how do we make the most of this moment?

And what could it mean for jobs, investment, and innovation here on the ground?

Today on Next Giant Leap, we're uncovering how the space economy is becoming a powerful

force in our lives and where it might take us next.

All right, Mike, what technologies do we use every day that originated from space programs?

I think they estimate now that space touches people's lives like 20 times a day.

And so I think it's more about how the technologies and the things in our everyday life are influenced by space,

as opposed to actual technologies that have come from space down to Earth, for example, like we're not all using space shuttle toilets or anything like that, you know. No, I wouldn't recommend it, actually. No, I figured you wouldn't recommend it. I wanted the real one when I got back. That wasn't fun. But in terms of, like, obviously, like you say, getting up. Increasingly so, our lives are influenced by space.

So, you know, the traditional things the last number of years have been the positioning,

...