Thursday, December 16, 2021

The Time I Almost Quit My Own Company But Quit a Client Instead

Photo from Feb. 2017, finally free from a bad client.

January will mark the six year anniversary of my small company. I’m thrilled to have recovered from a poor 2020 to make 2021 the most successful year of Astralytical yet!


Five years ago, I almost threw in the towel and gave up on running my little business. Almost. But I toughed it out and learned a lot along the way.


The last year of working for my previous employer was rough. The company stopped meeting regular payroll, a decision they made while I was on my honeymoon after spending our savings on a wedding and a trip to St. Croix.


I struggled with irregular paychecks as my husband and I lived in two different states for the first few months of our marriage. We learned I was pregnant. We had expected to live in two residences on two incomes, flying back and forth regularly to see each other. We quickly realized we needed to consolidate and rethink our finances with a baby on the way.


As my income shrunk and became unpredictable, my anxiety climbed. I tutored in my spare time for the little bit of extra income. In December, in my final weeks of pregnancy, the company stopped paying for our health insurance. I’m forever grateful to my direct boss who ensured I had health insurance for that last month so I could give birth to my child with peace of mind. I officially resigned at the end of that year.


I officially started Astralytical in January with no clear idea of what I wanted to do with it. My initial ideas were to publish reports, consult, and work on academic projects. Those first few months, I felt out the market, trying to figure out where I belonged and what others would pay me to do. I struggled. I was a scientist with no background in business, trying to start a small business part-time from scratch.


I was thrilled to sign my first client in April! It was a milestone for my brand new company. Someone was willing to pay me to help them with their space-related project. That’s exactly what I wanted for my young company and for my future as a consultant! I felt like I was proving my business case. I could do this!


The thrill faded quickly. My client, owner of a one-person nonprofit, had even less business sense than I had. Her heart was in the right place but her finances were not.


My client wanted me to make things happen but was hesitant to pay me for my time to do so. She snubbed my fundraising advice. When I learned she was broke and sacrificing basic living needs to fund the nonprofit, I no longer felt I could ethically continue to charge her. After a few weeks of work, very little money, and no real accomplishments, I felt as though my work with my first client was a failure.


I kept going. For months I volunteered my time here and there, trying to find leads that would pay me. I was thrilled to get a call back months later from a small company I had been talking with earlier in the year. They needed my help to expand into the emerging commercial space industry, they said. Well, they were in luck because that’s my expertise!


I started work with my second client in July. Oh how I wish I could go back in time and fix one thing that would have made all the difference. I knew I had been screwed over very shortly after signing the contract, but what could I do? It was my fault for signing it, for not negotiating better.


You see, they misled me. They weren’t willing to pay me what I was worth. They sent me a contract for a flat fee per month worth about half-time pay. When I pushed back, they claimed it was part-time work. But they didn’t specify in writing. Why oh why did I sign a contract with no cap on the number of hours per month or no tiered payment based on hours worked? I will never make that mistake again.


The job was, in fact, not half-time. Most weeks, it was much closer to full-time. Some weeks, it was well over full-time. My personal life and my mental health suffered as my husband and I moved four times in six months with a young baby and I struggled to get the work accomplished under their short timelines.


Since we had little savings due to my minimal pay the previous year, we really needed the money. I was doing good work and I didn’t want to lose this client. That is, until around three months in.


After I completed my first project, they abruptly decided to change direction away from commercial space. They gave me a new project that was completely unrelated to my expertise. I really should have questioned why I was assigned this work given my total lack of experience with the subject matter. But, I needed the money, and I could learn on the job. I had to keep going.


The client’s expectations were unreasonable. They had never trained me on processes and procedures so I had to figure it all out on my own as I went. This led to a lot of tears when the software they wanted me to use didn’t work, but I figured it out. They set unspoken expectations and I had to guess at what they were. When the second project was assigned, I think they assumed that I knew the process already and could complete the work very quickly. Never mind that I had no knowledge of the topic and the deadline was over the end-of-year holiday season!


October was when I began to admit aloud to my husband how miserable I was. Working too many hours, being significantly underpaid, and dealing with poor and discouraging management – it was all too much.


But I had no other clients knocking at my door, nor did I have time to look for any new clients. My husband was switching jobs and we were moving again. We were house shopping. We needed the income. How long could I stay with a bad client? How long would they keep me? With their pivot away from emerging commercial space, I was no longer a good match for the company. Everything felt wrong.


