The CEO of a $1.2B space company can't use its technology

qz.com

33 points·kartikkumar··6 comments

Its a very interesting company, and I think a pretty sound buissness model. With ever larger SpaceX rockets and powerful sats getting smaller, there is a lot that they can do.

I like their propulsion system, but they don't tell the exact specs. I would never invest without knowing that stuff.

Momentus is a YC18 company by the way.

Tech export restrictions hold humanity back. Those responsible should be ashamed of themselves.

This is entirely unrealistic. Tech export restrictions are a reflection of reality. Ideally, export restrictions would not be necessary, but the reality is providing weaponizeable or military technologies in public domain is irresponsible.

Admittedly, this case is focsed only on geopolitical rivals, but it's easy to see that releasing many other restricted technology details so they can be easily reproduced by anyone would have a destabilizing influence on the world.

^---- I'd call this FUD, AES can secure your whatsapp messages, secure your bitcoins, or be the defacto standard for US security. Had the nice Dutch humans been subject to the export restrictions... we'd (the US) would be in a sad place security wise... am I the only one to remembers when my terminal program had the scary "don't give this to russia, it's technically a weapon" dialog.

I agree, some things should not be ITAR. But I assert, some things very much should be.

OP said export restrictions are bunk, no matter what. That's a silly thing to say. I assert, divulging the inner workings of, say, cruise missiles, would make it far too easy to make cruise missiles. Some things shouldn't be on github.

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