The Rise Of Private Actors In The Space Sector

This book provides a broad set of information and data on the rise of private actors in the space sector, organized into different topics covering the various trends that have shaped the space sector during the last decade. The book, written in a descriptive fashion, concludes with recommendations for future analytical research on the topic.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of current space exploration in terms of geopolitical and commercial aspects. Despite multiple attempts to foster commercial activities in the field of space exploration, for decades the domain largely continued to be funded and led by governments in the form of national and international programmes. However, the situation changed with the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the introduction of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme, which employed an innovative procurement scheme based on competitive, performance-based, fixed-price milestones. The success of this programme marked an important milestone in the evolution of the relationship between government and industry. The growing opportunities for private actors to make more prominent contributions to space exploration also lie in the “New Space” ecosystem, a sectoral transformation characterised by a substantial increase in private investment and the emergence of commercial efforts to develop disruptive concepts and address new markets.

The Secure World Foundation developed the Handbook for New Actors in Space, which is intended to provide nations, established satellite operators, start-up companies, universities, and other space actors with a broad overview of the fundamental principles, laws, norms, and best practices for peaceful, safe, and responsible activities in space.

Examines the current status of private investment in space activities in 3 areas: the provision of space launch services by large-capacity launch vehicles; the production of information based on data gathered by satellites through remote sensing; and the processing of materials in space. Details on manufacturers in the U.S., Europe, China, Russia and Japan. 20 tables and charts.

Space was at the center of America's imagination in the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy's visionary statement captured the mood of the day: "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." The Apollo mission's success in July 1969 made almost anything seem possible, but the Cold War made space flight the province of governmental agencies in the United States. When the Apollo program ended in 1972, space lost its hold on the public interest, as the great achievements wound down. Entrepreneurs are beginning to pick up the slack-looking for safer, more reliable, and more cost effective ways of exploring space. Entrepreneurial activity may make create a renaissance in human spaceflight. The private sector can energize the quest for space exploration and shape the race for the final frontier. Space entrepreneurs and private sector firms are making significant innovations in space travel. They have plans for future tourism in space and safer shuttles. Solomon details current US and international laws dealing with space use, settlement, and exploration, and offers policy recommendations to facilitate privatization. As private enterprise takes hold, it threatens to change the space landscape forever. Individuals are designing spacecraft, start-up companies are testing prototypes, and reservations are being taken for suborbital space flights. With for-profit enterprises carving out a new realm, it is entirely possible that space will one day be a sea of hotels and/or a repository of resources for big business. It is important that regulations are in place for this eventuality. These new developments have great importance, huge implications, and urgency for everyone.

There are few industries in today’s world as dynamic and dramatically changing as the space sector, with new ventures and initiatives being announced on a daily basis. As well as emerging countries improving their launching and manufacturing capabilities, private actors are beginning to join public bodies in the space race, and participating in what is frequently being referred to as the new space era. With fantastic opportunities arising for business and economics, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the space sector, exploring recent initiatives, and the most important areas of investment in the industry, including emerging fields of activities such as asteroid mining and space tourism. It also addresses traditional and non-traditional security issues in the sector, together with discussing their legal implications. This interdisciplinary book provides insights for practitioners and researchers alike, particularly those involved in technology and innovation management, emerging markets, international relations, and security studies.

This open access book analyses the interplay of sustainable development and human rights from different perspectives including fight against poverty, health, gender equality, working conditions, climate change and the role of private actors. Each aspect is addressed from a more human rights-focused angle and a development-policy angle. This allows comparisons between the different approaches but also seeks to close gaps which would remain if only one perspective would be at the center of the discussions. Specifically, the book shows the strong connections between human rights and the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015. Already the preamble of this document explicitly states that "the 17 Sustainable Development Goals ... seek to realise the human rights of all". Moreover, several goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda correspond to already existing individual human rights obligations. The contributions of this volume therefore also address how the implementation of human rights and SDGs can reinforce each other, but also point to critical shortcomings of the different approaches.

This edited book focuses on how States should regulate activities in space and explores strategies to advance State responsible behaviour to ensure sustainable use and effective protection of outer space for peaceful purposes. The time seems ripe to bring international law into the space sustainability discourse. The concept of sustainable development was conceptualized by the 1987 Brundtland Report, Our Common Future. Today, as then, the overlap between the security, environmental and economic dimensions, including in terms of intra/inter-generational equity, is reflected within the current ‘new space’ era that is now ‘our common future’. This edited book collects original theoretical and empirical contributions. It contributes to unpack the international outer space regulatory framework in the light of current trends and pressing challenges. This offers a unique perspective and guidance thus empowering regulatory strategies for stakeholders and end-users such as scholars, policy-makers, industry and society.

A timely exploration of the relationships between NASA and the private sector: “An interesting read.” —Spaceflight Few federal agencies have more extensive ties to the private sector than NASA. NASA’s relationships with its many aerospace industry suppliers of rocket engines, computers, electronics, gauges, valves, O-rings, and other materials have often been described as “partnerships.” These have produced a few memorable catastrophes, but mostly technical achievements of the highest order. Until now, no one has written extensively about them. In NASA and the Space Industry, Joan Lisa Bromberg explores how NASA’s relationship with the private sector developed and how it works. She outlines the various kinds of expertise public and private sectors brought to the tasks NASA took on, describing how this division of labor changed over time. She explains why NASA sometimes encouraged and sometimes thwarted the privatization of space projects and describes the agency’s role in the rise of such new space industries as launch vehicles and communications satellites.

The global space sector has always been regarded as a cutting-edge field, futuristic and at the forefront of innovation. In recent years, the sector has undergone massive change, giving rise to a high-technology niche worth over $330 billion in revenues worldwide and growing. That process, encompassing a greater and more diverse set of actors, has been described as the "democratization of space." Above and Beyond: Exploring the Business of Space provides a comprehensive and current overview of the business of space and its distinctive competitive dynamics. The book explores the commercialization of space, taking the reader on a journey from the era of the Space Race up to the present and beyond. Focusing on both state and commercial actors, the book provides an exhaustive panoramic view of an area of growing human endeavour and ambition that is both informative and fascinating. As the business of space continues to develop and grow at a remarkable pace, the book offers a thoughtful and timely analysis of its past, present and future scenarios. While providing a critical assessment of the business of space, this book offers valuable insights to academics, policy makers and anyone with a keen interest in the sector, as well as useful lessons from emerging commercial and traditional space actors that have broader applicability to other industries and their managers.