"There have been endless breakthroughs in our industry; however, the one that excited me the most was the Falcon 9 Full Thrust. It's amazing to me that a partially-reusable launch system is in existence."

"The biggest recent breakthrough in our industry, in my opinion, is less of a single technological or manufacturing breakthrough and more of a convergence of several fields. For example, the use of blockchain technology typically applied to cryptocurrency trading has had a significant impact on aerospace security and the ability to trade efficiently. The aerospace industry seems to understand that best practices from the manufacturing, finance, and technology sectors can be applied creatively to enhance its own sector."

Remember to include a brief note on the purpose of the breakthrough. For example, if you mention the introduction of advanced autonomous systems in aerospace, mention that it has the potential to save lives by increasing the opportunity to use human-free flights in dangerous situations.

"I feel the most exciting breakthrough in the aerospace and defense industry has been the continued use of artificial intelligence. I realize that AI was introduced prior to the last decade, but it continues to evolve in new and unexpected ways. Finding a responsible balance in the use of AI was a focus area of my post-grad work and I am looking forward to the opportunity to help define how we use technology to improve the safety and wellbeing of the human race."