In the last few weeks I laid low, I traveled a little and I had some nice talks with some even nicer people about science and about the future of us, as a whole. I even participated to the @SteemSTEM and @utopian-io meetup. Maybe I will write about that in the future, though I don't promise, as there are better writers going to post their stories in https://steemit.com/trending/steemstemvirgo and https://steemit.com/trending/iamutopian. Hats off to them!
As I was writing before , I witnessed the Open House event at ARCA Space (https://www.facebook.com/arcaspace/), a US-Romanian startup company which has developed a linear aerospike engine, up to 30% more efficient than the usual engines.
More about the company can be found in the following presentation video used with their approval:
OK, so they are not exactly a startup but read on
They are recovering after a couple of their agents from New Mexico tried to squeeze them for money and moved their operations close to home, even though they went on trial and won. The aerospace climate is interesting and hi-tech but it's also one of the easiest to attract people with money-making agendas. I felt that from the aviation sector I am in, so nothing new here.
The small demonstrator engine is smaller than the initial design seen in the video but it still has the punch to go through 95% of the atmosphere and reach Mach 2. The picture was taken by me during the open house event.
I have spent a little time getting to know them better and thought this is a great opportunity for a collaboration. They are starting from scratch with just their knowledge and patents, building up their offices and gathering people to work for them. They had successes in their past so we know they are determined and prone to succeed.
Their primary plans for the next few months are to set up their offices and their team. The main problems we encountered when we met were that they are looking for dedicated collaborators. I know this is where the "fun" starts because nobody knows how hard is for any management to find good and dedicated people and how hard it is to actually make them stick with you, while paying them with the depleting funds already secured by the company. They are looking to set up a few departments, mainly engineers, but are also interested in the training aspect, and have already started to think about specializing people in the workplace, a sort of a Training Academy of sorts.
One of the departments is a public relations/media/training material and they have already started a video documentary series to support their endeavors. They are willing to continue it and even expand it on Steem as their teams will increase.
You already know I am a hopeless rocket enthusiast and so, the project has caught my attention already, especially since it was essentialy running in my backyard.
How could we support them?
They are following the voting guidelines as we speak, as they would bring real science with real value to the blockchain, not present elsewhere, in an original video format, which is very easy for anyone to digest and understand. They have a core team of 30-40 people plus the fact that they are already starting to expand the team locally. This means that our actions here will have a great impact within their communities of rocket engineers with a possibility to actually attract passionate people to our ranks, a highly sought-after commodity that any science group needs.
Furthermore, this would open the way to a deeper collaboration as they would grow with SteemSTEM as their partner. Their presence on social media and general reception is also very good, which could also boost our credibility, another key aspect of our image globally.
In the future, SteemSTEM could also be a think tank and a job opportunity venue, so students from anywhere (yes, Nigeria too) can find out about some job opportunities from a trusted source. It probably won't be a job market but everything has to start somewhere.
The Demonstrator 3 rocket using the linear aerospike engine will be launched in October from a military base in Romania, so if you want to participate, be sure to contact them. It will be broadcast live and I will cover it when it will happen. The picture is also taken by me.
We can't know until we try
I have found this to be the most important thing in my growth here, on Steem and on SteemSTEM especially. Many things which are thought to be impossible, time consuming or useless, like the consequences of actually helping new authors trying to write or offering extended support to mentees, have produced great results, overall. Thanks @suesa for taking the risk to propose them. I am always paying attention to what the curators are saying (lately, this) and trying to find an organic way to attract dedicated people who don't necessarily care about the rewards, but rather they would look up to the group's initiatives with respect. Which we have to earn, and this is where I am hoping that this project will come in.
Further ideas
Another one of the identified problems they are having is finding good software developers to work for their navigation systems. This is a very interesting field and it might get some utopians happy to work on. Plus, the advent of a space program relying on open source software is something new that will definitely be positive for the industry in general.
There are a lot of other ways people can connect with businesses and change how they do business in the future, we are probably in the right place to think of such changes.
Taking the dive
I have created their future official account, @arcaspace (mostly because I am afraid of availability issues) and will hand over the information to them. I am in no way financially linked to them.
However, to minimize the trust issues, I want to make this collaboration as easy as possible for them, as they have no experience with the blockchain tech and I will certainly help them pro-bono in every aspect of their quest here, including mentoring them and helping them out with the first few posts (if needed).
In the end I will be leaving you with their first episode of the already out series, just to get an idea of the production value:
Video used with their verbal permission, for illustrative purposes.
I would really like to get your opinion on this, any thoughts or how we could refine such real-world use cases are always welcome.
Contribute STEM content using the #steemstem tag | Support SteemSTEM authors | Join our curation trail | Visit our Discord community | Delegate SP to SteemSTEM
This quite a good move by you. I love the steps you have taken so far and I believe this would be a boost to steemstem at all fronts. My question is, what are their primal goals and objectives? Do they really intend to train people through videos and then employ them? Perhaps I didn't understand the post well.
Thanks, I didn't want to post it before discussing with both of the parties!
From what they told me, they will indeed start the interviews for volunteers and interns for the 6 departments they will create (like Design, Propulsion, Engineering, Media, etc), they will provide real training (on site) and then hire the best people. I will let them tell you more about it when they have the details.
The videos are just their way of communicating with the world, promote themselves and give back something.
Alright. That explains it. Kudos to you for your efforts
Great to hear from you again! And now they already have one extra enthusiast follower, I'm looking forward to read/watch more from them. Is this platform used as a means of communication or extra resources?
And are you planning on doing Steemit communication for them or just introducing and guiding them into the blockchain? Must be awesome to get involved in such a group!
I would say that it will be used for both communication and extra resources. It's a feature of the platform and thus it should be used effectively.
While I don't have enough time to do the communication for them, I will help them with the technicals, at least at the beginning. I will probably be in contact with one of their Media/PR people as for now I only had a few talks with the CEO.
I am just hoping that it will put things into motion. Having a real-world use-case might change how people perceive Steem.
It's the same-old trust issue. Both parties need to prove their utility while asking utility from the other, this is what I am afraid of.
It will be nice to have ARCA SPACE on steemit, as it will not only help them, but also help steemit and maybe steemstem too to have someone great authors to write upon new science articles created by them.
This is what I am working toward. ARCA would just be the first project. I am in contact with others but they were more reluctant to trust us (Steem)
One needs to tread lightly to get organic support from others and not turn into an Evangelist or a salesman.
Very kind of you to bring them on the blockchain. Aerospace operations are requiring huge financial support, and I'm afraid that STEEM might only pay for their coffee, but is very interesting for us to get deeper info from them! May the force be strong with them!
I am hoping. They are open but they have a human resources bottleneck right now.
Congratulations! Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on rank 25 of all contributions awarded today. You can find the TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.
I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least 4 SBD worth and should receive 111 votes. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true.
I am
TrufflePig, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, you can find an explanation here!Have a nice day and sincerely yours,
TrufflePigGood to see u collaborating with this promising initiative. I guess the steem blockchain can be a good platform for them to find support and potential visibility to new audience. Best wishes for the collaboration, bro!
Now it's time for them to step forward :)
This post has been voted on by the steemstem curation team and voting trail.
There is more to SteemSTEM than just writing posts, check here for some more tips on being a community member. You can also join our discord here to get to know the rest of the community!