v. Balance public/commercial space activities

Balance public/commercial space activities

Key recommendations

➢ Consider which capabilities should be developed by the public or private sectors. ➢ Implement transparent and fair competitions for contracts. ➢ Generate opportunities for small businesses and startups. ➢ Ensure that policy frameworks are agile and future proof. ➢ Buy spots on launches, offering them in competitions.

he relationship between governments and private space companies is T significant and dual-faceted: governments are both regulators and customers. There is a need to sustain a healthy balance to ensure that the commercial sector remains competitive and agile. Moreover, governments need to be aware of the effects of their engagement with the private sector on the development of space industry. There is generally no single optimum model that fits all economies. Some space markets will require more government intervention than others. However, it is important for the government to be informed about space to make good choices as a regulator and customer. In some cases, it is preferable for governments to develop certain capabilities

342 Secure World Foundation (2017). 343 Secure World Foundation (2017). themselves, for example in the case of infrastructure essential to national security, or certain services that do not exist in the private sector.342 Developing government capabilities allows full control over the project and any downstream outputs, such as satellite data. This also allows the establishment of space activities which directly address the needs of the population, beyond the most financially lucrative projects. While government-developed space capabilities hold considerable benefits, not least allowing the government to remain engaged with current technology, drawbacks include a lack of transparency, as well as potential cost and efficiency challenges compared to fully private enterprise.343

Private enterprise remains central to establishing a thriving space industry. The government, as a customer, is required to establish transparent and fair contracting approaches to foster market competition and cost-effective and efficient projects. Building up private enterprise is also contingent on ensuring that the population and government recognizes the importance of investments in the space sector.

Start-ups and university spin-off companies are crucial towards maintaining a health space industry ecosystem. Such innovation requires small grant opportunities and seed funding initiatives, as well as cutting back bureaucratic barriers to founding small businesses. To help minimize risks, companies likely also require clear models and roadmaps in the form of design documentation, open-source

hardware/software, and clear pathways to launch.

It is generally recommended that governmental and commercial policy and regulatory frameworks for private space enterprise are designed to be agile and technologically neutral, to ensure that they are future-proofed and remain relevant with technological innovation.344 There needs to be tolerance for failure, as this contributes to learning. It is essential to document learning, sharing these lessons across the public and private sectors.

It is also important that the principles of peaceful, inclusive and sustainable use of space lie at the core of decision making, to preserve the space environment for generations to come. Governments can buy spaces on launches for small payloads at relatively low prices, starting at just $1,300 per pound of payload.345 Purchasing blocks of these launch spots a few years in advance may not necessarily require detailed payload capability specifications, other than weight. Governments could offer these spots to the right domestic projects at no cost. Commercial or academic teams would be encouraged to compete for these spots, building up knowledge and experience in the process.

344 Kommel et al. (2020). 345 Sheetz, Michael (2022) SpaceX raises prices for rocket launches and Starlink satellite internet as inflation hits raw materials. CNBC. 23 March 2022. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/23/spacex-raises-prices-for-launches-and-starlink-due-to-inflation.