Jeff Bezos's post-Amazon focus isn't on space colonization but on offshoring Earth's polluting industries, like manufacturing and data centers. This "garden and garage" concept treats space as a utility to preserve Earth's environment, not just a frontier for human exploration.

For new nuclear tech, competing with cheap solar on cost is a losing battle. The winning strategy is targeting "premium power" customers—like the military or hyperscalers—who have mission-critical needs for 24/7 clean, reliable energy and are willing to pay above market rates. This creates a viable beachhead market.

From a first-principles perspective, space is the ideal location for data centers. It offers free, constant solar power (6x more irradiance) and free cooling via radiators facing deep space. This eliminates the two biggest terrestrial constraints and costs, making it a profound long-term shift for AI infrastructure.

Startups can bypass the lengthy NRC process for initial reactor tests by using Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DOD) pathways. The DOE, with national labs, can regulate test reactors for faster innovation. Crucially, the Army can now license its own reactors, creating a direct regulatory and commercial path to a key market.

While a fusion reactor can't be built in three months, YC pushes hardware and deep tech founders to create a tangible Minimum Viable Proof. This forces them to de-risk the venture by hitting a critical milestone, such as building a small-scale desert prototype or securing key letters of intent, proving traction on a non-obvious timeline.

The massive energy consumption of AI has made tech giants the most powerful force advocating for new power sources. Their commercial pressure is finally overcoming decades of regulatory inertia around nuclear energy, driving rapid development and deployment of new reactor technologies to meet their insatiable demand.

The key driver for military adoption of micro-reactors isn't cost savings, but eliminating the vulnerability of fuel supply chains. Fuel logistics accounted for 50% of casualties in Afghanistan. This frames the product's value around mission assurance and risk reduction, a more compelling proposition than simple energy provision.

Describing space exploration as a 'cash grab' isn't cynical; it's a recognition of fundamental human motivation. Money acts as 'proof of work,' incentivizing people to dedicate time and resources to difficult, long-term goals. Without a profit motive, ambitious endeavors like becoming a multi-planetary species would never attract the necessary capital and talent.

Unconventional AI operates as a "practical research lab" by explicitly deferring manufacturing constraints during initial innovation. The focus is purely on establishing "existence proofs" for new ideas, preventing premature optimization from killing potentially transformative but difficult-to-build concepts.