As the holidays approached, work intensified, and management became harder to deal with and even more discouraging. The year had not gone as I expected. My little company had failed. I was no longer even working on my company. The website existed, but I had been neglecting the company for months to work for a client that was demanding full-time work for half-time pay with no benefits or vacation days. My space career was stalling. Something needed to change.


I could quit Astralytical, I considered. With our move into our new home in a new city complete, I could find a full-time job with benefits and make double what my client was paying me. Why was I continuing down a path that was all wrong for me?


But I still had so many great ideas for Astralytical! I had so much left I wanted to try, so many projects I wanted to attempt. I felt that I hadn’t given Astralytical enough time to prove itself as a worthwhile business. I hadn’t given it the time it needed to really grow as I wanted.


It was settled, then. I would drop the bad client so I could refocus on Astralytical’s core. But, how? I had never fired a client before. I postponed the decision until after I completed the second project in early January.


I was almost giddy with relief when, after handing in that project, the client told me they “couldn’t figure out how to monetize my skill set” and decided to stop working with me for now. I was free!


I was so energized by my new free time to focus on my company, I immediately got to work writing and publishing a mini space report. And I laughed and shook my head in disbelief when the ex-client, who was no longer paying me, tried to tell me I wasn’t allowed to publish anything under my company’s name because it was confusing to their clients. Maybe they should have written that into the contract!


Five years later, that client remains the worst I’ve ever had, the one that almost made me quit consulting altogether. And that’s saying something; I had a belligerent client refuse to pay me earlier this year (just for a 1 hour phone call, thankfully) who only ranks second worst. I’m thankful I kept going. As it turned out, Astralytical did need more time to prove itself and to grow.


With my new focus on Astralytical’s purpose and goals that second year, I formed the space career coaching segment and signed my first coaching client in March. I’ve since worked with over 55 coaching clients from all over the world with a wide diversity of backgrounds, all pursuing space careers.


Also in March, I signed my third consulting client. It was a pleasure working with this client to research and write a report for them that they still refer to today. I enjoy keeping up with their progress to this day. It was this third client that finally showed me what consulting could be like: a mutually beneficial relationship that carries on into the future.


From wanting to dissolve the company at the end of 2016 to delivering a satisfying report to a great client in mid 2017, my mindset completely shifted. I felt like my company was really on the right track.


Altogether I’ve worked with 27 consulting clients on a wide variety of projects internationally. It’s been so rewarding to assist in the background with so many aspects of the space sector from science to education to business to public policy. The diversity of topics keeps me always learning something new and piecing together connections at the intersections.


Six years down, Astralytical is the best job I’ve ever had! I’m looking forward to seeing what the seventh year brings.


Sometimes, when you know you’re going in the wrong direction and you just want to throw up your hands and quit, it helps to dive deeper. What don’t you like about your current path? What do you like about your current path? What would you change if you could? Whether a small tweak or a giant turn, you do have the power to move away from what’s making you unhappy and work toward your real motivations and goals.


I hired a general career coach when I was dissatisfied in my first career job. She advised me to drop what drained my energy and pursue what gave me energy. Or, in the words of Marie Kondo, “Does this spark joy?” If not, thank it and let it go.


I needed to drop the client that drained me so I could pursue forming my small business in a way that brings me joy. And it made all the difference. What changes will you make in the new year?

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Manifesting Space Dreams Into Reality

 

Forming my dreams at the 2010 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference

Human spaceflight always has been emotional for me. From the very first space shuttle launch I saw at NASA Kennedy Space Center when I was a new freshman in college to the new commercial vehicles conducting test flights, there's a mix of rush, excitement, and fear. Lives are on the line. The memory of those we've lost are a constant reminder that these brave pioneers could die before my eyes. But spaceflight is one of the most grand undertakings humanity has ever accomplished. And I want to join them, personally.

It's difficult to express how meaningful it is to know someone preparing to fly to space and to watch them make that dream a reality. I've met over 50 flown astronauts and a few who were selected by NASA but hadn't yet had their chance to fly. But of the astronauts I've gotten to know for more than a brief meeting or two, I knew none of them before their spaceflights. When I met them, they already symbolized that beyond-sky-high achievement that seems out-of-reach for so many of us.

When Alan Stern was selected in October last year to become NASA's first sponsored suborbital researcher on a future Virgin Galactic flight, I was elated. I've known Alan since I was a graduate student and I've worked with him on a number of small projects. I've watched him champion for human-tended suborbital science within NASA and the wider space community.

