The innovation that drives space exploration not only aid us in discovering other worlds, but also benefit us right here on earth. Today’s guest is Shelli Brunswick, who joins us to talk about the role of AI in space exploration and how the ‘space ecosystem’ can create jobs and career opportunities on Earth. Shelli is the COO at the Space Foundation and was selected as the 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Role Model of the Year by WomenTech Network and a Woman of Influence by the Colorado Springs Business Journal.
The innovations that drive space exploration not only aid us in discovering other worlds, but they also benefit us right here on earth. Today’s guest is Shelli Brunswick, who joins us to talk about the role of AI in space exploration and how the ‘space ecosystem’ can create jobs and career opportunities on Earth. Shelli is the COO at the Space Foundation and was selected as the 2020 Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Role Model of the Year by WomenTech Network and a Woman of Influence by the Colorado Springs Business Journal. We kick our discussion off by hearing how Shelli got to her current role and what it entails. She talks about how connected the space industry has become to many others, and how this amounts to a ‘space ecosystem’, a rich field for opportunity, innovation, and commerce. We talk about the many innovations that have stemmed from space exploration, the role they play on this planet, and the possibilities this holds as the space ecosystem continues to grow. She gets into the programs at the Space Foundation to encourage entrepreneurship and the ways that innovators can direct their efforts to participate in the space ecosystem. We also explore the many ways that AI plays a role in the space ecosystem and how the AI being utilized across industries on earth will find later applications in space. Tune in today to learn more!
Key Points From This Episode:
Tweetables:
“What we really need to do is wrap it back to how that space technology, that space innovation, that investing in space, benefits us right here on planet earth and creates jobs and career opportunities.” — @shellibrunswick [0:05:52]
“The sky is not the limit [for the role that] AI can play in this.” — @shellibrunswick [0:12:12]
“It is the Wild West. It is exciting and, if you want to be an entrepreneur, buckle in because there is an opportunity for you!” — @shellibrunswick [0:20:36]
“You can sit in the Space Symposium sessions and hear what are those governments investing in, what are those companies investing in, and how can you as an entrepreneur create a product or service that’s related to AI that helps them fill that capability gap?” — @shellibrunswick [0:22:00]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
The Center for Innovation and Education
Shelli Brunswick 0:00
As we look to colonize the Moon and Mars, we're going to need AI in the loop, right? If I'm sleeping on a long mission, AI is going to be monitoring the habitat, the atmosphere inside as well as outside, it's going to help with growing food on Mars.
Rob Stevenson 0:18
Welcome to how AI happens. A podcast where experts explain their work at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence. You'll hear from AI researchers, data scientists and machine learning engineers as they get technical about the most exciting developments in their field and the challenges they're facing along the way. I'm your host, Rob Stevenson. And we're about to learn how AI happens.
Rob Stevenson 0:50
Up until now on how AI happens, we've had a, shall we say? Earth centric focus. So today, we're going to rocket through the exosphere and learn about AI's role in the growing space ecosystem. We're joined by the Chief Operating Officer of the Space Foundation, Shelley Brunswick. Shelley explains how the opportunity in space isn't merely exploration and interstellar travel. And she walks us through the growing tech and labor needs for space, and how AI will play a crucial role.
Shelli Brunswick 1:24
Well, I'm honored to share with your audience that you know, my journey has three chapters. And my first chapter was I enlisted in the US Air Force right out of high school, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I didn't have the college money, and I wanted to see the world. So the Air Force offered a great opportunity to be an enlisted airman to get stationed overseas to learn a trade and go to school at night. So that kind of culminated the first chapter of my journey that enlisted time and being overseas. And the second chapter of my life started when I applied to become an officer in the Air Force. And I was selected to be a space Acquisition Officer, which is like space project management. And that really started me on the trajectory to where I am today. And the last five years in the Air Force, I worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative liaison. So it's a really exciting time and expanded my horizon really shared the strategy, the importance of policymaking, international partnerships and relations. And then the third chapter is when I was selected to be the chief operating officer where I am today.
Rob Stevenson 2:26
That's truly an awesome journey. I didn't know that about you that you were in the Air Force. What was kind of your early role there your MOS? Or should I say?
