WHY AREN'T WE FLYING FASTER?

antimemo

Everyone’s heard of hypersonics. Few understand them. It’s time to fix that.

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PULSE CHECK, MANUFACTURING

pulse check

We asked the nation about a topic near-and-dear to our hearts: reindustrialization. And here's what we found.

ARCHITECTURE MOVEMENT: PHOTONICS

antimemo

We’re building cathedrals of compute — racks of silicon, corridors of power — on a dying substrate. Electrons powered the last epoch. Photonics may define the next.

Realities of Space-Based Compute

antimemo

There’s been a lot! of noise about space being the “natural” next frontier for data centers. We've been seeing a flood of surface-level commentary on orbital data centers. But very little that digs deep. This antimemo is a step toward greater depth.

Pray Not for Easy Lives, But to Be Stronger.

mission

This manifesto explains why we champion 'hard pursuits,' the obstacles they face, and how our community aims to overcome them. Whether you're already building at the frontier or looking to join the effort, we invite you to be part of a movement that values the difficult path — because that's where true progress happens.

The End of Thirst Traps

antimemo

The American Southwest is running dry — and most solutions sound like sermons: conserve more, grow less, accept decline. This isn’t a morality tale. It’s a blueprint for turning sunlight and seawater into a future that can keep growing.

Tribal Knowledge's Comeback

antimemo

There's a common refrain that we can’t build this* anymore, we forgot how to do it. That's called tribal knowledge. This antimemo is a step toward restoring that lost mastery and rebuilding American industrial power from the inside out.

"LEADING THE SPACE ECONOMY" c/o Space Capital

teardown

Teardown dissects the most critical companies in today’s deep tech ecosystem — one stack at a time. This edition features Space Capital, the sector-focused VC backing space-based infrastructure across GPS, comms, and orbital tech, with $430M+ AUM and a decade-long edge in the domain.

"Full-Stack Communications" c/o CesiumAstro

teardown

Teardown dissects the most critical companies in today’s deep tech ecosystem — one stack at a time. This edition features CesiumAstro, the vertically integrated comms company delivering phased arrays, flight-ready spacecraft, and modular SATCOM at commercial speed.

"Nova" c/o Stoke Space

teardown

Teardown dissects the most critical companies in today’s deep tech ecosystem — six points at a time. This edition breaks down Stoke Space’s Nova system for rapid, full-stage reuse and orbital launch resiliency.

"Clarity-1" c/o Albedo

teardown

Teardown dissects the most critical companies in today’s deep tech ecosystem — six points at a time. This edition breaks down Albedo's Clarity-1 VLEO satellite for unprecedented, ultra high resolution imagery.

"DAPS" c/o Divergent

teardown

Teardown dissects the most critical companies in today's deep tech ecosystem — six points at a time. This edition breaks down Divergent’s DAPS: an end-to-end platform for design, print, and assembly.

"TILE" c/o Sophia Space

teardown

Teardown dissects the most critical companies in today's deep tech ecosystem — six points at a time. This edition breaks down Sophia Space TILE: a solid-state, modular edge server purpose-built for in-orbit AI compute.

"SiPhOG" c/o ANELLO Photonics

teardown

Teardown dissects the most critical companies in today’s deep tech ecosystem — six points at a time. This edition breaks down ANELLO Photonics’ SiPhOGTM: a chip-scale gyroscope using silicon photonics to deliver GPS-free precision navigation across land, air, and sea.

"Redwire Space Case Study" c/o Epsilon3

teardown

Teardown dissects the most critical companies in today’s deep tech ecosystem — six points at a time. This edition breaks down Redwire Space’s use of Epsilon3: a software backbone powering modern space mission operations.

Newsletter 012

newsletter

The U.S. can’t build without China. From rare earths to battery metals, America’s supply chain runs through geopolitical fault lines. This edition maps the mineral dependencies we don’t talk about—and what it would take to mine our way out.

Newsletter 011

newsletter

Everyone’s talking about AI policy. Few are asking who’s actually implementing it. This edition traces how America outsourced its digital backbone, why today’s “whole-of-government” plans lack teeth—and what it would take to rewire the system from the ground up.

Newsletter 010

newsletter

In 1969, we landed on the Moon with slide rules and soldering irons. Today, we can’t build our own rocket engines. This edition unpacks how America lost its edge in hard tech—and why rebuilding that capacity is our real moonshot.

Newsletter 009

newsletter

America once built the future—now it buys it. This edition breaks down the U.S. deep tech dilemma: why the supply chain is brittle, capital risk-averse, and talent fleeing. We dig into what it'll take to build again—and why time’s running out.

Newsletter 008

newsletter

Everyone’s heard of hypersonics. Few understand them. It’s time to fix that.Once a Cold War fantasy, hypersonics are now a Pentagon priority. This issue of Per Aspera cuts through the hype—what the science says, why it matters, and how the U.S. can close the gap.

Newsletter 007

newsletter

Austin as the first live A/B test of autonomy stacks; the probabilist and the determinist; probing the Per Aspera hive mind; a private GPS successor;

Newsletter 006

newsletter

America says “build here” but 81% don’t understand high-tech manufacturing. This is the first honest read on what the country actually thinks about factories, automation, and our industrial future.

Newsletter 005

newsletter

Electrons can’t keep up with AI’s thermal and latency demands. This antimemo explores how photonic interconnects and optical architectures offer a path beyond the industrial internet’s limits.

Newsletter 004

newsletter

We don’t need a rain dance — we need a systems upgrade. In this newsletter, we give desal the love it deserves. We explore what real intervention looks like: a solar-powered, off-grid desalination system delivering 4.5 million acre-feet per year — integrated with aquifer recharge and targeted flows to revive the Salton Sea.

Newsletter 003

newsletter

America’s industrial strength was never just a story of machines — it was a story of people. In this newsletter, we map the people and their expertise. Where it’s vanished, why it’s so hard to recover, and what it will take to preserve and leverage this disappearing advantage in the age of automation.

Newsletter 002

newsletter

So you want AI factories? This 002 newsletter is about how everyone’s hyping space-based data centers — yet, no one’s doing the physics. Beneath the glossy concepts lies a missing conversation: the economics.

Newsletter 001

newsletter

Nobody’s coming to save us. After months of careful preparation, we welcome you to the inaugural edition of the Per Aspera newsletter. Thanks for your patience. As you can see, we’ve poured our heart and soul into this, so this had to be done right.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RYAN DUFFY

CREATIVE DIRECTOR JOY SHIN

ADVISOR, RESIDENT INVESTOR JEFF CRUSEY

CHIEF HISTORIAN & FUTURIST DAN GOLDIN

X (FKA TWITTER)

YOUTUBE

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