Alex posted on twitter a few weeks back about the Space industry and how the market is going to be accessible to the general public soon. This got me on a little rabbit hole on what companies are entering the space industry, and where the space industry is going as a whole. In addition to that, UFOs are a big topic of interest that I’d like to dip into. Throughout this blog, I am going to go over what is currently happening in the space industry, the current technology trends in space, what the future of the space industry looks like, and UFOs.
A Quick Space Recap/ Where We Are Today
When we think about Humans traveling and exploring in space, we can look back to how it started, the Space Race. The Space Race occurred in the Cold War era, the long standstill battle of world dominance and supremacy between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Like we are all probably aware of, the Space Race ended with Neil Armstrong allegedly walking on the moon in 1969. Fast forward to today, where the space industry is not as much about politics and power, but rather opportunities for significant technological innovations and applications. Two easy examples that we all use: GPS navigation and weather forecasting. The idea of space as a place of wild adventures is being transformed into economies of scale that are rapidly growing in both investment and employment. The industry is worth roughly around 500 billion dollars and is expected to increase to over 1.5 trillion by 2030.
Who are the Players?
When most people think about who dominates space, they would point to NASA. As the longest standing U.S. space organization, NASA has been at the forefront of space exploration for half a century. Many countries have followed suit by investing in their own space organizations. There are over 90 countries that are currently operating in space. Eight of those countries consistently launch spacecraft that have the ability to orbit. However, we haven’t seen the explosion in the space industry until recently in the 21st century. The reason for this is the emergence of private companies. The most prominent and the biggest, is SpaceX. SpaceX was the first private company to launch a rocket into space in 2008 with Falcon 1. SpaceX is all the way to Falcon 9 now, which is claimed to have 50% greater engine power than Falcon 8. To give you all an idea of how big SpaceX is, in 2020 it was worth more than Tesla’s market capitalization A few other companies that are massive in the industry are Boeing, Blue Origin, and Sierra Nevada Corporation. What I find intriguing is the emergence of smaller niche players, who specialize in a specific product or function within Space. This leads us into our next topic…….
Tech Trends and Opportunities in Space
If you have watched the movie, “Don’t Look Up”, you will be familiar with Space Mining. If you haven’t, I’ll give a brief description. The plot encompasses government figures attempting to mine an asteroid with billions of dollars worth of valuable metals on it. I won’t spoil the ending but this movie highlights a current trend in the industry, Space mining. Space Mining is the ability to use satellites, cameras, and tools to extract elements such as gold, silver, and even organic materials from asteroids in space. Some economists estimate that Space Mining will be a billion dollar industry itself. Another big tech trend within the industry is within small satellites and communications. Much of small satellites efforts involve gathering and processing data. When we had the class discussion about Foursquare and their competitive advantage, we gathered it was the ability to process and store data on the Z axis that was worth millions. I think we as a species are new to the data available in space and that Z axis is still unknown for not only data on space and space exploration, but also data that can be used for businesses that operate on Earth. The ability for niche companies like I mentioned earlier to develop and launch these smaller satellites opens the door for endless business opportunities within any realm. Within communications, we are already familiar with satellites receiving and transmitting data. Not too long ago, satellite TV was groundbreaking. The continued innovation within communication will be able to decrease earthly infrastructure, improve latency, as well as improve security and encryption. Many developers are researching how blockchain and AI will be involved with this field. Other trends and opportunities include traffic control, spacecraft manufacturing, and space propulsion. With all of this space development, we have polluted the area just as we have polluted earth. There is a field in studying the traffic of space just as we study aircraft traffic. To execute in space, there needs to be manufacturing of spacecraft as well as research on how to propel and navigate space.
A Brief Take on UFOs
If you have been watching the news at all or scrolling through social media, you have probably seen some content on UFOs and their sightings. I don’t want to go too deep into UFOs but since I was studying space and spacecraft, I felt it would be a disservice not to bring up the hot topic. According to the Economist and the Government Executive, there have been around 150 reports by military pilots of “unidentified aerial phenomena” made in the last 15 years. The Pentagon claims that around half of the reports were balloons or other explainable objects, leaving the other half unsolved. We have recently seen on the news the U.S. government shooting down mysterious objects from the sky. Government officials have stated that they are looking into all possibilities, even leaving the idea of extraterrestrial beings open.
Conclusion
I think the space industry is extremely fascinating and believe we will see key new developments take place in the near future. Although plans to colonize planets like Mars are a ways away, companies such as SpaceX are hard at work to make it a reality. Are we on the dawn of the second world Space Race? It will be interesting to see not only what innovations will take place, but also the political and power dynamics that will unfold between government agencies and private companies. And how will the so described “UFO” sightings fit into the mix? Feel free to provide your opinion in the comments.