The race to space
We hear of Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin making headlines, while hundreds of the other space projects and businesses get drowned out in noise. Harvard Business Review’s entrepreneurship fellow, Sinéad O’Sullivan, discusses the lesser heard aspects of the space economy and how it is much more important to modern businesses than we realise.
Space economy is booming due to lowering costs of satellite development and launches. Today there are thousands of them in the space surrounding our planet. Many of them are functioning, while the rest are just debri after completing their life cycles.
There are two different space economies. One that is about satellites—tech that delivers something to space and help Earth through telecommunications, imaging, cameraing, and such. The other that is focused on space exploration and creating interplanetary existence.Sinéad O’Sullivan
One reason Musk and Bezos are pusing thousands of satellites into space is because they want to lead the space economy, wanting to crowd the limited space available with their satellites. This is a cause for concern because space law and policy is still being worked out. Without knowledge of what the future might hold, this takes time. And Musk and Bezos are taking advantage of this vulnerability.
The primary cause of the explosion in this market [is] reduction in launch costs. So, whereas it now costs $2,000 -$2,500 — roughly looking at SpaceX numbers — to launch one kilogram into space, it used to cost upwards of $50,000 with a very, very long lead time. So, with very cheap access to space, people are putting a lot of satellites into space because it’s making it, the availability of data much higher and the price of that data much cheaper.Sinéad O’Sullivan
As with any business, time is valuable. This race to space with satellites is giving astronauts and space researchers cause for concern. As more satellites crowding the sky also means there are more accidents likely to occur. The other aspect of this race is military, as the fight for data can lead to countries destroying each other satellites, causing issues back on the earth. Hear Sinéad O’Sullivan explain the space economy here.
