Christian Keil
@pronounced_kyle • 48,489 subscribers
investor @a16z ◦ fmr. satellite builder @astranis ◦ dad
Shorts
Videos
Overnight, China successfully launched a new medium-class rocket to orbit — Long March 12B. Looks like they gave no airspace notice (!), and carried suspiciously Starlink-shaped satellites to orbit... all on their first try. China's space industry is catching up to ours, fast.
Christian Keil399,810 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
I want to fund a space warfighting prime. Space is a unique domain. It's huge, hostile, and fragile — so we need tech that can help America secure outer space *while preserving the domain itself.* If you're thinking about the future of space and defense, please get in touch.
Christian Keil321,060 Aufrufe • vor 3 Monaten
The first internet satellite ever dedicated to the Philippines launches TOMORROW.
Christian Keil690,510 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
Somos Internet is a Y Combinator startup that lays 2 km of fiber every day in Colombia. They already have 27,000 subscribers — because people want what they offer: 100 Gbps internet connections for just $80/m. How is that possible? Somos is building a new kind of network from the ground up — plugging into transatlantic fiber, building his own backbone, connecting into apartments, and building custom routers that can handle that much throughput. Forrest (Forrest Heath) visited me at my office, and we talked through the technical details. I think you'll love it. HD Version at the link in my bio. Timestamps: 00:00 — Introducing Somos Internet 02:40 — Nobody Understands how Telco Networks Work 03:51 — How to Learn About Telco Anyways 04:53 — How Forrest Won Over the Local Drug Lords 06:50 — The Idea Maze: from Wifi to Fiber 09:25 — What Somos Internet is Building: Enterprise-Grade Fiber to Your Home 12:05 — How Telcos Work Today (and Their Fundamental Flaw) 15:46 — "The Core Innovation of Somos Is..." 17:40 — HOW IT WORKS: A Nested-Ring Topology, Not a Tree 21:43 — An End-to-End Service 23:57 — (Including Routers) 25:00 — How is 100 Gbps per Customer Possible? 31:08 — How They're Cheaper: Switches, not Routers 35:00 — Why Sell a Consumer Service? 39:40 — Why Doesn't Bell Labs Still Exist? (It's the MBAs.) 42:28 — Customer Service is Easier When You Build Everything Yourself 43:37 — Telcos Have Given Up on Innovating 47:46 — How to Build a Team Smart Enough to Execute This Vision 51:41 — Is This a Hard Idea to Pitch a VC? 55:58 — Could Somos Have Started in America, not Colombia? 59:23 — How Did Forrest Learn All of This From Zero? 1:02:36 — What Technical Challenges Are Next For Somos?
Christian Keil270,646 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
One of my favorite visualizations of all time: This is 24 hours on orbit.
Christian Keil147,490 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
It's (always) a great day to cut titanium at Astranis Space Technologies.
Christian Keil90,099 Aufrufe • vor 11 Monaten
I pulled a control rod out of an active nuclear reactor. It was Matt Loszak's idea — he cofounded Aalo Atomics to build a nuclear reactor safe enough for your backyard, a bold idea... and one worthy of an experiment. Our hypothesis was that we would survive this experiment thanks to Uranium Zirconium Hydride (UZrH), the fuel used by both the test reactor at UT Austin and Aalo's future reactors. Matt said this fuel wouldn't melt down given its strong "negative temperature coefficient of reactivity." If you don't know what that means... neither did I. But it may be the key to unlocking abundant, safe, clean energy. That's why I flew down to the University of Texas to make this video, and ran an experiment on UZrH fuel using a real nuclear reactor. I think you're going to love it. HD version at the link in my bio, and thank you to Fifty Years Fund for helping make this episode happen. 00:00 — What if nuclear power didn't have to be dangerous? 01:09 — Introducing Aalo Atomics 02:20 — UT Austin TRIGA reactor tour & overview 04:26 — Nuclear energy 101 05:27 — The experiment: control rod ejection 06:57 — Experimental results: power, energy, temperature 08:22 — "Negative Temperature Coefficient of Reactivity" 09:41 — Why isn't everyone using this? 10:32 — Aalo's bet: adapting UZrH for power production 11:40 — The future of nuclear power
Christian Keil134,501 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
This video is great doomer antidote. Another masterpiece from Jason Carman
Christian Keil43,310 Aufrufe • vor 5 Monaten
Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt is back with a new company — but it's not finance, it's space lasers. At @AetherfluxUSA, Baiju is building both: ‣ an expeditionary power source for America's warfighters ‣ the beginnings of humanity's first Dyson Sphere It's a constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that beam solar power down to Earth using lasers. I invited him to my factory to ask about how he's building it, and why. Chapters: 00:00 — Why is the Robinhood co-founder starting a space company? 05:11 — Introducing Aetherflux: the American energy grid in orbit 10:30 — The energy cost & energy opportunity 18:24 — “You’re not a space company until you have something in space.” 20:12 — What are the hardest parts of engineering this product? 25:27 — Figuring out how to build a hyper-ambitious company from zero 28:06 — How do you get from a demo to the ultimate vision? 32:25 — “What’s an industry that could exist, that doesn’t exist right now?” 35:28 — American innovation is a juggernaut 39:23 — Expeditionary power for the Department of Defense & disaster response 44:50 — The analogy between Robinhood and Aetherflux 47:41 — Assigned watching, playing, and reading from Baiju
Christian Keil86,267 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr
I made a space-themed picture book for kids. It's called "REAL SPACE SHIPS," and it's available for purchase and free download! Zero words. Just REAL pictures of rockets, satellites, & spacecraft: from Apollo to the Space Shuttle, from the ISS to commercial space, and more.
Christian Keil43,413 Aufrufe • vor 8 Monaten
Ulysses is coming out of stealth today with: ‣ $1 million in revenue ‣ $2 million raised ‣ 5 hardware generations ...one year after their founding. They're building autonomous underwater drones — first to restore seagrass, and someday to counteract narco-subs. Ulysses co-founder and CEO Akhil Voorakkara met me at my office in San Francisco to talk through the technical details. HD Version at the link in my bio. Timestamps: 00:00 — Introducing Ulysses 02:20 — What is their robot capable of? 04:20 — How are they iterating so quickly through hardware prototypes? 12:57 — Why not buy more off the shelf? 16:15 — What technical requirements drove the hardware design? 21:06 — What other designs inspired this one? 23:28 — Underwater Design 101 30:38 — Why make it autonomous? 32:39 — What is their approach to autonomy? 36:44 — How did Ulysses decide to focus on sea restoration? 44:47 — Who else is building underwater drones? 47:57 — How do their drones differ from the more expensive existing ones? 49:05 — What limits drone working lifetime? 50:35 — How can you make technical progress with <5 employees? 54:51 — What's the next technical milestone to clear?
Christian Keil79,570 Aufrufe • vor 1 Jahr