Alan and two of his colleagues at Southwest Research Institute, Dan Durda and Cathy Olkin, already held tickets to fly as researchers on Virgin Galactic (and XCOR Aerospace back in the day) via SwRI. But there was something about the NASA selection that made it feel more real, more official, more notable. NASA astronaut selection and training is a highly rigorous process with an elite group of very few people wearing the coveted title of NASA astronaut. For NASA to select someone outside of that tight selection process to fly on a suborbital spaceflight on behalf of NASA, that stood out to me as different. As more attainable. As a way for me and others like me to fly as a researcher someday.

My friend Kellie Gerardi blew me away with the way she defined her dream to fly to space (read her book Not Necessarily Rocket Science) and then made it happen! In June, the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences selected her to fly on a future Virgin Galactic research flight. I burst into tears when I heard the news! Not only was I thrilled for Kellie, I recognized her in myself. We share the same dreams and the same motivations. She's making her dream happen. So can I.

On July 1, Virgin Galactic announced the crew of its next test flight with Sirisha Bandla on board. One of my first memories of Sirisha was watching her assist with a raffle at the 2012 Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, both of us watching as someone in the audience won a trip to suborbital space with XCOR Aerospace. XCOR may not have made it, but Sirisha did.

Knot in my throat, I teared up as I watched Virgin Galactic astronaut 004 Sirisha Bandla soar to space today with the rest of the Unity22 crew, focused on suborbital science all the while. Sirisha accomplished her dream today. I can too. And so can so many others who saw her fly today and were inspired by her accomplishment.

One of the first times I met Alan when I was a graduate student, he asked me what I was doing to accomplish my goals. He meant it as a rhetorical question to emphasize a point: it's not enough to dream, we need to take actions to pursue our dreams. It wasn't until Alan spoke at the first Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in 2010 that I even considered the possibility of becoming a suborbital researcher. Now I've witnessed Sirisha make history doing so and I'm cheering on Kellie, Alan, Dan, and others who will someday as well. My dream is to fly suborbital science myself someday. And/or go to the Moon, of course.

What am I doing to make my dream happen? The beauty of this new industry is that there are multiple ways to pursue my dream. I'm involved in the space community, assisting with space payloads and supporting space companies. I'm entering various contests by Inspiration4, DearMoon, Omaze, and others to win a trip to space. I've spoken with flown astronauts and future flyers for my upcoming book on private spaceflight, hoping to better prepare my readers and myself for a future where we ourselves will fly. I'm always open to someone sponsoring my ride – call me!

They can do it. The crew of Unity22 have done it. The crew of Blue Origin's upcoming New Shepard flight are preparing to do it. We can do it too. Space belongs to all of us. This is just the very beginning of newly paved narrow-but-widening paths to allow us all to reach our dream of spaceflight.

Monday, May 24, 2021

Space Podcasts for Your Post-Pandemic Life


Original photo credit NASA

With many of us stuck at home over the past year, companies and individuals have been seeking new ways to communicate with their audiences. The number of space podcasts has skyrocketed. There's nothing more human than to want to connect with other people. Podcasts offer a way for one's voice to reach a wide number of listener's phones and computers.

At the start of the pandemic last year, I listed some of my favorite space-related podcasts. Since then, I've increased my podcast subscriptions to 80 and added quite a few new and new-to-me podcasts to share with you.

Read: 2020's Space Podcasts I'm Hooked On


2 Funny Astronauts

This brand new weekly podcast by Mike Massimino and Garrett Reisman features two astronauts telling entertaining stories about their unique experiences in 25 to 40 minute conversations.


Brave New Space

This space industry-focused podcast by Robert Jacobson and Keegan Kirkpatrick offers 20 to 30 minute interviews with space business guests once or twice per month.


But It Is Rocket Science

This every-other-week podcast by aerospace engineers Henna and Anna offer relatable deep dives into various historical and current aerospace topics and casual insights into the hosts' lives in 30 to 60 minute segments.


Celestial Citizen

This weekly podcast for planning humanity's future in space features 45 to 60 minute interviews with a wide variety of guests by Britt Duffy Adkins just wrapped up its first season.


Dare to Explore

This podcast from the Space Camp Explorers Club is so new, I can't tell you its cadence. Perhaps monthly. It features 30 minute interviews with space-related guests.


Deep Space Podcast

This 15 to 30 minute podcast by Christen Kapavik and Jamil Castillo of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration features interviews with space-related guests.


Dongfang Hour

This 30-minute weekly podcast by Blaine Curcio and Jean Deville covers Chinese aerospace and technology with weekly news summaries and occasional interviews.


