11.10 Right now, we’re at a new stage of crypto policy says Smith. Halloween marked the 14th anniversary of the first bitcoin white paper, she points out, explaining that agencies are trying to test the limits of their authority, and that we’re also seeing proactive litigation coming from the industry when agencies fail to act.
Congress has realized there are gaps in the legal regulatory structure when it comes to crypto, and they’re working to fill those gaps with legislation, she adds.
11.00 Welcome back! We’re now moving onto the thorny subject of crypto policy, and the risks and opportunities presented by this new world of digital finance. Our China reporter Zeyi Yang will be helming the next group of discussions.
Our first speaker is Kristin Smith, the executive director of the Blockchain Association, the Washington DC-based trade association representing more than 90 of the industry’s leading companies.
10.30 We’re now going to take a short break. We’ll see you back in around 25 minutes!
10.25 The entertainment industry has so much to gain from producing films or TV shows in space, she says. Despite its long history in space, research and development is another sector that could stand to greatly benefit from greater expansion beyond Earth, as could pharmaceuticals and manufacturing.
“The technical stuff will always be a challenge—the people stuff is a different challenge,” she laughs.
10.10 The ISS is like a playground for scientists, Ruttley says. Orbital Reef is not just about science, she says, it’s about supporting visitors who want to travel, who want to experience being in space for themselves. “It’s about supporting media and entertainment. It’s about supporting new markets that NASA was never intending the ISS to do,” she adds.
10.04 Next on stage is Tara Ruttley, who is Blue Origin’s chief scientist for Orbital Reef, a future commercial space station in low Earth orbit.
Orbital Reef, which is being designed to host crews of passengers in the next few years for tourism, in-space manufacturing initiatives, and research, was first announced last October. NASA awarded it $130 million last December to help develop alternative destinations in space once the ISS begins to wind down at the end of 2030.
10.00 The main purpose behind creating a hybrid space network is a desire to create common, universal standards that makes it easier for both systems and hardware to communicate more effectively.
“Everything is in space today is disconnected. There are purpose-built satellites systems with proprietary communications architectures, so much like the period before the internet existed, you have to have the right tools and software in order to leverage information from all these disparate systems.
“The recognition is that there’s actually more economic benefit to having integrated architectures, much like your mobile phone. I don’t care which which provider you use, and which type of hardware you use, because they’re all integrated together. Standards allows us to to communicate and then leverage that information in a totally different way for physical transportation, or everything that we do today.”