Hey smarties! We’re on a break for the holidays and revisiting some of our top episodes from 2023. We can’t do this show without you and we still need your support. If you can, donate today to keep independent journalism going strong into 2024 and beyond. Give now to support Make Me Smart. Thank you so much for your generosity, happy holidays and we’ll see you in the new year.

Today, we’re talking about two topics near and dear to our hearts: space and economics.

Over the last several years, NASA’s Artemis program and the commercialization of space have given rise to a large and growing space economy. How large?

“It’s about $400 billion. By 2030 it is estimated to become about $1 trillion,” said Namrata Goswami, a scholar on space policy and co-author of the book “Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space.” “We also include a space economy to come in the next 20 to 30 years which includes the ‘in-space economy,’ so the economy that would be developed in space itself, which would result in a trillion-dollar economy by 2040.”

On the show, Goswami explains the state of the space economy, how the space industry has evolved, and the need for updated international space regulations if we’re really serious about going to Mars. Plus, why retiring on the moon in Kimberly’s lifetime might not be such a far-fetched idea.

In the News Fix: In the first few months of the year, the largest U.S. banks wrote off billions of dollars in bad consumer loans. While not unusual, it could it be a sign of a slowing economy. And could we be nearing the end of the barcode as we know it?

Later, listeners share the many ways they use ChatGPT. And this week’s answer to the Make Me Smart question got us thinking about the images (or lack thereof) in our heads.

Note: Fox News reached a settlement in the defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems after this show was recorded.

Here’s everything we talked about today:




“Among the goals of Artemis I: launching the lunar economy” from Marketplace







“The Commercial Space Age Is Here” from Harvard Business Review







“QR-style ‘2D barcodes’ will revolutionize retail as we know it” from Axios







“Fox News, Dominion reach settlement” from The Washington Post







“Fox News and Dominion reach a settlement” from NBC News







“Biggest US banks write off $3.4 billion in bad consumer loans” from Bloomberg







“More US consumers are falling behind on payments” from Reuters





Got a question for our hosts? Email us at makemesmart@marketplace.org. Or leave us a voice message at (508) 827-6278 or (508) U-B-SMART.