Ex Terra

This 30-minute weekly podcast by Tom Patton features interviews with guests focusing on space commerce.


For All Humankind

This new monthly podcast by Matt Marcus and Annika Rollock in partnership with Women of Aeronautics & Astronautics features interviews with young space professionals.


Making Space: The Female Frontier

This 6-episode limited edition podcast by CNET's Claire Reilly tells the stories of trailblazing women in space history and interviews women currently making history.


Mission: Interplanetary

This 30 to 45 minute weekly podcast by astronaut Cady Coleman and Andrew Maynard sponsored by Arizona State University and SLATE features interviews with space-related guests and discussions on space topics of interest.


NewSpaceVision

This monthly podcast by Sven Przywarra and Daniel Seidel, currently on break, offers interviews with space business guests ranging from 20 to 80 minutes long.


Preparing for Launch

This every-other-week podcast by Caroline Swenson of UKSEDS, currently on break, offers 40 to 60 minute interviews with space guests.


SEDScast

This weekly student-run podcast by SEDS USA recently wrapped up season 3. It offers 25 to 45 minute interviews with space guests.


Space and Things

This weekly 30 to 75 minute podcast by Emily Carney and Dave Giles offers space news, space discussions, and interviews with space guests.


Space Business Podcast

This mostly weekly podcast by Raphael Roettgen, produced in partnership with the International Space University, offers 30 to 60 minute interviews with space business guests.


Space Café Podcast

This fortnightly podcast by Markus Mooslechner and SpaceWatch.Global offers roughly 1 hour interviews with space guests. Not to be confused with the live video interview series by the same name.


Space Curious

This 15 to 20 minute, every-other-week podcast by WKMG News 6 reporter Emilee Speck covers questions of interest submitted space-curious audience and features interviews with space guests.


Space Explored

This sort of weekly podcast by 9to5Mac hosts covers space news with a particular emphasis on SpaceX in 30 to 90 minute episodes.


Space Policy Pod

This non-regular podcast by Steve Sidorek, sponsored by AIAA, MITRE Corporation, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce featured 25 to 40 minute interviews with space policy guests.


Space to Grow

This every-other-week podcast by Astroscale's Chris Blackerby and Charity Weeden offers 45 minute interviews with guests on space sustainability.


SpaceBase Podcast

This monthly podcast by Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom offers 30 to 60 minute interviews with space guests relevant to New Zealand.


Spaced Out!

This weekly podcast by Sarah Begum offers 45 to 60 minute interviews with space guests with a particular emphasis on meditation and spirituality.


SSPI

This weekly podcast by SSPI's Lou Zacharilla offers 25 to 50 minute interviews in their Better Satellite World series focusing on how satellites benefit life of Earth.


TerraWatch Space

This every-other-week podcast by Aravind Ravichandran offers 30 to 75 minute interviews with guests to demystify space technology.


The Diaries of Space Explorers

This weekly podcast by Gavin Tolometti offers 45 to 60 minute interviews with young professionals about their career journeys.


Total Space Network

This irregular but frequently published podcast by RichLB, Kage, and Mikko is new to me, but appears to include a collection of shows ranging from 10 to 75 minutes which provide overviews of space news and technology and includes interviews with guests.


Your Space Journey

This non-regular podcast by Chuck Fields offers roughly 20 minute podcasts with a variety of space guests.


Do you have a favorite space podcast not yet featured on my 2020 and 2021 lists? Let me know in the comments. Happy listening!

Friday, March 26, 2021

A Day in the Life of a Space Consultant

 



I'm sometimes asked what it's like being a space consultant and what I do on a daily basis. This question is difficult to answer because my work changes from day to day. I usually respond with something like, “I take care of my clients' needs, do my own internal research, and keep up with the space news and community.”


I thought it might be helpful to document what I do on a typical day. I chose Wednesday, a relatively simple day of no meetings, no phone calls, and no deadlines. I do have days when I'm tied up on phone or video calls more often than not, but those aren't as fun to write about.


I apologize for the length of this play-by-play. Due to the diversity of topics I cover in a typical day, it's unavoidable if I'm to accurately portray just how much I jump around in a typical day.


Wednesday, March 24, 2021


I have the luxury of sleeping in. I'm a night owl and my husband is a morning person, so he cares for the baby in the early morning, allowing me to get up and start work at my leisure. One of the first things I do is check on the status of the SpaceX Starlink launch. I wake up enough at night as it is with my two youngest children, I wasn't going to wake up at 4:28 AM my time for what is now an almost routine launch of satellites. Cheers, the launch was successful!


