Ep.39 - Drones, Rockets and Satellites: The New Power Asymmetry? | Ft. Chris Kemp, CEO of Astra & Ex CTO, NASA

In this episode of The Great Tech Game, host Anirudh Suri sits down with Chris Kemp — Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Astra, and former CTO of NASA — to unpack how the commercial space race is reshaping technology, defense, and geopolitics.From drones and rockets to optical space internet, Kemp explains how a new generation of private space companies are breaking into this domain that was initially dominated by states, especially during the Cold War when the first Space Race was between the United States and the Soviet Union.🔑 Highlights from the episode:- Why space is becoming the ultimate geopolitical high ground.- Which companies and countries are leading in this space- How cheap, mobile rocket systems are redefining military deterrence.- The shift from billion-dollar satellites to swarms of small ones.- What Astra’s Rocket 4 and propulsion business reveal about the future of scalable space manufacturing.- Why optical communication (light-based data transfer) could spark a new, unjammable internet in space.Kemp also discusses his time at NASA, founding OpenStack, and how commercial satellite networks like Starlink and Planet Labs are already influencing modern conflicts — from Ukraine to beyond. The conversation traces how space tech is moving from elite national programs to a mass-produced, distributed ecosystem that could reshape both global security and the everyday internet.