As an expert in 3D printing for terrestrial applications, Robert Ihnatisin was surprised by how slow the in-orbit manufacturing industry was progressing. So, naturally, he started a company to solve the problem himself.

In first grade, Patrick Miga saw a photo of Neptune (snapped by the Voyager 2 spacecraft).. Ever since then, his life has been directed toward space.

“That’s where I realized we’re stuck at a 1980s standard: still shielding spacecraft with aluminum, and rad-hardened electronics [were] too expensive to build at the scale this economy demands,” Hunain told Payload.

When Dhruv Jain transferred to a new school, he joined the astronomy club on a whim. Soon, he was chasing meteor showers and tracking the transit of Venus—and now, more than a decade later, he’s built a career helping space companies track objects in orbit.

To many young space enthusiasts scrolling on TikTok, Camille Bergin is the face of the industry.

Arpi Beshlikyan’s top priority is making a big impact. Right now, space is the vehicle allowing her to do that.

Marc Galobardes Esteban cofounded Amura Space (formerly known as CISGAM Inc.) in 2025, to rethink how the space industry approaches propulsion in orbit.

“Many of the geopolitical issues that we see in the nuclear weapons space are replicated when it comes to space security issues,” he said.

“My primary goal was to build the credibility of this domain in India,” he said. “Everyone was thinking, ‘This is a little bit too far-fetched.’”

What do a bird, a shipping container, and a polar bear have in common? They can all be tracked with tech from EarthTraq.

“We just want people to get started so they can focus on the mission, and not all the tinkering,” he added.

Space is now widely viewed as the newest warfighting domain. Ritisha (Risha) Das is working to make sure it can be used for peace as well.