I check email and listen to podcasts as I start my morning. I'm subscribed to many podcasts, most of them space-related. I listen to podcasts throughout the day when I'm cooking, cleaning, or doing simple labor. By the end of this day I've listened to 4 and a half podcast episodes.


I catch up with my overnight and morning Twitter feed while listening to the rest of Tuesday's FAA Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) meeting which I wasn't able to listen to in its entirety yesterday. I click on any interesting space news articles to add to my “To Read” tab group for later.


I pause Twitter scrolling and the meeting recording in order to read and respond to an email from one of my Generation Z interviewees for the second edition of my first book Rise of the Space Age Millennials. I plan to incorporate the voices of the younger generation in my book on space perspectives, motivations, and dreams. I'm nearly done with the interview process.


While I'm in my email inbox, I start reading through various space-related newsletters. I'm subscribed to 4 daily space newsletters plus at least 11 weekly ones and a few monthly ones. I click on any interesting articles to read later.


I make the painful decision to turn down a prospective client. I hate doing it, but the job wasn't the right fit for my business. I referred him to others. Thankfully, he takes it well.


I send a couple quick emails to members of my sales team who I require updates from.


With email done for now, I return to Twitter and the COMSTAC meeting. I turn my entire attention to COMSTAC for a moment to jot down an exact quote to use in the Astralytical blog article I'm writing about launch delays out of Cape Canaveral.


I resign myself to doing required NASA SATERN training for IT security. I don't do this often, but I include it to emphasize that even a small business owner needs to do tedious stuff like this. One of my clients has a NASA contract that requires it. Thankfully they pay me for my time.


The training takes longer than expected so I pause to make lunch for the kids and me. I finish the training over lunch. Then I take a half an hour break away from my computer to rest.


Back to work! I do a math check for another client working on a NASA proposal on a timely subject. I don't talk about my clients and their work as a rule. But I can tell you my work for clients ranges from business-heavy such as due diligence for investors, science-heavy such as evaluating science proposals, and policy-heavy such as prioritizing national space directions.


I review a draft cover letter for another client who is applying for a space industry job. Then I take another break.


I email my client working on the proposal a few more times. Yes, much of my work involves email.


I catch up with Twitter. Then I turn to my “To Read” tabs. First thing: an article with satellite images of that ship blocking the Suez Canal. An article about corporate responsibility in space. The details of that fabulous polarized image of a black hole. A contract to expand the Space Force's space objects library.


Whew, a quick break. Then more reading. An article on NASA's Commercial LEO Development program following a NASA presentation I attended yesterday. I pause to do some cross-platform social media postings for my company about the topic.


Back to the news. Relativity's 3D printing of its rocket second stage (with a neat video!). An interview with astronaut Kathy Sullivan. A few older articles I looked up on a proposed national spaceport authority that was discussed during the COMSTAC meeting.


I look for an Aerospace Corporation report "A National Spaceport Strategy" published last year but can't find it. I ask my space community on Twitter if any of them know where I can find it.


I take a quick break including checking my personal social media accounts. I read another space newsletter that just arrived in my inbox as well as other email.


I read another article, this one about Astroscale's ELSA-d satellite deorbiting mission that just launched.


I catch up with Twitter and pause to watch Emily Calandrelli's TikTok video on a piece of fabric from the Wright Brothers' plane on the Mars helicopter Ingenuity. 


I read an article on private astronaut training. This reminds me to write a follow-up email with an interview request to a private spaceflight facilitator for my upcoming book about space tourism and private spaceflight.


A take another break. I read another incoming space newsletter. I read an article about a space recruiting agency. Then I visit individual space news websites to find any interesting news I missed. I read the first of a series of articles on the challenges of measuring the space economy.


I catch up with Twitter. Then I read about a seal skin spacesuit by an Inuit artist (with a neat video), followed by an article about zodiacal light due to Mars dust. Yes, I read a lot. This is part of my job. I try to stay informed about as many thing space-related as possible.


Another break. More Twitter. I read an document called Forecasting Future NASA Demand in Low-Earth Orbit from 2019 that was referenced in the NASA presentation yesterday.


Not having received a response on Twitter, I send a quick email to Aerospace Corporation requesting the report about a national spaceport authority.


I complete my analysis on Cape Canaveral Spaceport launch delays for the blog article I've been planning to write. This is a quick task because I've already collected the data, I just need to rearrange it and make the plot.


