TOP Tech

Hotels On The Moon | Skyler Chan, CEO & Founder GRU

Skyler Chan is the 22-year-old founder and CEO of Gru. And he's building a hotel on the moon. And if all goes to plan, the first paying customers could be there as soon as 2032. Of course much has to go right to get there. And much more can go wrong. So let's start with the basics. The moon will kill you in three ways. Pressure. Temperature. Radiation. Gru's answer to the first two is an inflatable. A structure that ships flat, deploys on the lunar surface, and holds enough pressure and warmth to keep a human being alive. Their answer to radiation is a brick. Not a metaphorical brick. An actual brick, made on the moon, from the moon, using a chemical process they're bringing from Earth and mixing with lunar soil. Nobody has ever made anything on the moon. Gru wants to be first. The plan runs in three stages. First launch proves the technology — make a brick, inflate a bladder, don't die. Second launch scales it. Third launch puts people inside. The target date for guests checking in is 2032. The target capacity is four people. The target price per kilogram to get there is a hundred times cheaper than it costs today. A lot has to go right. But Skyler's argument is simple and it's hard to shake. This isn't a technology problem. We went to the moon in 1969 with less computing power than the phone in your pocket. We know how to do this. What's been missing is someone willing to start. He started. Please enjoy. -- * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/toptechpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] * Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] -- Chapters (00:00) Trailer (02:19) Building a Hotel on the Moon (06:06) The Logistics of Space Travel (06:47) Economic Considerations for Lunar Ventures (10:03) Merging Technologies for Lunar Habitats (10:59) First Mission: Building the First Brick on the Moon (13:15) Changing Perceptions of Space Projects (16:25) The Human Spirit and Interplanetary Exploration (19:40) Responsibility of Being an Interplanetary Species

Nvidia & Infleqtion: Why Every GPU Will Have a Quantum Engine

Pranav Gokhale, CTO of Infleqtion, and Sam Stanwyck, Group Product Manager of Quantum Computing at Nvidia, Think On Paper about how quantum and classical computing divide workloads in real time, what logical qubits actually unlock, and why Jensen Huang believes every Nvidia GPU supercomputer will eventually have a quantum core. Infleqtion and Nvidia solved the problem that has blocked quantum computing for 35 years. Pranav Gokhale and Sam Stanwyck explain exactly what broke, what fixed it, and why 2028 is the year of 100 qubits. Quantum computing has always promised to transform drug discovery, battery technology, material science, and AI, but the gap between classical and quantum computing made real-world applications impossible. That changed in 2024. Quantum computing explained by the people building it. -- * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/toptechpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] * Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] -- Chapters (00:00) Why quantum computing matters right now  (01:20) Why Nvidia is betting big on quantum  (02:52) NVQ-Link: the bridge between quantum and classical computing (09:29) Who decides what runs on the quantum computer vs the GPU? (12:33) AI helping quantum, quantum helping AI  (16:56) Building a space elevator battery: a real quantum workflow  (20:09) The quantum algorithm zoo  (22:04) From noisy qubits to logical qubits  (24:00) How much energy does a quantum computer actually use?  (27:05) The no-cloning theorem (27:20) The biggest unanswered question in quantum computing (30:47) A $20M NASA program and a telescope for underground  (33:32) What do we want humans to be?

Philip Johnston TED Talk: StarCloud's Plan to Move Data Centers to Space - Reaction Video

Philip Johnston is the CEO of Starcloud. He put an Nvidia H100 chip in space and gave a TED talk about it. As you do if you're responsible for building the infrastructure for space-based data centers.  Elon Musk was not the first. He follows in the footsteps of Mr Johnston. And so, rather than Mr SpaceX, our first technology reaction video is this TED talk from San Francisco.    We watched it for the first time. Live. On TV.  This is not theoretical. It's also not up to date. Philip filmed this in October 2025. Starcloud have already launched the Nvidia H100 on a Falcon 9 up into space.  It's happening disruptors and curious minds. It's happening.  Philip predicts most data centers will be in space within 10 years.  We agree.  Please enjoy the show. Cheers,  Mark & Jeremy. -- Other ways to connect with us: * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/toptechpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] * Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz]