Shelli Brunswick 2:34
So when I was an enlisted airman I was an HR, so human relations. And so that was all about how do you work with people? How do you help people get to where they want to be training promotions. And so those skills stayed with me then even as I became an officer, because you're leading people, so how do you help, you know, lead people and encourage people and ultimately, you cannot force people to do things you really want to get them to buy in and help them be part of the journey. And that's the exciting part about space, too, is how do we reach out to underrepresented groups help them be part of this journey with us. So my early career was human relations. And then when I was an officer, I was a space acquisition person, the whole time I did space, I did space as a program manager, I taught at Defense Acquisition University, or I worked on Capitol Hill as a great representation of what the space ecosystem was. So those are kind of the two skills that I bring with you. And my one quote that I always share from a great mentor along the way was, it's all about relationships. And so that's whether you're in HR or in space or working on Capitol Hill. It's all about the relationships you make and maintain in life.
Rob Stevenson 3:40
Yeah, I love that. So, so true. And your background has taken you through being a veteran through being a teacher relations with government officials on Capitol Hill. What made you decide that you wanted this role, and you wanted to focus your career on space, and particularly at the Space Foundation?
Shelli Brunswick 3:57
Well, excellent question. When I was transitioning out of the Air Force, you know, you have many opportunities and going into being a project manager for space at a company was an option. There were some I could have gone back to Defense Acquisition University or gone back into academia. But the Space Foundation really attracted and pulled me the Space Foundation is a nonprofit, a US nonprofit does business internationally. And it has three main divisions. It has our symposium where we have your trusted source of information and our annual symposium that's taking place in April 4 through seventh here in Colorado Springs, where we bring that global space community together. We just launched two years ago, our Center for Innovation in education, and it's something I've been working on for a long time. And it's really about creating lifelong learning to unlock economic development and workforce growth so that all citizens can be part of that space ecosystem really diversifying space. And then our third division is our global alliances. Again, another area I'm passionate about is how are we partnering with international organizations? How are we partnering with governments like are we do have an office in DC, so your trusted source for partnerships. So the Space Foundation just really played to that service before self that I was taught in the Air Force, that giving back, you know, I had wonderful mentors in my journey. So I wanted to give back and hopefully be a wonderful mentor and help create mentors for the next generation in the global space industry.
Rob Stevenson 5:22
You mentioned now a couple of times the phrase space ecosystem, I kind of want to double click on that, because when most people think of space, or maybe I'm just speaking for myself here, we think of space exploration. And what are the probes we're sending out into, into the near solar system? And are we colonizing Mars? But there's space ecosystem makes it sound like there's more to it than that? How would you define space ecosystem?
Shelli Brunswick 5:46
So the Space Foundation define the global space ecosystem in 2020, through our annual the space report that it was $447 billion. And of that 80% is commercial, its products and services that are benefiting individuals that are creating jobs, that are unlocking Investment and Opportunity. And the great part is that from $447 billion by 2030, they're saying that global space economy is going to be more than a trillion. And by 2040, over 3 trillion. And so you're looking at exponential growth, exponential growth in the commercial side. And so I define that global space ecosystem is yes, it's exciting to return to the moon and on to Mars and beyond. But what we really need to do is wrap it back to hell, that space technology, that space innovation, that investing in space, benefits is right here on planet Earth and creates jobs and career opportunities.
Rob Stevenson 6:41
Yes, and that seems to tie in with the mission with the Center for Innovation of education, right? And the idea that you're more democratizing access, pulling from a more representative group spaces for everyone, how do we think of jobs that this ecosystem is going to create, and put people in position to go and get those jobs? Are these jobs like kind of across the board? Are they more technical? What are they look like?
