NewSpace, Old Ways

One of the most technologically advanced and admired sectors of today’s economy may not be as digital as you think. Why? Because digitalization is not just about technologies. It is a process that, to succeed, requires a paradigm shift in the mindsets of companies and their management.

 

Hardware vs Software

 

In Traditional Space, hardware was the Holy Grail – the fundamental prerequisite for success: one mistake here could cost millions in terms of dollars, as well as invaluable lives. Here, one hardware failure meant also potential political humiliation. 

 

With NewSpace and the commercial age of space, the tables turned.

 

As hardware reaches state-of-the-art levels, becoming more and more of a commodity, software should be the fuel propelling the whole industry into the future… but it isn’t happening. Why? 

 

Culture, mindset, development 

 

A significant portion of the NewSpace landscape is now entering a twilight zone where budget is still devoted to hardware and operations, and little is devoted to effective, efficient and agile IT teams and leaderships. 

 

In our opinion, this hampers the chances of success for many NewSpace startups, and it may also be an early sign of hard times ahead, because the top performers in the industry did get the memo: they rely and invest on software. 

 

This issue is the demarcation line separating startups, established companies and top-dogs of the industry, and it stems from an “old school” mindset, a consolidated and hardware-heavy culture, and from NewSpace being still young. 

 

The whitepaper 

 

This whitepaper from Cloudflight Research, written by Research Coordinator Sebastian D. P. Hidalgo with extensive input from our Aerospace industry leaders, is written for investors, investment funds, software providers and C-Level individuals in the NewSpace sector. 

 

It will provide you the reasons why digitalization in the industry is lagging, how it happened and, more importantly, how to solve it.