Space: Investing in the frontier of 2019
Will decrease in operational cost, advancements in technology, large scale funding and increased public interest in science and exploration make space the next buzzword? No, it’s already!
It’s been half a century since human left his footprints on the moon. Through out this time it’s observable that we have done a huge number of ground breaking experiments and payload deployments to both lower earth orbit (LEO) and higher earth orbit (HEO). People across the globe are keen interested to know what’s happening there between stars. So they are heavily investing undisclosed amount of money for experiments and explorations. We’ve already emerged in technology, we’ve enough machinery and expertise and we do explore, that’s how I should say.
Let’s see the drivers of the new Space Ecosystem
- Satellite Launch
- Satellite Internet
- Deep Space Exploration
- Lunar Landing
- Earth Observation
- Asteroid Mining
- Space Debris
- Space Tourism
- Space Research
More accessible and less expensive space operations and deployments could be significant in the near future because it brings more connectivity, high speed product delivery and even space tourism. Main stream players such as SES, SpaceX, Airbus, Virgin Galactic, RocketLab, EarthNow, OneWeb and SpireGlobal have made notable space exploration efforts in recent time. The analysis reveals just how important a role the government still plays in the private space industry. It found that early public investment can sometimes be the difference between life and death for a company. The report highlights SpaceX as a prime example of how early government investment contributed to the success of a company. During its first decade of operation, SpaceX operated off of $1 billion, and about half of that money came from government contracts from NASA.
2019: A space odyssey
A single transformative technology shift often can spark new eras of modernization and a complementary set of innovations. We’ve seen lot of similar examples throughout the time which are started as garage projects but shook the world as a whole.
Today, development of reusable rockets may provide a similar turning point. We were using explicit launch vehicles for every missions we had. It was like throwing away an aircraft after it’s first flight. But now precision engineered launch vehicles could be reused again and again which lowers the cost of space exploration to a significant level.
Privately held space exploration firms have also been developing space technologies, with ambitions such as manned landings on the moon and airplane-borne rocket launchers that could launch small satellites to LEO at a far lower cost, and with far greater responsiveness, than ground-based systems.
Global Space Economics
Global space economy exceeded $400 Billion for the first time in 2018 as revealed in the Space Report. Today, the Space Foundation published its second-quarter findings of its 2019 issue of The Space Report, revealing that:
- The global space economy grew 8.1% in 2018 to $414.75 B, exceeding $400 B for the first time.
- Global launches in 2018 increased by 46% over the number of launches a decade ago.
- Global launches in 2018 exceeded 100 for the first time since 1990.
To infinity and beyond …
The perspective of space is truly important to the future of our planet. Before we can act on any particular policy, it is helpful to shift our worldview to a planetary perspective. It’s a crucial element in solving the challenges facing us. You’ll see vehicles taking people into space, but also on high speed journeys around the planet. We might be making our first human journeys to Mars, to an asteroid and possibly a return to the moon.
Back here on Earth we will see benefits ranging from a better understanding of the climate to ubiquitous broadband. Global access to broadband would bring billions into the global economy. Space science will continue to make great advances. Finding new planets around other stars, perhaps showing signs of organic material, and also identifying other resources in our solar system are very possible. Perhaps, by then, we may even have found signs of actual life outside our planet.