Shelli Brunswick 7:04
So when we think back 60 years, and we think about the space ecosystem, we're thinking about a very certain demographic. So you're looking at two countries that were in a space race, you're looking at a STEM workforce science, technology, engineering, and math, you're looking at white males, primarily, and you're looking at a government worker. Now, as you roll that pendulum to where we are today, there are more than 90 countries operating in space. And there are more countries that want to operate in space. And there are countries that want to utilize space technology. So ultimately, every country on planet Earth now wants to participate in space in some way, shape, or form. You're not looking at Yes, we still need STEM professionals, we still need rocket scientists and astronauts. But I also need machinists and supply chain. I mean, let's think about our supply chain over COVID, we've realized how fragile it is, well, that supply chain impacts not only our food source, it impacts aerospace, and space, and defense and intelligence and AI are seeing the chip shortage, the impact it's having. Those are great paying jobs that are part of that space ecosystem. Now, we need artists, we need entrepreneur. So you know, 60 years ago, you worked for the government or you were kind of a government contractor. Now you have entrepreneurs that are across the industry, and they're in all their 16 different sectors that relate to that space ecosystem. So yes, space is one of those 16. But some of the others are the Internet of Things, transportation, healthcare, agriculture, finance, education, public safety, and more. So the opportunities for students, you know, young children, looking at opportunities, space is no longer something we memorized. It's not what we did. It's not about the past. And it's not about memorizing planets. It's about creating wonderful career opportunities for high school graduates to PhDs to find career success, and fulfillment and how they want to contribute to the world.
Rob Stevenson 9:07
In addition to machinists, supply chain logistics experts, is there a need for podcasters? Well, actually, yes.
Shelli Brunswick 9:13
Let's think about inspiration. How do we inspire people to come into the space industry artists are podcasters in the media and and artists, movies, TV shows? I mean, how many times do we think about Star Trek and go, Oh, look at that cool technology. And now we all look at, they had communicators on their shirts, we would have never thought that would happen. But now you know, y'all got Fitbit watches, which is kind of like the communicator from Star Trek. So we look at technology from movies, and we try to emulate it. I mean, so yes, podcasters you're getting that messaging out, you're sharing inspiration. You're inspiring individuals to come look at how does AI happen? And today, how is AI and space connected? So there's a place for you in the space ecosystem?
Rob Stevenson 9:59
We should circle back, maybe Off mic. But surely I love when guests do my job for me, you pose that question, I'm gonna kick it right back to you. How are AI and space connected? What is the opportunity for artificial intelligence to play in a growing space ecosystem?
Shelli Brunswick 10:14
Well, we can kind of look at how AI is already playing. So we can look at satellites are sending imagery down to planet earth. There's AI already in that enhancing the images, we have communications coming from satellites to Earth, or satellite to satellite, and AI is enhancing that communication stream, you can look at mapping the planet Mars, that's using AI technology, you can look at algorithms that are enhancing how quickly we can make decisions, we do status of health checks with satellites, normally, a human being does that. But that can also be automated. And we can also do self healing types of software. So there's a way AI is already playing, and we can exponentially grow that. So let's think about Mars. We landed a rover last year, and we had a drone fly on Mars, I assure you, there are some artificial intelligence in there somewhere. As we look to colonize the Moon and Mars and deep space exploration, we're going to need AI in the loop, right? If I'm sleeping on a long mission, AI is going to be monitoring the habitat, the atmosphere inside as well as outside, it's going to help with growing food on Mars, taking care of the environment, clean scrubbing the air, so we can breathe. So there's a huge role for AI as we go into outer space and beyond. But we can think about some of that AI. Now, let's think about GPS. I mean, how many of us think about GPS, we don't. But it is an infrastructure, our entire economy is living on. GPS was put up by the US government, no charge, but it has now unlocked billions around the world. Our entire financial system is running on GPS, which is also artificial intelligence. You can also look at how GPS has created those companies that were utilizing. You're looking at Airbnb, and Uber and Lyft, and all these other apps, all running on the backbone of GPS and utilizing artificial intelligence. So look at what we're already doing. And your experts in the audience probably have exponential ways to grow this. And another great place for your entrepreneurs in the audience to go is to the NASA technology transfer office, there are 1000s of patents that NASA has that are waiting to be commercialized. So whether they're in AI, or communication, or transportation, or public safety. For your entrepreneurs in the audience, there's a way to go to the NASA tech transfer site or the European Space Agency, ESA has a tech transfer site. If you go to the NASA one, and you're a US citizen, you can apply for a small government grant to help develop that technology readiness level. So I share with you that the sky is not the limit in how AI can play in this.
