Space Is Open for Business: The Industry That Can Transform Humanity

by Robert C. Jacobson

There are four separate governing bodies that companies must deal with for commercial licenses: the FAA, which manages licenses for launch, re-entry, and spaceports; the NOAA, for remote or Earth sensing capabilities licenses; the FCC, for satellite communications licenses; and the Departments of Commerce and State, for space technology exports licenses. On top of all that, the US Air Force awards numerous contracts to private companies and has its own plethora of regulatory requirements to meet.

The Commission’s satellite licensing rules, in particular those applicable to commercial operations, were generally not developed with small satellite systems in mind, and uniformly impose fees and regulatory requirements appropriate to expensive, long-lived missions. … Therefore, in 2018, the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposed to develop a new authorization process tailored specifically to small satellite operations, keeping in mind efficient use of spectrum and mitigation of orbital debris.

Barclays bank estimates that energy bonds compose 15.7 percent of the global $1.3 trillion high yield debt market. It makes one wonder what could be possible if just 1 percent of that went into the space sector.

On a global scale, the space environment suffers from a glaring lack of sustainable, functioning space regulations as well. Lower altitudes of space remain an at-risk resource; with no clear way to regulate spacecraft, debris, and space weather, we’re heading toward problematic and challenging situations.1

Integrating spaceflight with commercial airliners in our airspace is one issue growing more ominous by the day. Airlines already push back when it comes to sharing that airspace, which is increasingly limited and congested. On June 29, 2018, over two hundred thousand flights flew, which was the highest number of aircraft flights in a single day, as tracked by Swedish tracking company FlightRadar24.2 July 29, 2019 saw 225,000 flights, setting a new record. With air traffic at an all-time high and increasing by the year, it is crucial to create solutions that allow spacecraft and aircraft to coexist safely and effectively. We need new software that integrates with air traffic control (which is currently unable to connect to other data sources). Effectively streamlining the communication between these two industries will be imperative to enable safe scheduling, quicker launch turnaround, and higher launch frequency. On a global scale, it will be impossible to resolve the growing airspace problems without international diplomacy.

We also need better methods to track and control dead or retired spacecraft, which can have potentially ruinous consequences if they collide with other objects or spacecraft. Although experts contend that LEO can handle much more traffic and activity from new satellites and other spacecraft, that doesn’t account for retired spacecraft or debris that isn’t controlled remotely from Earth. There are already more than 23,000 pieces of large orbital debris (objects larger than 10 cm) tracked by NASA and the US Space Surveillance Network; there are an estimated additional 500,000 pieces of debris between 1 cm and 10 cm, and over 100 million pieces between 1 mm and 1 cm...

Spacecraft in GEO, which accounts for most telecommunication and weather satellites, is far more unpredictable; objects in GEO can remain in orbit for millions of years.4 Though space debris has not yet caused any significant or severe pain to the sector, it will cause issues in the future if steps are not taken to curb its effects. The unknown is not if, but when such incidents will occur.

today, we know more about the planet Mars than Marco Polo, Leif Ericson, Alexander the Great, or the entirety of Europe during the Age of Discovery knew about the various areas of the world they each explored.

If, from the fifteenth century onward, the Chinese had continued in their explorations rather than decide to focus within their borders, it would be a very different world today.

Global technology leaders such as Intel and Google invest in science fiction to aid their internal developments and help them stay competitive. Intel employed futurist Brian David Johnson (who is also a science fiction author) from 2009 to 2016.9 Eric Schmidt, longtime Google CEO and current chair of the US Department of Defense Innovation Advisory Board, noted in his opening speech at CeBIT in 2012 that science fiction affects “present and future technology.”

Science fiction is a blueprint for society; science fiction is how we see ourselves in the future.