Faster innovation cycles (no more 12-year hardware refreshes)

And because this is actually competition, there’s incentive to not just ship, but to build it bulletproof—security is basically the cost of entry.

But… Can Commercial Really Solve Military-Grade Problems?

Here’s where I get a bit nervous. Innovation is great, but the military world eats security requirements for breakfast (and lunch, and dinner). We’re talking HARD compliance, the kind that makes GDPR look like a terms of service checkbox. Can a startup juggling VC meetings and rapid prototyping survive that?

Still, if anyone’s motivated, it’s the companies tired of legacy bloat. I’d bet the new space crowd can automate security into their stack better than most defense contractors. Imagine a DevOps pipeline, but for satellites—a “CI/CD to orbit” kind of thing.

# This is how I imagine a startup satcom pipeline (someday)
git commit -m "Upgrade encryption"
git push ork-orbit
sat-launch --env=staging --auto-validate --security-checks

Okay, maybe we’re not there *yet*, but the vision is real: ship securely, ship often, don’t wait five years for hardware sign-off.

Big Picture: More Than Just Tech

What really excites me isn’t just new satellites. It’s the idea that regular(ish) people, not just government insiders, can help shape the way our species communicates across space. If this trend sticks, we’re talking about faster reaction to new threats, less dependency on slow-moving giants, and potentially, a path for everyday engineers (or wild-eyed entrepreneurs) to make history.

Maybe one day, every time you stare at the stars, you’re pinging a packet through a relay someone built in a garage... might sound scary =))