Let's look at work from my days doing product design for defense and aerospace contractors. I present it here on condition that the client remains anonymous, so all identifying information about the technology and organization have been removed.

The examples below come from one project of many that I helped develop for a way to rethink how the United States builds satellites as our modern world grows more reliant on orbiting infrastructure. Whereas most products we use today (our phones, our cars, and so on) are built modularly in factories, our satellites are typically one-off prototypes. This also leads to an increase in space junk that pollutes the space around our planet and puts other satellites at risk. The full potential of space can only be achieved by streamlining the construction process, both in terms of democratizing the field and focusing on sustainability.

This is where "satlets" come in. These technologically advanced building blocks can be used to build satellites we already use and potentially even rebuild themselves while in orbit for new missions instead of being decommissioned.

My favorite projects are ones that I get to learn new things about our world in the process. I led a small design and development team in concert with the engineers of one particular design of satlets to help explain the technology and the need to introduce recycling on a extraterrestrial scale.