Importance of Space Commercialization
Author: Icie
Article:
Importance of Space Commercialization
Due to the advancement of space technologies the possibility of
space
commercialization has not only become probable, but
extremely feasible and profitable. For the past 60 years the
Space Race has been a competition solely between governments. It
has only been recently that private companies and large
organizations have been able to produce space technology
independently. The largest promoter and supporter of privately
developed space technology is the X-Prize Foundation. A
non-profit organization oriented toward educating the public,
the Foundation was created by Dr. Peter H. Daimandis to spur
competition in the private sector for developing creative
breakthroughs in space technology.
Basing his beliefs on examples in history, Dr. Daimandis
believed that if one company or person was capable of achieving
or creating something new or something formally believed
impossible, other persons would follow. One of his examples was
the first crossing of the Atlantic by a single person, Lindbergh
in the Spirit of St. Louis. After Lindbergh did “the
impossible” applications for pilot licenses increased by 300%
and the passenger count of the (limited) airlines of the time
increased by a factor of 30! Without developing any new
technology, Lindbergh simply showed what was possible through
determination and stubbornness.
The X-Prize Foundation was not the only organization to believe
in the future of space commercialization, in 1998 the American
government created in the Department of Commerce the Office of
Space Commercialization to oversee policy creation concerning
space commerce and industry in the U.S. commercial space
industry.
Robert Goddard, in March 1926, created and launched the first
liquid fueled rocket giving him the moniker “the father of
modern rocketry”. Only 21 years later the Soviet Union
successfully launched and placed into orbit the first artificial
satellite, Sputnik. Although the size of a basketball its place
in history is enormous, the beginning of the Space Race.
Thirty two years later the United States government created the
National Space and Aeronautics Administration, the precursor to
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Beginning
with a budget of only $100 million and 8,000 employees, within
the first year of operation they created and launched
America’s first orbital satellite, the Pioneer III. Three
years after the creation of NSAA, President John F. Kennedy gave
his historical speech announcing the intention of landing men on
the moon.
Ten years after the beginning of NSAA, only 22 years after the
world’s first artificial satellite, Apollo 8 brought mankind
to moon. But unfortunately it was only 4 years later in 1972
that humans stopped walking on the moon. The Space Race has
since carried on to developing the International Space Station
(ISS), Space Shuttles, and exploring other planets in the Solar
System through satellites and robots. All of this advancement
and research has been funded by various national governments.
But now private companies are entering the space competition.
The X-Prize Foundation’s challenge to private companies was
for the development of a reusable spacecraft; with a turnaround
faster than the government funded Space Shuttle. SpaceShipOne
entered into the history books on October 4, 2004 as the first
privately built and manned spacecraft to achieve orbital height
twice within a two week period.
The Space Shuttle’s primary design was developed during the
1970’s, and 30 years later the same basic design is still
being used, with upgrades in computers and hardware of course.
The biggest difference between the Space Shuttle and
SpaceShipOne is SpaceShipOne takes off and lands like an
airplane, instead of taking off vertically like a rocket. This
makes it cheaper to produce and maintain, and allows for a
faster turnaround between flights.
SpaceShipOne, a combined effort by Virgin Group of Companies
and Scaled Composites, led the way for the proposal of a
privately operated spaceport. The New Mexico Spaceport is being
built by Virgin Galactic (a subsidiary of Virgin Group) and will
allow for private individuals the chance to travel into space.
Today we have improved medicines, faster computers, plastic
composites, metal alloys, and toys that seem to have originated
in science fiction novels, all thanks to space technology. Space
technology has helped shape our current society in subtle ways
too, enough for someone to write a book about it, The Hidden
Revolution by Jim Schefter.
The development of SpaceShipOne was funded by Paul Allen,
Microsoft’s co-founder. For the developments to be kept
privately owned, all funding must come from the private sector.
This creates a problem for the general public. It takes a lot of
money to develop space technologies, money that comes from the
profits of commercial companies. These profits are derived from
the spending habits of the general public. To have more profits
to put into research, profits must be increased. This is done
(generally) by decreasing production costs and/or increasing
prices on products or services.
But is the public ready to pay for a privately funded space
program when they already are funding government programs
through taxes? There may not be a choice in the matter. Already
private companies are researching and developing for the next
X-Prize, the Lunar Lander Challenge with a prize of $2.5
million. No one has been on the moon in 35 years; it just might
be time for a private organization to return us to the moon.
Why is it so important for mankind to return to the moon? With
the low gravity of the moon, scientific research that is not
possible here in Earth’s gravity well would be possible. The
range of technological advancements that could be possible would
require a book to list. For 61 years the governments of Earth of
competed in a race for new space technology. Space technology
has been proven unequivocally useful and important in the
advancement of our society. Government funded research is a
pitfall of red tape, secrecy, and is sometimes overseen by
ill-experienced or non-qualified people. Attempting to predict
the impact space technology would have on our society in the
future would almost be impossible to forecast, as would any new
innovation. Maybe we shouldn’t be concentrating strictly on
the predictable benefits of space technology, but go the route
as said by President John F. Kennedy; “We choose to go to the
moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the
other things, not because they are easy, but because they are
hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the
best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one
that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone,
and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.” It’s
not that hard to support the development of a private space
industry. Simply support the corporations and organizations that
provide the funding, support their ideas and decisions. The
Space Race is already integrated into our society, cell phones,
all communications, GPS, weather forecasting, ecological
sciences, medical science, etc. Any knowledge acquired is never
a waste of time. Do not allow government regulations and red
tape stagnate the future development of our society, support
space commercialization.
About the author:
I work primarily in AutoCad and Engineering, with a Bachelor
Degree in something completely unrelated after 3 years as a
Engineering Physics major.
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