Category: Start Ups

Last night we watched “Don’t look Up” a film about an asteroid of significant size smashing into Earth and the unwillingness of a US president to take it seriously, she was more concerned with politics and power, a metaphor perhaps for climate change. Taking any real action is unprofitable and unpopular. This dream is out of the blue and not in line with other recent dreams.

The dream starts in a small office with a white board. I am there with two young men. We are going over the drawings of a microsatellite and a small launch system with a bespoke and novel propulsion unit. The fuel for the rocket is completely new and in no way resembles current thinking. It runs on a novel source of energy. The microsatellite is roughly a cubic foot and has onboard communications superior to its larger cousins and an ultra-high efficiency solar power collection unit.

I am checking with one of the young men that he has included all three polar co-ordinates and velocities for each of the planets and the sun in the solar system in his calculations for the satellite orbit, that way the need for positional adjustment post launch will be minimised. He is confident that the simulations are accurate. We know that the previous methods of launch have all taken the phallic “big is beautiful” approach. Our small bespoke rocket does not need a fancy launch pad and can be launched from the back of a large purpose built truck from anywhere in the world, including high altitude which lessens the fuel requirement. The first few kilometres of atmosphere are the most expensive in terms of fuel budget, because of friction and gravitational proximity.

We gather our documents and slide pack together and fly off to London.

We arrive in a large building reminiscent of those around Regent’s Park. We are met at the front desk and are ushered to the open plan meeting facility which we have hired. It is in one corner of the very large foyer of the building. The floor has a red patterned carpet and there are ornate chandeliers. We have a very large wooden table with numerous chairs. I leave one of the young men to set up and take the other one off to show him a room which he remembers from before. “This is where it all started”, he says. I take him around a corner to another room, which we both remember.

As we are walking through the corridor, we meet a woman who was previously our secretary and her entourage. I thank her for coming along. She is very pleased to see me and gives me a massive maternal hug. We escort her back to the table and she makes herself comfortable. Other people start arriving. Many of them are venture capital investors. Some are known to me and are a bit sheepish. I make everybody welcome. Across the foyer I see another businesswoman sat at a table with colleagues. She catches my eye and ushers me over. She makes way and I sit next to her. She too is pleased to see me. She asks, “Where have you been? What have you been doing? We have all wondered what happened to you?” I have no satisfactory answer but invite her and her team to come and listen to what we have to say. They join us at our table.

Slowly more and more people arrive. There is quite a buzz. The young man has set up a holographic projection unit on a dais near the table.  We are good to go. In three dimensions and in blue our logo for MicroSat can be seen.

Dream ends…