I get responses back from the Aerospace Corporation by both Twitter and email saying the report is not publicly available. Oh well. I was just curious.


I catch up with Twitter and take another break. If it seems I take a lot of breaks, it's because I have three small children. I'm not even mentioning breaks unless they're at least 3 minutes long.


I begin writing the Cape Canaveral launch delays blog. I want to finish it before dinnertime, but I keep getting interrupted. Eventually the kids win and I stop work for the evening.


Dinner, family time, cleaning, and kids dominate my evening. I get back on my computer just in time to watch the launch of the Arianespace Soyuz at 10:47 PM my time. I try to get the baby to go back to sleep as I read an article about space company exits and SPACS then another on a Cold War project to build a huge radio telescope in West Virginia.


Finally, in the peace and quiet of the late night, I spend half an hour finishing writing the launch delays blog article. It just needs to be proofread before being published tomorrow morning. I end my day reading for pleasure, space-related yes, but science fiction.

Friday, January 15, 2021

Sprouting the Seed of a New Space Analytics Idea

 

Image credit: NASA

Sometimes a seed of an idea takes extra long to sprout. When I started my company Astralytical five years ago, I knew I wanted to focus on analysis of the space industry. I had experience working at a now-quiescent space industry analysis company leading their analysis team. I knew I was good at it.


But I didn't know quite how to achieve the kind of company I envisioned. In those early months of my young company, I experimented writing a short space policy report. But the result wasn't exactly what I was going for. In the following years, a few clients commissioned me to write reports on various space topics, diving deep into areas important to the clients' needs. But there's a difference between working on what someone else finds important versus working on what I find important.


Two years ago, the nucleus of the idea for the Astralytical Explore: Flybys and Orbits began to take shape. I worked with an intern and even hired an artist to create two prototypes. And it wasn't at all what I wanted. I accepted the monetary loss and scrapped the project. I needed to better understand what I hoped to achieve before I could create it.


One thing that has always bothered me is the high expense of industry market reports. I remember reading my first report when I just started my first full-time job, written by a well known general market analysis company. It was... okay. Not great. Even very early into my job, I knew I could have written a better report. I knew the space industry better than they did. I wondered how much my employer paid for this commissioned report but I didn't ask.


The shocker came when I was hired to write two reports for a client and learned how much they were selling the reports for. Let me tell you – these reports are overpriced. They only sell for thousands to tens of thousands of dollars because that's what others are willing to pay. But just because a report sells for $5,000 doesn't mean it's high-quality, accurate, or reliable. I was dismayed at the shoddiness of the process.


I have two problems with the high-cost report model: 1) The price point of these market reports promotes an exclusive, elitist, gatekeeping element to the space industry which is the opposite of my viewpoint that space should be for everyone. 2) The price point also limits the readership of these reports to a very small number, so my work helps very few people. I didn't find it satisfying to work so hard for so long for my work to benefit almost no one.


I kept all this in mind as I formulated the Astralytical Flybys and Orbits concept. Then it came to me: focus. I decided to focus these graphical mini-reports on bite-sized questions. Flybys consist of information and insights surrounding one question of interest. Orbits consist of multiple questions related to one hot topic.


Because these are mini-reports, I could price them accordingly. Anyone can afford a Flyby. And the top-level insights are published for free in Astralytical blog articles. My work can be broadly assimilated by anyone and affordable to those who want to dive deeper. And for those with money to spend, an annual subscription is available to provide even more access to information.


I'm so heartened to have gotten such overwhelming response to my first series on space tourism! This is a hot topic filled with headline-grabbing hype that was a big flashing target for me to tackle in a realistic, critical, hype-free way. I've had the idea of a space tourism report for four years now since I gave the idea to a former client who rejected it, then decided three years later to do it, but did it poorly. In fact, all space tourism reports I've ever come across have been unsatisfactory or laughable. It takes someone who knows the industry very well to do a great job with a report on any topic. I'm literally writing a book on space tourism and I'm excellent at my job. I'm so pleased my work (both the Astralytical Flybys and Orbit series and the upcoming book) will help people widely as they navigate this emerging field.


Sometimes a delayed seed sprouts into a beautiful, healthy plant. I've already dived deep into the next Astralytical Flybys and Orbit topic: launch delays. In-space manufacturing is next. I've got a whole list of hot space topics I'm excited to dive into and release for anyone to read and understand. I look forward to contributing more to the understanding of these topics with a realistic, critical, hype-free eye. The space community needs it.