Rob Stevenson 12:55
I love that I love this notion that in addition to going beyond the idea of just exploration or sending probes out or interstellar travel, it sounds like a lot of the opportunity for AI mirrors, the kind of technologies we're developing here on Earth. So in the example of agriculture, right, it's going to be some technology developed for a farm on earth that we're eventually going to put on Mars is that belief. So
Shelli Brunswick 13:19
what I'm gonna say is we're already using satellites and AI in agriculture, we use precision agriculture now, that increases crop yields by 10%. So as the population on planet Earth grows, we really need to have different agricultural methods, we don't have the ability to expand the land use anymore. So what are some of those? Well, Hydroponics is a great way of growing food, especially as the climate is changing. But think about hydroponics now on Mars or in deep space exploration or on the lunar surface. We don't need soil, so Hydroponics is perfect. Now, where am I gonna get the water for hydroponics? Well, we both we know that both the Moon and Mars have water. So there's a water source. So those are ways we can grow food off planet, but I'm going to use AI in how I'm maintaining the climate of that hydroponics. When do those crops need to be watered or fertilized. And here on planet Earth, I'm already using that precision agriculture, with GPS helping to plant the crops. But I also can use satellite technology that is sending imagery down and data that's been analyzed by AI to say these crops may have a insect infestation, they need to be treated, or these crops need more watering, or these crops have something else going on. So by using satellite and Space Technology, or you could use drones and then using artificial intelligence to help process that data rapidly. Farmers can now more accurately grow larger yielding crop yields that we need to feed our hungry planet.
Rob Stevenson 14:50
You're blowing my mind a little bit here surely and I think it's because I'm realizing I have a very earth centric view of Business and Entrepreneurship by But when one thinks of the future of their own industry, it behooves them to imagine the space ecosystem and imagine how these technologies are going to play outside our own atmosphere. So how much of that? Do you suppose mirrors the work we're doing here on Earth, and how much of it changes just in relation to the fact that we are off planet,
Shelli Brunswick 15:19
everything will change. And the reason I say that, first of all, space is hard. Rocket science is hard. launching rockets is not easy. It's really about weight, how much weight can I get off planet? So every time we launch something, there's an expense. Now, the great part of SpaceX and their reusability model is it greatly lowered the cost of launch. So innovation is important. So yes, we still have to get things off world. But once I'm off world, can I manufacture in space? And that's part of what Jeff Bezos talks about, can we manufacture in space? Well think about how you're going to go to work every day. If you're manufacturing in space, you're probably going to get put on some VR goggles, because you're not launching every day to go work, you're going to work using artificial intelligence. But once we're off space, how are we going to build that habitat on the lunar surface, I'm probably going to use 3d printing and robotics. Again, I'm using a lot of AI in that technology to build that habitat. I could build that habitat on Earth too. But you should know the ground of Mars is toxic to human beings, there's particles in there that's toxic, so we can't use the soil on Mars to grow food, it's toxic. So everything from the world, the atmosphere does not support human beings, we currently can't grow food, they're creating water there could be challenging, we've got to get to those polar caps, we've got to be able to use the water that's frozen on Mars and the Moon. And then let's talk about the human being. We're not designed to live off world we're designed to live in a world that has an atmosphere that protects us from radiation, we're designed to have gravity we've learned when astronauts do long space trips on the International Space Station, they start losing bone mass and muscle mass, your heart is a muscle can damage your heart. Men develop eye problems, women develop osteoporosis. Let's talk about the loneliness of living in space or deep space. We've learned during COVID The challenges of being isolated. You asked me my alma mater at CSU Pueblo were the pack human beings are pack animals to we're not designed for isolation. So how will that happen on deep space missions? How will that happen on Mars when you're in small groups of individuals? So scientists and medical experts are thinking about all these challenges of what is it going to be like to live off planet Earth, and we need artificial intelligence to help us run those simulations help us have those breakthroughs, help us come up with better solutions faster. So AI is part of that future of offworld. But it's here on this planet as well, helping to make this world better as well.
Rob Stevenson 17:59
You had mentioned that in the last issue of the space report, the Space Foundation had identified was just under half a half a trillion in terms of the space economy, right, this whole entire space ecosystem, rounding 50 billion or so despite that huge number, it strikes me that the amount of companies playing in this space are still relatively low. You think of the big ones, right? You think of the government agencies you think of the SpaceX is, do you first see this being a huge area of entrepreneurship. You mentioned that you can go to NASA take a patent commercialize it, what is the opportunity for growth for entrepreneurs and for new businesses, who wants to start playing in space?
