This collection explores the evolution of the commercial space industry from the beginning of the space age through the early twenty-first century. Today, the space industry is taking on an increased leadership and innovation role in both space access and exploration. The growth of commercial space over the past decades offers a potential new paradigm for space exploration – one in which industry transitions from supplier to partner. However, many questions remain. This book seeks to bring to light these questions, which span from the most seemingly consequential: how will humanity explore the Moon and Mars? - to the most basic: what is commercial space? To further develop the historical context of commercial space, and thereby better inform decision-making at NASA in the future, this volume examines a broad range of questions related to the history of commercial space operations, including but not limited to: how has the concept of ‘commercial space’ evolved in different fields and disciplines? What have been the major events and milestones in the emergence and evolution of commercial space activities in the USA and internationally? How has the US Government assisted or impeded the emergence and evolution of commercial space activities? Providing contributions from a range of different disciplines and backgrounds, the authors of this volume offer valuable insights for scholars researching the history of space and space policy, as well as decision-makers working at NASA or within the wider space industry.
This book provides a broad set of information and data on the rise of private actors in the space sector, organized into different topics covering the various trends that have shaped the space sector during the last decade. The book, written in a descriptive fashion, concludes with recommendations for future analytical research on the topic.
Rockets, satellites, and the services they provide, once the domain of governments, are increasingly launched and managed by privately owned companies. Although private aerospace firms have contracted with federal agencies since the onset of the Space Age six decades ago, U.S. government policy has sought to spur innovation and drive down costs by expanding the roles of satellite manufacturers and commercial launch providers. Global spending on space activity reached an estimated $323 billion in 2015. Of this amount, nearly 40% was generated by commercial space products and services and 37% by commercial infrastructure and support industries. The U.S. government-including national security agencies and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-accounted for about 14% of global spending; government spending by other countries was responsible for the remaining 10%. The satellite and launch vehicle supply chains are global, with a small number of manufacturers. In 2015, global satellite manufacturing revenues were $6 billion; launches booked $2.6 billion in revenue. Ground stations-the largest part of the commercial space infrastructure-generated more than $100 billion in revenue, largely from geolocation and navigation equipment. The face of the U.S. space industry is changing with a government shift toward use of fixed price contracts for commercial services, new entrants with new launch products, and an increase in the use of smaller satellites: NASA's commercial cargo program and other federal contracts are supporting the growth of the commercial launch industry, with less expensive rockets, some of which are planned to be reusable. Many of the new space-related companies are attracting rising levels of venture capital. Aggressive pricing by U.S. entrants is cutting into the international launch market once dominated by foreign providers. A renewed interest in low-cost satellites, some of which are small enough to be held in one hand, is prompting a range of start-ups and providing new accessibility to space by educational institutions, small businesses, and individual researchers. In order to spur innovation and growth, the commercial space industry has been purposely insulated from some types of federal regulation often applied to other industries. Nevertheless, three broad federal issues will affect the industry's future development. One is the structure of federal regulation and management; those responsibilities currently are dispersed among many agencies, and there is congressional interest in reorganizing commercial space functions at NASA and the Departments of Defense, Commerce, Transportation, and State. A second issue is the extent to which U.S. export controls are hampering U.S. satellite industry sales abroad. Export controls have recently been revamped to enable export of more commercial space products and services, but impediments may remain to reestablishing U.S. space product competitiveness. A third concern is that new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations allowing wireless communication providers to share spectrum previously dedicated to satellite transmissions may result in interference. The commission has pledged to continue studying the issue.
This book offers a comprehensive overview of current space exploration in terms of geopolitical and commercial aspects. Despite multiple attempts to foster commercial activities in the field of space exploration, for decades the domain largely continued to be funded and led by governments in the form of national and international programmes. However, the situation changed with the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the introduction of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, which employed an innovative procurement scheme based on competitive, performance-based, fixed-price milestones. The success of this programme marked an important milestone in the evolution of the relationship between government and industry. The growing opportunities for private actors to make more prominent contributions to space exploration also lie in the “New Space” ecosystem, a sectoral transformation characterised by a substantial increase in private investment and the emergence of commercial efforts to develop disruptive concepts and address new markets.
Young addresses the impressive expansion across existing and developing commercial space business markets, with multiple private companies competing in the payload launch services sector. The author pinpoints the new markets, technologies, and players in the industry, as well as highlighting the overall reasons why it is important for us to develop space. NASA now relies on commercial partners to supply cargo and crew spacecraft and services to and from the International Space Station. The sizes of satellites are diminishing and their capabilities expanding, while costs to orbit are decreasing. Suborbital space tourism holds the potential of new industries and jobs. Commercial space exploration of the Moon and the planets also holds promise. All this activity is a catalyst for anyone interested in joining the developing space industry, from students and researchers to engineers and entrepreneurs. As more and more satellites and rockets are launched and the business of space is expanding at a significant pace, it is increasingly important for scientists and engineers of many disciplines to understand how the business evolved and where it is continuing to develop. The growing field is fully explored in this concise overview to the players in this changing landscape.
Few federal agencies have more extensive ties to the private sector than NASA. NASA's relationships with its many aerospace industry suppliers of rocket engines, computers, electronics, gauges, valves, O-rings, and other materials have often been described as "partnerships." These have produced a few memorable catastrophes, but mostly technical achievements of the highest order. Until now, no one has written extensively about them. In NASA and the Space Industry, Joan Lisa Bromberg explores how NASA's relationship with the private sector developed and how it works. She outlines the various kinds of expertise public and private sectors brought to the tasks NASA took on, describing how this division of labor changed over time. She explains why NASA sometimes encouraged and sometimes thwarted the privatization of space projects and describes the agency's role in the rise of such new space industries as launch vehicles and communications satellites.
"The general themes of this analysis of the commercial space tourism industry include three main topics; 1) Benefits of commercial space tourism to numerous stakeholders, 2) The viability of commercial space tourism 3) existing public relations solutions f"
