Carissa-Christensen-WIP1

The space industry is many industries in one, and it’s growing

A conversation with Carissa Christensen, founder and CEO, Bryce Space and Technology
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Just last year, Morgan Stanley estimated that revenue in the space industry could triple to more than $1 trillion over the next 20 years, with interest on the commercial, civil, and defense fronts. Employment in the sector is also expected to continue to grow with the increased interest in space exploration.

Many of the jobs require tech skills—from aerospace engineer to avionics technicians to data scientists—but not all of them require a four-year degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, having a degree in data analytics can give you an edge.

There’s a Lot of Data Analysis in the Space Industry

“In the past, you might have seen people who have engineering backgrounds, people who have operations research backgrounds, or straight up analytics or even statistics backgrounds migrate into data analytics in the contemporary sense,” explains Carissa Christensen, founder and CEO of Bryce Space and Technology, a space industry analytics and engineering firm.

“More recently, you absolutely can get a degree in data analytics and that’s a very prized and coveted set of capabilities. Companies find it challenging to hire graduates with those skills. There’s a lot of competition for those folks in the space industry and many other industries,” she tells me in this episode of the Work in Progress podcast.

Geospatial Analysis and How it is Used

In particular, there is a demand for a part of the space sector you may never have heard. It’s one that is used across all sorts of industries. “The geospatial industry uses data related to location, data related to timing, data related to imagery, and puts all of those together to provide information that enables mapping and tracking of assets, efficient routing and management of logistics of huge range of industrial and commercial applications from real estate, to agriculture, to transportation,” Christensen explains.

“Much of that information, both the positioning and timing information as well as the imagery, comes from satellites. One example that every one of us uses every day is Google Maps, which gleans imagery and positioning data.”

“A much more esoteric version of that would be what we just saw happen, where we saw SpaceX conduct the launch and deliver astronauts to the International Space Station. Tracking and telemetry for that launch relies on satellite data as well as AI and autonomous systems to conduct the mission. So those analytics technologies blended with automation technologies are also very fundamental to space capabilities,” she says.

Asteroid Mining? Really?

Okay, I am really fascinated about this idea and think you will be, too. But you’ll have to listen to the podcast with Carissa Christensen to find out more! You can listen to the Work in Progress here, or find it and download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Look for the logo below ????. Thanks for listening!

Episode 139: Carissa Christensen, Founder & CEO, Bryce Space and Technology
Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim
Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.