Why Space?

The challenges of working within the space environment generate space spin-offs that create significant value here on Earth in various industries: infrared ear thermometers, fire resistant coatings, parallel computing, advanced solar cells, global ship traffic management, etc.

 
 

A Mature industry undergoing significant change

  • Space is a $360 billion established growth industry

  • The industry is enabled by a $6billion launch services industry that is dominated by communication satellites and infrastructure

  • Sub sectors such as remote sensing, broadband, and IoT applications are experiencing significant growth

  • +1,700 smallsats were launched 2012-2019

  • 2,600 smallsat launches projected in the next 5 years

  • SpaceX and India have reduced launch costs by 65% since 2012

  • SpaceX is one of the most valuable privately held tech companies ($36 billion)

space is hard and that's a good thing

Space has naturally occurring properties and resources that don’t exist on Earth:

  • Microgravity

  • Vacuum

  • Uninterrupted sunlight

  • Complete view of the Earth’s surface and its atmosphere

  • Limitless raw materials (water, metals, etc)

  • Near sterile environment

  • Temperature near absolute zero

  • Environment devoid of perturbing effects (wind, vibration etc)

The interdisciplinary nature of solving problems in that environment requires the best from every field of human endeavor.

access to space

Launch is a significant cost and risk component of any space application. Over just the past few years new launch providers such as SpaceX have significantly reduced the cost of accessing space. 

Drastic reductions in underlying costs create new business models in new markets.