In response to rapid developments in satellite technology and space exploration, Nick Reisinger PZ ’28 is working to establish a new 5C student organization — NewSpace@Claremont — designed to educate students on the tech and commercial space industries.
With a focus “on companies that do work with satellites,” Reisinger said the club will be centered around topics including providing remote places with internet connections, the environment and GPS.
Reisinger explained that the aerospace sector will only continue to grow and impact the economy and daily life. Thus, he said, it is essential for students at the 5Cs to know about the field.
“It’s moving very, very quickly,” Reisinger said. “Whether or not we like it, we’re going to keep moving onwards and upwards to space.”
Hugo Guckert HM ’27, an engineering major and former summer intern for Apex Satellite Platforms, described the developments being made in the aerospace industry as the “pinnacle of technology.”
He also noted that because launching into space requires extreme precision, the field drives high-stakes engineering breakthroughs that ultimately trickle down to everyday use.
“Just over the last 10 years, the cost to get one kilogram of payload into orbit has gone down by multiple orders of magnitude, which has made space much more accessible,” Guckert said. “So, the rate at which we are sending things to space is rapidly increasing.”
However, Guckert’s vision of an accessible aerospace frontier faces some economic hurdles. Current costs have ticked up because of SpaceX’s near-monopoly on the market, a dynamic he expects will keep shifting.
“I’m predicting within the next five years, there’s going to be another big launch vehicle provider that can eliminate SpaceX’s monopoly and drive the price down even more,” Guckert said. “So space travel will become even cheaper and more accessible to everybody.”
Reisinger created and distributed flyers stating “the final frontier is a market” around 5C campuses. The flyer received backlash on social media from the 5C Critical Mass, a leftist club that focuses on the intersection of science and social justice.
“SHAME SHAME SHAME,” a Critical Mass Instagram story posted Oct. 13 read. “Space is NOT a market, yet the university churns out individuals as a recruitment pipeline for the industries of WAR AND DEATH.”
Lina McRoberts PO ’27, co-founder of Critical Mass, said they posted the story on the club account. They raised concerns that aerospace technology is entangled with military surveillance, making it impossible to separate from the defense industry.
They emphasized Critical Mass was not criticizing the members or character of NewSpace@Claremont, but rather, the “neoliberal capitalist enterprise and the ways in which universities reproduce their priorities, values, and institutional structures.”
“[My critique] is of how universities produce students who are encouraged to understand scientific inquiry, professional opportunity and even the exploration of space through the imperatives of capitalist accumulation,” McRoberts said. “NewSpace and its promotional poster are [just] particular manifestations.”
In response to Critical Mass’ story post, Reisinger said that the club is “absolutely entitled to their opinion.”
“I would encourage them to bring their questions, bring their criticisms — those are the things we want to focus on as a club, as an organization,” Reisinger said. “We want [students] to critique the industry and ask those hard questions, but we want them to do so in an educated and informed manner.”
McRoberts said Critical Mass’ commentary reflected the club’s commitment to advancing political education and critical discourse on campus.
“We don’t understand political education as something that happens exclusively in classrooms, nor do we think the production and circulation of knowledge should be monopolized by established media legacy institutions,” McRoberts said.
Angelina Song SC ’28, also an engineering major, said the overlap between the aerospace and defense industries deters her from joining clubs like NewsSpace@Claremont.
“I wouldn’t go into aerospace because the jobs are so surrounded by defense, and that goes against my values,” Song said.
McRoberts recognized that refusing a career in the lucrative aerospace and defense industries is a privilege in itself.
“It’s [about] asking why the pathways to economic security are organized as they are, and which industries receive much more institutional support,” McRoberts said.
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