The Prototype: SpaceX Powered A Record Number Of Rocket Launches In 2024 – Forbes
In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at the growth of the space economy, a company making quantum integrated circuits, using blue light to make industrial chemicals and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.SpaceX Starship launch in SeptemberLast year set a new record for rocket launches: 259 orbital launch attempts, which is a 17% increase over 2023’s 221 launches, reports Jeff Foust at SpaceNews. A significant amount of this increase was driven by SpaceX, which saw 134 launches last year, up from 96 the year before. Rocket Lab also set its own new record with 16 new launches in 2024 compared to 10 in 2023.Expect more records to come: SpaceX is targeting between 175-180 launches in 2025. And the industry as a whole is expected to grow to about $1.8 trillion by 2035 compared to about $630 billion in 2023, according to McKinsey. One big winner in space has been Starlink, which a Quilty Analytics report predicts will see over $2 billion in revenue in 2025 and nearly 8 million subscribers.What might the next big winners in space be? I recently talked to Robert Savage, head of markets strategy and insights at BNY . His research suggests big opportunities for energy storage to overcome limitations for current satellites, as well as debris removal–a solution requiring more urgency as more and more satellites are placed in orbit. “You have so much space debris that it’s a limiting factor to getting more satellites up there,” he said. “So you need a company to help clean up.”Stay tuned.SemiqonA key component of pretty much every computer you’ve ever used is a “complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor” better known as CMOS. This type of transistor is used in chips to regulate the flow of electricity, among other things.Quantum computers, though, often can’t use conventional components like CMOS because they have to operate at temperatures near absolute zero. This environment dramatically not only reduces the efficiency of normal electronics, but also the heat they dissipate can disrupt the delicate workings of quantum processors.As a result, “the input/output is a real bottleneck for quantum computing,” Himadri Majumdar told me. He’s the CEO and cofounder of SemiQon, which in November of last year unveiled a CMOS that’s optimized to operate at extremely cold temperatures, which means it could potentially be integrated with quantum computers.This technology, he said, could pave the way for integrated circuits for quantum computers, which would dramatically decrease their size and cost as well as improve their overall performance. The company has already produced a 4-qubit quantum processor using its technology (“qubit” is short for “quantum bit”) and plans to ship 12-qubit versions to researcher customers later this year as it continues to both develop and scale.“We believe we have the best product-in-market right now and there’s a kind of soft-validation of it from our potential customers,” Majumdar said. “So we are going to productize that very heavily in 2025. We have a first-in-market advantage with it and we want to capitalize on that.”Adding chlorine to organic compounds helps create the building blocks of a number of important materials, including pharmaceuticals. But the process of manufacturing them often requires harsh chemicals, high temperatures or both. However, a team of researchers at Rice University have developed a new chlorination method that uses blue light and low-cost catalysts that can work at room temperature. In addition to being a more sustainable method, the new process is also more precise than conventional ones, meaning that it’s more likely to create a pure product. The research was published in Nature Synthesis.Last week, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe set two major records. First, it traveled at over 430,000 miles per hour–making it the fastest human-made object ever. Second, it set a record for an object to get close to the surface of the Sun – just less than 4 million miles away. And while that sounds like a lot, it was close enough to put itself in the Sun’s atmosphere, giving scientists an unprecedented look at the chemical processes that occur there while the craft itself survived temperatures of over 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the first of several such passes the probe is expected to make through the life of its mission. Take that, Icarus.In 2020, Forbes named Katherine Homuth to its 30 Under 30 list in the Manufacturing & Industry category for her company Sheertex’s development of rip-proof pantyhose. Fast forward five years later, as my colleague Amy Feldman reports, and her company now sees $30 million in annual revenue. It expects even more in the coming years as it develops new clothing materials. Next up: swimsuits made of a water-repellent fabric that can dry in half the time of conventional suits.To kick off the New Year, I rounded up five big breakthroughs from 2024 that lay a foundation for tech we’ll be using in the future, including DNA computing and successful drug manufacturing in space.My colleague Richard Nieva reports that the capability of LLMs to act as “agents” may finally make digital personal assistants like Siri and Alexa useful.Researchers have discovered that pancreatic tumors contain an excessive amount of the enzyme MICAL2. The discovery could pave the way for new treatments for one of the deadliest cancers, as tumors with low amounts of MICAL2 showed much slower growth.A team of scientists at Stanford discovered biomarkers that can predict the durability of immune response after vaccination, which could one day personalize someone’s vaccine booster schedule for maximum effect.A new study suggests that geoengineering the atmosphere to cool the climate could save hundreds of thousands of lives per year from heat-related deaths, though the tradeoffs could be significant.Using a protein found in zebrafish, researchers were able to repair damaged hearts in mice without any side effects, which could be a foundation for regenerative heart treatments in humans.The rake is more than just the arch-nemesis of Sideshow Bob: it may also be key to restoring native ecosystems. A new study found that raking away dead leaves, stems and other debris from plants that aren’t native to southern California resulted in more growth of native wildflowers, although there was a tradeoff in enabling more non-native wildflowers to grow as well. But that hiccup “doesn’t mean raking isn’t worthwhile,” study co-author Advyth Ramachandran said in a press release. “It’s a simple, low-cost method that could be a first step for restoring these systems.” The study was published in the journal Restoration Ecology.Over the holiday break I read HHhH, Laurent Binet’s debut novel about Operation Anthropoid, the successful World War II plot to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, who was the number 2 man in the SS after Himmler and architect of the Holocaust. It’s a novel about not only the events that led up to the operation, but also a meditation on what it means to write a historical novel. It’s a tremendous read.One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. 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