Ask people about the Apollo space program and they’re most familiar with Apollo 11, when man first set foot on the Moon. But by many accounts, an even more daring and risky mission occurred seven months earlier when Apollo 8, crewed by Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders, became the first manned flight ever to reach the Moon. The story of Apollo 8 has it all: an existential enemy (the Soviets); a race against…
Stofiel Aerospace is a St. Louis company which has developed a functional rocket nozzle that is printed using high grade 3D printing, and which is capable of carrying small payloads to high altitude. It is the first solid fueled rocket to thrust, throttle, and vector. They’re perfecting the technology for orbital capability. Brian Stofiel of Stofiel Aerospace will discuss his experience founding a Midwest space business – recruiting talent, fundraising, and developing novel space technologies.…
The commercial space industry is currently experiencing exponential growth which will continue over the next several years. This provides entrepreneurs, startups, and businesses novel opportunities to embark on ventures into space and the space economy. One of the challenges to a successful space business is a legal minefield of regulatory schema unique to the space industry that must be navigated. For example, many do not understand the applicability of arms control regulations to manufacturing otherwise…
Formed in early 2017, Boeing’s HorizonX leverages the power of the world’s largest aerospace company to bring new business ventures to the market to unlock the next generation of game-changing ideas, products, and markets. From investment capital to tech commercialization and market access, HorizonX turns new ideas and businesses into reality. Investment and partnership areas of interest include: disruptive mobility, advanced logistics, connectivity, autonomy, advanced manufacturing, advanced materials, cybersecurity, AI and machine learning, industrial IoT,…
Business Opportunities on the High Frontier This month, NewSpace Chicago comes to Adler After Dark. Join us for the Adler Planetarium’s 21+ December event Spacecation! NewSpace Chicago founder David Hurst will be a featured speaker, presenting “Space is Open for Business: Business Opportunities on the High Frontier” and discussing the booming commercial space economy. Technological innovation and new business models are rapidly changing the marketscape and opening up new opportunities for space-related and space-scalable ventures. The…
Join us for a conversation with Dan Lopez, CEO and Founder of OrbitMuse. Dan will give an overview of Orbitmuse, a FinTech solution that democratizes the funding of space programs and supply chain transactions, while accelerating Space development startups globally. He will provide insights into Space startup crowdfunding, equity financing, and distributed ledger transactions on the blockchain. He will also discuss how the vibrant and growing Space development startup community can leverage novel approaches in…
Media and creative content company FRC submitted an entry to the NASA 2017 Film Festival called “Space Crazy”. The film highlights Chicago and two leaders of NewSpace Chicago: David Hurst, CEO of Orbital Transports, and Capt. David C. Koch, CEO of Air Chicago. Here is an abstract for the entry: Space has the power to touch humans in untold ways and for some, it makes them crazy. I learned that my creativity was grounded until…
Fashion and Aerospace have been partners since the first Space Age. Their historical achievements have paved the way for a robust textile industry that serves both our needs on Earth and our Space endeavors. In addition, Space can be a hostile environment both physically and psychologically and fashion has a role to play in both. It brings forth the material science to protect humans from harmful radiation as well as flexibility to enable mobility to…
Raising funds for a start-up that plans to operate in outer space can be a challenging task. Crowdfunding leverages the power of your network to gather support for new ventures, both financially and otherwise. Several NewSpace companies have successfully used crowdfunding campaigns to launch their operations. For this event, we’ve gathered together a panel of crowdfunding experts to discuss the different types of crowdfunding, the pros and cons of each approach, successful approaches for launching…
Join us for a discussion with Glen Hillier about the exciting solar cell technology he is developing at MicroLink Devices. His company is a materials R&D and semiconductor production business based in Niles IL, a north-west suburb of Chicago. The company is currently focused on their Epitaxial Lift-Off (ELO) Inverted Meta-Morphic (IMM) solar cells. These flexible high-efficiency and high-specific-power solar cells are currently being deployed on Airbus Defense’s Zephyr High Altitude Pseudo Satellite (HAPS) aircraft. …