In the last few weeks I laid low, I traveled a little and I had some nice talks with some even nicer people about science and about the future of us, as a whole.  I even participated to the @SteemSTEM and @utopian-io meetup. Maybe I will write about that in the future, though I don't promise, as there are better writers going to post their stories in https://steemit.com/trending/steemstemvirgo and https://steemit.com/trending/iamutopian. Hats off to them!

As I was writing <a href="https://steemit.com/science/@alexdory/we-are-relying-on-ancient-rocket-engine-designs-to-shoot-us-into-space-is-the-aerospike-engine-an-alternative">before</a> , I witnessed the Open House event at ARCA Space (https://www.facebook.com/arcaspace/), a US-Romanian startup company which has developed a linear aerospike engine, up to 30% more efficient than the usual engines. 

More about the company can be found in the following presentation video used with their approval:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJGDOX6eRRY

<h4>OK, so they are not exactly a startup but read on</h4>

They are recovering after a couple of their agents from New Mexico tried to squeeze them for money and moved their operations close to home, even though they went on trial and won. The aerospace climate is interesting and hi-tech but it's also one of the easiest to attract people with money-making agendas. I felt that from the aviation sector I am in, so nothing new here. 

https://scontent.fotp3-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/40606979_10160842655530693_6117541358161887232_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=3842bdf5341dae53eee7f1aea4ea7880&oe=5C33E18D
<sub>The small demonstrator engine is smaller than the initial design seen in the video but it still has the punch to go through 95% of the atmosphere and reach Mach 2. The picture was taken by me during the open house event.</sub>

I have spent a little time getting to know them better and thought this is a great opportunity for a collaboration. They are starting from scratch with just their knowledge and patents, building up their offices and gathering people to work for them. They had successes in their past so we know they are determined and prone to succeed. 

Their primary plans for the next few months are to set up their offices and their team. The main problems we encountered when we met were that they are looking for dedicated collaborators. I know this is where the "fun" starts because nobody knows how hard is for any management to find good and dedicated people and how hard it is to actually make them stick with you, while paying them with the depleting funds already secured by the company. They are looking to set up a few departments, mainly engineers, but are also interested in the training aspect, and have already started to think about specializing people in the workplace, a sort of a Training Academy of sorts. 

One of the departments is a public relations/media/training material and they have already started a video documentary series to support their endeavors. They are willing to continue it and even expand it on Steem as their teams will increase.
You already know I am a hopeless rocket enthusiast and so, the project has caught my attention already, especially since it was essentialy running in my backyard. 

<h4>How could we support them?</h4>
They are following the voting guidelines as we speak, as they would bring real science with real value to the blockchain, not present elsewhere, in an original video format, which is very easy for anyone to digest and understand. They have a core team of 30-40 people plus the fact that they are already starting to expand the team locally. This means that our actions here will have a great impact within their communities of rocket engineers with a possibility to actually attract passionate people to our ranks, a highly sought-after commodity that any science group needs.
Furthermore,  this would open the way to a deeper collaboration as they would grow with SteemSTEM as their partner. Their presence on social media and general reception is also very good, which could also boost our credibility, another key aspect of our image globally.   
In the future, SteemSTEM could also be a think tank and a job opportunity venue, so students from anywhere (yes, Nigeria too) can find out about some job opportunities from a trusted source. It probably won't be a job market but everything has to start somewhere. 

https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNUUiQugr1gXNaUY4ht9fLZpgx9i26SmAg6riXv6HMVyK/image.png
<sub>The Demonstrator 3 rocket using the linear aerospike engine will be launched in October from a military base in Romania, so if you want to participate, be sure to contact them. It will be broadcast live and I will cover it when it will happen. The picture is also taken by me.</sub>

<h4>We can't know until we try </h4>
I have found this to be the most important thing in my growth here, on Steem and on SteemSTEM especially. Many things which are thought to be impossible, time consuming or useless, like the consequences of actually helping new authors trying to write or offering extended support to mentees, have produced great results, overall. Thanks @suesa for taking the risk to propose them. I am always paying attention to what the curators are saying (lately, <a href="https://steemit.com/steemstem/@alexs1320/the-answer-is-love-math-what-to-do-about-plagiarism">this</a>) and trying to find an organic way to attract dedicated people who don't necessarily care about the rewards, but rather they would look up to the group's initiatives with respect. Which we have to earn, and this is where I am hoping that this project will come in. 

<h4>Further ideas</h4>
Another one of the identified problems they are having is finding good software developers to work for their navigation systems. This is a very interesting field and it might get some utopians happy to work on. Plus, the advent of a space program relying on open source software is something new that will definitely be positive for the industry in general. 
There are a lot of other ways people can connect with businesses and change how they do business in the future, we are probably in the right place to think of such changes. 

<h4>Taking the dive</h4>
I have created their future official account, @arcaspace (mostly because I am afraid of availability issues) and will hand over the information to them. I am in no way financially linked to them.
However, to minimize the trust issues, I want to make this collaboration as easy as possible for them, as they have no experience with the blockchain tech and I will certainly help them pro-bono in every aspect of their quest here, including mentoring them and helping them out with the first few posts (if needed).  

In the end I will be leaving you with their first episode of the already out series, just to get an idea of the production value: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1hnImvI2gw&t=228s  
<sub>Video used with their verbal permission, for illustrative purposes.</sub>

<h4><center>I would really like to get your opinion on this, any thoughts or how we could refine such real-world use cases are always welcome.</center></h4>

https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/0x0/https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmNTzj8VK1LSMxfRRUmUWZmwi9bXqiJqfZLA2qEuNfzcyz/image.png
<center><div class=phishy>SteemSTEM is a community project with the goal to promote and support Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics on the Steem blockchain. If you wish to support the SteemSTEM project you can:</div>

Contribute STEM content using the #steemstem tag | Support SteemSTEM authors | Join our curation trail | Visit our <a href="https://discord.gg/NUyvsd">Discord</a> community | Delegate SP to SteemSTEM</center>