Shelli Brunswick 18:38
So one of the things we have at this space foundation under our Center for Innovation in education is our space commerce Institute. And it's all about entrepreneurship, how to be an entrepreneur, what does space entrepreneurship mean leadership, mentoring, as well as coaching and counseling. So there are numerous ways you're going to be able to play in the space ecosystem. So I'm in Colorado, we have a huge amount of entrepreneurs in cyber and space throughout the Front Range, we call it but you can see that throughout the US as well as around the world. You know, the reason all these countries want to have space agencies and want to stand up space organizations and do investment in space, as they look at what the US did 60 years ago, when we invested in that space race to who was going to put a man up first, who was going to land on the moon first and all those activities. We had secondary technology that was developed and commercialized. So people think about Tang it wasn't exactly Tang, but it was formulated food. Think about firefighters that fire retardant clothing or if you have children and you buy fire retardant bedding that all came from the space industry, cordless power tools, new types of clothing and athletic wear mammogram technology, cataract surgery, better weather predicting. So no detectors, smoke detectors. So what I'm sharing with you is I don't know how investing in space asin all these amazing technologies will create spin off commercialization. I mean, first of all, the US government probably has around 15,000 patents. And it's growing every day, whether that's NASA Air Force, research lab, Department of Energy, and more. And then you've got the European Space Agency having patents. So there's already patents that are waiting to be commercialized, brought to market create jobs, unlock innovation, and better life on Earth. But as we continue to invest in these other solutions, what will the benefits be, and I just shared one with you about, you know, SpaceX has a different launch model of reusability, that greatly reduced the launch cost. And by doing that, we've now allowed kids to create CanSat, that can actually be launched on rockets, which before was cost prohibitive. So now universities can do research, countries that maybe had very small budgets are now able to participate. There's an organization called Milo, that helps universities find ways to launch experiments into space. So it's created a whole new ecosystem of helping those players that were excluded from the space industry from being part of it now. So what I'm going to share with you is, it is the wild, wild west, it is exciting. And if you want to be an entrepreneur buckle in because there's an opportunity for you.
Rob Stevenson 21:19
I love it. Related to that, if I'm an AI practitioner listening to this, how would you advise they go about beginning to point their own expertise and technology into the space ecosystem? Is it as simple as going to NASA's patent website and filtering for AI and machine learning? How do they start to play?
Shelli Brunswick 21:36
So obviously, AI and machine learning is a huge component of it, and the Internet of Things, and AI is going to grow exponentially. So I can, I can just sort that out from space and say, AI is a huge market, but there is that intersection of AI and space. And if that's where your passion really is, one, probably your entrepreneurs out there probably have a million ideas, because that's how entrepreneurs are they have tons of ideas. But if you're an entrepreneur, and you're thinking, Yeah, I like AI and I like space, I always say that first place to go for ideation could be the NASA tech transfer office. It may not be a patent you want to take to market but it might give you some ideas of what's going on. You can also look at what are companies or organizations wanting to do like NASA has published their Artemis plan, and they show the technology gaps they currently have. Or you could go to events like I shared earlier Space Symposium, we have the government agencies come you know, we anticipate probably 30 Plus international governments will come you can sit in those sessions and hear what are those governments investing in? What are those companies investing in? And how can you as an entrepreneur, create a product or service that's related to AI, that helps them fill that capability gap, because ultimately, entrepreneurs, you found a problem, you created a solution, and your solution is better than anyone else's. And a great place to do that market research is at Space Symposium. iaac is also a great conference that takes place that will take place in September in Paris. But since I'm with the Space Foundation, I'll first encourage you to come and join us in April 4 through the seventh in Colorado Springs, either virtually or in person.
