If your concept of space is a place far removed from daily life, Quantum Space CEO Jim Bridenstine has news for you.

“Everybody in this room uses space every day, whether you know it or not,” the former NASA Administrator told an audience at the Tulsa Regional Chamber’s Legislative Briefing Breakfast at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel—Warren Place. “(It impacts) the way we communicate, the way we navigate, the way we produce food, energy, do disaster relief.

“Every banking transaction is dependent upon a timing signal from (satellite-based) GPS (Global Positioning System). That’s true of the power grids that regulate flows of electricity. So, if you like electricity, you like space. It needs to be protected. It is not by accident that the enemies of the United States are threatening to attack it (space) because we are dependent upon it as a nation.”

Bridenstine participated in a panel that discussed Oklahoma’s emerging role in the space sector. Joining him in the conversation were moderator Grayson Ardies, executive director of the Oklahoma Department of Aerospace and Aeronautics, Oklahoma Sen. John Haste and Oklahoma Rep. Nick Archer.

Bridenstine said it’s imperative for United States hardware to be able to maneuver in space.

“We haven’t had that up until now,” he said. “What Quantum Space is doing is they are building satellites that are going to maneuver.”

Agile Space Industries broke ground on the Tulsa Space Center earlier this year.

“One of the reasons we care about Tulsa as Quantum Space is because we have Agile Space now building a test stand for the thrusters that we are going to need in space.”

Bridenstine said Maryland-based Quantum, which he said is “going to be in Oklahoma a lot,” and others in the sector seeking a piece of the U.S. Space Force budget that is increasing from $31 billion to $71 billion.

“We are aligning the state of Oklahoma with the Space Force, whose budget is more than doubling,” he said. “That money needs to go somewhere. It ought to come to the state of Oklahoma.”

Aerospace-defense is the second-largest industry in Oklahoma, making an economic impact of $44 billion annually. About $400 million has been invested in the aerospace-defense sector in the past four years, Haste said.

“We’ve really been involved in the aeronautics part of it, going back to World War I,” he said. “But now what’s exciting is that we’re moving into the space part of that. That is going to be more incredible, the growth that can take place.”

The Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority (OSIDA), in partnership with Dawn Aerospace, recently announced the opening of applications for the Runway-to-Space Spaceplane Challenge. This first-of-its-kind U.S. competition invites researchers to fly payloads aboard Dawn’s Aurora suborbital uncrewed spaceplane operating out of the Infinity One Oklahoma Spaceport, which lies in Burns Flat, part of Archer’s legislative district.

“National security is not just defense; national security is economic security,” Archer said. “When we think about the assets that our state has, we have a great manufacturing base. We have a great oil and gas industry. We have a great aeronautics sector around the state.”

Archer said the state needs to remove regulatory barriers that prevent those sectors from aligning in the name of economic development.

“That is where I have tried to take the legislation that I’ve introduced,” he said.

Part of the panel discussion centered on the Golden Dome of America, a proposed, ambitious next-generation layered missile defense shield initiated in 2025 to protect the U.S. homeland against advanced ballistic, hypersonic and cruise missiles.

“It is not just about a China-Taiwan scenario on the other side of the planet,” Bridenstine said. “If our great competitors start shooting down GPS satellites, we lose the power grid in the United States. We lose terrestrial wireless networks in the United States.

“Anybody here like their cell phone?…So, what happens on the other side of the globe becomes strategic very quickly. We have to make sure that never happens. We have to deter by denial…That’s what Golden Dome is all about.”

Bridenstine also said moon exploration is critical because of its value to the Earth. Rare metals, which the United States is seeking in countries such as Greenland, are more plentiful on the moon, which Bridenstine said doesn’t have an atmosphere or active geology.

“That means that anything impacted on the moon billions of years ago is today right where it was billions of years ago,” said Bridenstine, alluding to four asteroid strikes recently observed by astronauts. “Let me tell you, the moon is a whole lot bigger than Greenland.”

Researchers also have found water ice on the moon.

“Water ice is H two O,” Bridenstine said. “It’s hydrogen for fuel. It’s oxygen to breathe. And it’s water to drink. That’s life support. That’s why we’re building a moon base.”

In addition, the moon is covered with Helium-3, which is nonexistent on Earth, Bridenstine said.

“If you combine Helium-3 with nuclear fusion power, you can take a coffee cup-sized amount of Helium 3, you can power the entire city of Houston for a year,” he said. “And there will be no carbon emissions, and there will be no nuclear waste. It is the cleanest, most abundant, single-best thing we could do as a nation.”

More than 200 people attended the Legislative Briefing Breakfast, which also featured updates from 11 Oklahoma legislators in the audience. The event was presented by Paycom and Tulsa Tech.