NASA Rocket Scientist Dr. Philip Metzger: On Industrializing Space

Dr. Philip Metzger spent nearly 30 years at NASA before joining the University of Florida to research what happens when rockets land on the moon. Rocket exhaust blows lunar dust at three kilometers per second. Without an atmosphere to contain the blast, every launch becomes a global event. A 40-ton lander one kilometer from an antenna will jam it after ten launches. NASA's Artemis program wants a sustained lunar presence. China aims for 2029. Multiple nations and private companies are racing to the moon. But no one has agreed on how much damage is acceptable or who decides.Elon Musk concluded we cannot build enough AI on Earth without environmental catastrophe and said factories must be built on the moon. When AI production moves to space, Metzger's research shows it will drag the entire space economy upward to values billions of times Earth's current output. If a few people control an industry that produces a billion times Earth's economic value, democracy cannot survive. They will buy politicians and control militaries. The stakes couldn't be higher. Metzger now directs the Stephen Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education, creating programs for students worldwide to develop space technology, own intellectual property, and start companies. Questions answered:- After Artemis, will NASA still have a role to play?- What makes Starship critical for lunar operations?- When will data centers in space be cheaper than on Earth?- Are hotels on the moon actually viable?- Why mine the moon for Helium-3?- When will asteroid mining become profitable?- Why does lunar rocket dust create international conflict?- What is "fully autonomous luxury communism"?- How can students globally participate in space and own IP?- What can past economic revolutions teach us about space?- What products make economic sense to manufacture in space?- What are the environmental limits of launch rates?- How does space ownership affect democracy's survival?Metzger led NASA's research on rocket blast effects for lunar missions - studying how rocket exhaust affects the airless moon and the infrastructure that will be built on the surface. He now directs the Stephen Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education, working on how to democratize space ownership globally.Please enjoy the show.Cheers, Mark & Jeremy. Please enjoy the show. Cheers,  Mark & Jeremy. -- Take your Thinking Further.  Stephen Hawking Center: https://sciences.ucf.edu/physics/microgravity/lab/ Philip X: https://x.com/drphiltill - Other ways to connect with us: * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/toptechpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] -- TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Introduction to Space Exploration and Economics (01:26) NASA's Role in Future Space Exploration (06:45) Impact of Rocket Exhaust on Lunar Soil (14:39) Geopolitical Challenges in Space (23:39) Democratizing Space for Future Generations (33:45) Emergent Forces vs. Hierarchical Forces (34:08) Exploring Microgravity Applications (38:39) Rapid Fire Space Technology Opinions (44:02) The Future of Humans and Technology

Delivery Drones: Coming To A Sky Near You - Etienne Louvet, Iona Drones

Iona delivery drones are not your typical multi-propeller drone. They're small planes with a bathtub-sized cargo bay, but take off vertically, then the propellers tilt and it flies like an actual aircraft. Listen up disruptors and curious minds! Today we're Thinking On Paper with CEO and founder Etienne Louvet.  On the agenda? * A new logistics vertical in the sky * Why British weather is the perfect training ground for delivery drones * What BVLOS actually means * Why "beyond visual line of sight" is critical * Why Iona are deliberately working under the strictest aviation regulators instead of going somewhere easy.  Please enjoy the show. Cheers,  Mark & Jeremy. PS: Subscribe so other curious minds like you can find our channel. -- Other ways to connect with us: * ⁠Listen to every podcast⁠ [https://www.thinkingonpaper.xyz/] * Follow us on ⁠Instagram⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/thinkingonpaperpodcast/] * Follow us on ⁠X⁠ [https://x.com/thinkonpaperpod] * Follow Mark on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/markfielding99/] * Follow Jeremy on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygilbertson/] * Read our ⁠Substack⁠ [https://disruptorsandcuriousminds.substack.com/] * Email: hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz [hello@thinkingonpaper.xyz] -- TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Intro  (01:50) How much weight can drones carry (02:29) What counts as light cargo  (06:51) How drone regulations actually work  (13:04) Self-assessment and risk management  (14:12) Getting municipalities to say yes  (16:38) Weather problems  (19:48) Where Iona Drones is now  (20:58) Maximizing payload capacity  (21:58) Drone design choices  (23:27) BVLOS explained  (26:08) Drones and privacy concerns  (30:45) Implementing drones in existing logistics  (35:02) Where autonomous delivery is headed  (39:30) Technology and human progress