As access to space opens up, there is renewed excitement amongst investors about the industry's potential
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Dragon spacecraft on top is seen at sunset on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Crew-7 mission, on August 23, 2023, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Image: Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images
In the midst of the worst inflation seen in 40 years, not all prices are rising. In the 1970s, the cost of taking a kilogram of water to space was $20,000 in today’s dollars. Now, it is more like $2,000—a tenfold reduction, and as SpaceX’s Starship has $20/kg in its sights, there is a real possibility of another hundred-fold reduction in the cost of space access. If it succeeds, access to space will be opened like never before, creating a flood of new business opportunities.
The space industry includes a wide range of markets: space hardware (e.g. satellite manufacturers and modules), launch services, flight and delivery, space tugs, satellite operators (remote sensing, connectivity), drones and unmanned aerial vehicles, ground terminals, security and storage, data platforms, location and mapping and space infrastructure—among others. The thread that connects all of these markets is that they each depend, directly or indirectly, on access to space.
[This article has been reprinted, with permission, from Rotman Management, the magazine of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management]