Sakuu Blog
Moonshots and Innovation
Four NASA Artemis II astronauts just flew around the moon and farther into space than anyone has ever traveled. Like many of you, I have followed their journey with excitement and admiration for their bravery. What a historic achievement!
When President Kennedy gave his Moonshot speech in 1962, he famously justified increasing funding for NASA, racing to the moon by the end of the decade, and choosing to do other daring things “not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
And they have been hard, not only costing billions of dollars, but even some heroes’ lives.
But they’ve gotten us to the moon — and beyond. The endeavor has produced a host of other benefits that JFK also promised in his speech:
“The growth of our science and education will be enriched by new knowledge of our universe and environment, by new techniques of learning and mapping and observation, by new tools and computers for industry, medicine, the home as well as the school.”
It has all come to pass, not only for the United States, but for all mankind.
At Sakuu, we celebrate that spirit of innovation, which has always driven human achievement and continues to this day in countless pursuits to advance math and science and manufacturing and engineering and training and testing. Human ingenuity and investment in mobility, aviation, aerospace, defense, energy, computation ... All of these efforts contribute and ultimately produce wonders worthy of our awe.
We also choose to embrace a bold future and do the hard things as well, creating technology and equipment that transforms manufacturing capability and helps turn innovative discoveries and inventions into reality.
When tomorrow’s spacesuits need flexible Li-ion battery packs that weigh less, or must be shaped to fit a novel structural cavity, or use a new cell chemistry — and cannot catch fire—Sakuu’s polymeric current collector (PCC) technology meets that requirement. The same is true for supplying safer BESS facilities, equipping more sustainable AI data centers, or even enabling the next generation of eVTOL vehicles. Right now, someone is probably dreaming up a brilliant way to power a journey to Mars with the ultimate light, cheap, and safe space battery. Sakuu exists to ensure they can actually make it. We enable innovative, scaled manufacturing at home and at a competitive cost.
As for the Artemis program, in this decade, NASA aims to return humans to the moon’s surface for the first time in more than 50 years. The plan is to establish a long-term, sustainable lunar presence as a stepping stone for further space exploration — to boldly go to Mars and beyond. And though I’ll probably never fly to Mars or the moon myself, I wholly support the quest and my dream is that Sakuu technology will play a part in that awesome adventure. Houston, batteries are a go! —Arwed Niestroj
Photo courtesy of NASA Johnson Space Center / NASA