Space, the Final Economic Frontier

Letter from the Editors

The Commercilization of Space

With new development in technology, the opportunity for business in space is high

Virgin Galactic Mothership and SpaceShip Two. Captured by tom Wigley. Taken on January 16, 2008

As children, most people wanted to be an astronaut and to go to the moon. When people realize the years of hard work and schooling it takes to even get a chance to accomplish this goal, it seems less than desirable to become an astronaut. But what if there was a way to go to the moon without devoting years of your life. What if you could pay to go to the moon?

For decades, space has been called the “final frontier” for humanity, and up until re-

cently the market in space was relatively unclaimed but, with new technology allowing easier and cheaper space travel, companies are starting to use space for economic purposes. Some companies are selling tickets to go to space, while other companies will send a satellite in space for your company. All of this is known as the commercialization of space travel.

“Pacific Ocean From Space” by blueforce4116 , Taken on October 17, 2003

Because space is a new and developing industry, there are many opportunities for new companies. One of these companies is SpaceLabs, a new up and coming company, which offers to send a satellite into space for anyone who can pay. Because this market is unclaimed they are the only company that provides this service, allowing them to make vast sums of money. But there are other unclaimed markets with the space industry too. One example of this is asteroid mining because asteroids hold very valuable resources. An asteroid called the Hoba meteorite was found to have 60 tons of raw iron. Both Neil deGrasse Tyson and Peter Diamandis have stated that they believe “Earth’s first trillionaire will be an asteroid-miner.” The amount of iron

“The technological challenges possibly available is are enormous. But there is also worth 100 quadrilthe challenge of generating demand among the public but, Over lion dollars but the costs of mining and bringing the metal time, the price will come down, back to earth cost just as with air travel, to where it on average 100-50 will be affordable by the average person in a high-income country.” million dollars per journey, and one journey cannot - Matthew Winzler always bring back enough resources to pay for the journey and make a profit. In discussing economics with a professor at Harvard, Mathew Weinzler, about his opinion on asteroid mining, “I would

expect mining to be a reality by the end of the century, though whether it will be profitable at scale is very hard to predict,” he says. Between Neil deGrasse Tyson, Peter Diamandis and Mathew Wienzleir it seems the future of asteroid mining is uncertain, but has the possibility to blossom into being another profitable industry in space

The most publicly desired space industry is companies that offer trips to space, like Blue Origin. When most people hear about flying to space they believe the price is in the millions and in the past, traveling to space cost 55 million dollars for 1 ticket, but with advancements in technology that allow cheaper and easier travel to space, you can get a ticket to go to space for $250,000 with the company Blue Origin.With a price of $250,000 space travel is no longer limited to the 0.001% of wealth and everyday eager citizens could save up enough money to travel to space.

Unfortunately the commercialization of space travel also comes with downsides. For example, space junk is created every time a rocket is launched into space, or if something happens to a satellite and parts of it break off. Space junk is very dangerous since it can block future rocket ships and other space crafts from leaving earth if pieces are orbiting in the path other rockets need to take.

There are currently 20,000 pieces of space junk orbiting at 15,000 mph that cause risk for current and future space travel, and the amount of space junk is only increasing. In the next ten years, more than 27,000 satellites will be launched into space. Although this is a huge step for the commercialization of space travel, it could cause dangerous amounts of space junk. To avoid this Privateer is a company that is tracking the amount of space junk and locations of it. Privateer is also working on possible methods to clean up the space junk. One of the ideas privateers have for cleaning up space junk is satellites that can move the space junk out of orbit with technology as simple as nets.

Although space junk is being created, it is still clear that the commercialization of space travel is advancing between companies like Blue Origin and Rocket Labs, who are making space more accessible, or asteroid mining companies that can bring in valuable raw material back to earth the and they are valuable for the future of the economics of space.

First Space Shuttle Mission, STS-1, Launches -- April 12, 1981 by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

Pros vs Cons

This infographic will explore the pros and cons of the commercialization of space travel. With the commercializa - tion of space travel it opens With the addition - al amounts of satel - lites and rocket ships in space there is an increased amount of space junk. Space junk makes it harder and even impossible for rocket ships to leave the earth traping humans on

up new travel opportunities. For example companies such as blue origin will allow you to pay to go to the moon. You would expect the price of these flights to be in the millions but for 500,000$ you can get a round trip to outer space.

There are a huge amount of cur rent problems on earth such as global warming. If people focus their efforts on outer space and trying the find a “new earth” problems on earth aren’t paid any attention to

The commercialization of space travel is not only limited to travel. For exam - ple there has been an asteroid found containing nearly double the earth’s iron contents. Aster -