Rob Stevenson 23:14
I love that I will put links to the Space Foundation events in the shownotes. So folks can check that out and learn about how they can you know, contribute. I Shelley, I'm going to ask you to prognosticate a little bit here. Because it is such an exciting time to be alive right now. Because things that were just the realm of science fiction writers we're seeing coming to life all around us to push that further a little bit. 20 3040 years down the line. When you imagine the kinds of things that will become commonplace as GPS, for example, which is something that we don't even think about. But when you stop to really pause, it's mind blowing, right? The idea that your phone can just point you within a couple of yards to location and how important it is to our day to day lives getting around in finding places and whatnot. Do you foresee a space bound technology like that, to us is truly mind blowing, but will become so commonplace? In a few decades that it's just taken for granted? What about the next few decades of innovation? Truly excites you? I guess, is my question.
Shelli Brunswick 24:18
So there's a lot of great innovation taking place I shared with you the Internet of Things, AI robotics, and there is that intersection of space healthcare, how are we going to improve the human beings in our lives? You know, we've talked about you know, some technology we have the Fitbit, but you know, eventually are we going to have similar to the Borg. Are we going to have interfaces, you know, Elon Musk has come up with a brain implant interface. So will we have other interfaces that benefit our lives as maybe we age or have disabilities or other things? So what I'm going to say is for your audience, you do have to buckle in, because change is going to happen rapidly. We saw a lot of change with COVID So just think about that kind of change as it relates to jobs. So what that means is, some jobs are going to go away, some jobs are going to change, and new jobs are going to be created. So we're seeing challenges with jobs going away. We cannot attract enough truckers right now. Right? You know, you listen to the news, waitstaff at restaurants and bars, we still need those jobs. But those are some of the jobs that AI is going to eliminate in the future. Now, it'll eliminate those type of jobs, but new jobs will be created, right? The people who manage that, who work for the bar, or the restaurant that manages the AI system, so new jobs will be created. So we're gonna have to be rescaled and upskill. The other part is jobs will change. So I always like to say, let's think about the car mechanic. 30 years ago, you took your car to the mechanic, and maybe you got it back in a week. And maybe they figured out what was wrong with it, right? Because they had to just tinker. Now your car will tell you, hey, something's wrong. And you take it to the mechanic and they plug it into a computer and the computers talk and they say, Hey, here's what's wrong with me fix it, and maybe you get it back in a couple hours. So technology has changed the mechanics job, it hasn't eliminated it, it just changed how the mechanic does it. So that's going to happen to all jobs rapidly. So in about five or 10 years, we're gonna see more than 50% of the jobs change. So we as human beings, have to be able to handle that change and create those rescaling and upskilling programs. So you've heard you've even heard Jeff Bezos talk about rescaling and upskilling. So and rescaling upskilling can be just like the mechanic, do they just go to a short course or a community college? Or is it online? Is it a fellowship and internship, formal, informal education? So what does that educational process to continue to rescale and upskill our workforce as these jobs change? And then obviously, what is that innovation, so we do have a lot of challenges facing us. Climate change, sustainability, growing food and austere conditions, technology is also part of solving those solutions. So I think you're gonna see a rapid amount of technology and innovation, to lead us to solving the challenges we have and creating a better quality of life for humanity. And that's the goal. So are we going to be living on Mars in the future, I do anticipate that I do anticipate will will have a lunar colony, I do anticipate we will have private space stations, I anticipate we'll have hotels and space where you can go up and hang out and do a family vacation. So I really do see a lot of the excitement that's there. But I do want to caveat that with there is going to be change and people's jobs and what they're used to. We're going to have to do a lot better with resiliency and change management and being okay with rescaling and upskilling and changing jobs and changing technology
Rob Stevenson 27:48
that feels like a little bit of a scoop. The Mars colony, the lunar colony and the inevitability of a space b&b type company. Shelly This has been so wonderful chatting with you. I've really enjoyed this has been exciting and inspiring. And thank you for being here and sharing your expertise and your vision with me today. I've really loved it.
Shelli Brunswick 28:07
Well, thank you so much. It's been an honor being with you and just like anybody else you talk to I'm sure they want to share with you how they see the future. And again, I think there's a place for everyone in the growing space ecosystem even podcasters.
Rob Stevenson 28:22
How AI happens is brought to you by sama. Sama provides accurate data for ambitious AI specializing in image video and sensor data and notation and validation for machine learning algorithms in industries such as transportation, retail, e commerce, media, med tech, robotics and agriculture. More information, head to summit.com