Introduction to Space Exploration - Space Commerce

The Space Age introduced new areas of commerce for the world's entrepreneurs. Companies engaged in aviation, aeronautics, and aerospace activities have been the most direct beneficiaries. However, other industries have seized upon space-based opportunities, primarily the businesses of commercial satellite services and space tourism.

Commercial Satellite Services

In 1962 the U.S. Congress passed the Communications Satellite Act (P.L. 87-624), opening the door for commercial use of satellites in space. For decades these satellites could only be launched by national space agencies (such as NASA). In 1980 Arianespace (a subsidiary of the European Space Agency) became the world's first commercial space transportation company. Arianespace began offering satellite launches using Ariane rockets at its spaceport in French Guiana (a small country along the northern coast of South America). Its first client was an American telecommunications company.

In 1984 the Commercial Space Launch Act (P.L. 98-575) was passed in the United States. The act granted power to the U.S. private sector to develop and provide satellite launching, reentry, and associated services and noted that this "would enable the United States to retain its competitive position internationally, contributing to the national interest and economic well-being of the United States."

Boeing Corporation is a large U.S. aerospace company and a prime NASA contractor. In 1995 Boeing formed a satellite launching business with Russian, Norwegian, and Ukrainian partners. Sea Launch Company, LLC, is headquartered in Long Beach, California, and operates a rocket launch platform on a modified oil-drilling platform in the South Pacific Ocean. As of 2005 Boeing owned a 40% share in the company. Its partners include RSC-Energia of Russia (25% share); Kvaerner ASA of Norway (20% share); and SDO Yuzhnoye/PO Yuzhmash of Ukraine (15% share). More than a dozen launches of commercial satellites have taken place from the Sea Launch facility since the first launch in 1999.

The Commercial Space Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-303) encouraged NASA to set policies to encourage and facilitate the participation of the private sector in the operation, use, and servicing of the ISS. This act received little attention until 2004, when President Bush announced his plan to retire the space shuttle fleet by 2010. The United States expects it will need commercial services to take over many of the tasks historically performed by the shuttle for the ISS program. This should open up many new opportunities in space for enterprising companies.

Space Tourism

Prior to the 2000s space tourism was limited to occasional space station visits taken by a handful of individuals for multi-million-dollar fees. These trips were granted by the Soviet (and later Russian) Space Agency to raise badly needed funds. Private space tourism companies formed and accepted deposits for future spaceflights on not-yet-developed spacecraft, but these ventures sounded like science fiction to most people. This all changed in 2004 with the successful suborbital excursions of SpaceShipOne. Suddenly space visits by private individuals became a viable possibility. New space tourism businesses formed, and the U.S. government rushed to set regulations for private space transportation, an entirely new industry.

COMMERCIAL PASSENGERS ON RUSSIAN MISSIONS

During the late 1980s the Soviet space program was in dire need of money. The Soviet Union was splintering into individual nations, and funds for space travel were in short supply. In 1990 the agency received $28 million from a Japanese media company to take one of their journalists aboard the space station Mir. A year later a TABLE 1.1 Number of successful space launches worldwide, 1998–2005 Adapted from "Table of World Space Launches," in Office of Spaceflight Space Statistics, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, January 2006, http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/spacestat.html (accessed December 30, 2005)London bank paid an undisclosed amount of money to allow a British woman to spend a "space vacation" aboard Mir.

TABLE 1.1
Number of successful space launches worldwide, 1998–2005
	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	Total	Percent of launches
Other launches: North Korea (1998) and Israel (2002 and 2004)
*ESA=European Space Agency
SOURCE: Adapted from "Table of World Space Launches," in Office of Spaceflight Space Statistics, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, January 2006, http://www.hq.nasa.gov/osf/spacestat.html (accessed December 30, 2005)
India	0	1	0	2	1	2	1	1	8	2%
Japan	1	0	0	1	3	2	0	2	9	2%
Sea	0	1	2	2	1	3	3	4	16	3%
China	6	4	5	1	4	6	8	5	39	8%
ESA*	11	10	11	7	11	4	3	5	62	12%
U.S.	34	28	28	21	17	23	16	12	179	35%
Russia	24	26	35	23	23	21	22	23	197	39%
Total	76	70	81	57	60	61	53	52	510

In 2001 the Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos charged an American businessman $15 million for a "space vacation" aboard the ISS. The next year Rosaviakosmos raised the price. A South African space tourist paid $20 million to visit the ISS. In September 2005 an American scientist and businessman spent a week on the ISS for a $20 million fee.

Russia's ISS partners (including NASA) have not shown any interest in space tourism. The United States initially refused to let tourists aboard the ISS but relented after heated negotiations with Rosaviakosmos.

The Russian agency has stated publicly that it hopes to develop space tourism as a thriving business. It sells tourist packages that allow people to undergo simulated cosmonaut training at its facilities in Star City.

THE FUTURE OF PRIVATE SPACE TRAVEL

All three tourist trips to the ISS were brokered by an American company called Space Adventures. The company, which is based in Virginia, was founded in 1998 by aerospace engineer and space entrepreneur Peter Diamandis. It also has plans to market suborbital flights aboard a new space plane being developed by a Russian contractor. The plane will take tourists to an altitude just over sixty-two miles from Earth. According to the company, passenger flights are expected to begin before 2008.

Other companies known to be developing commercial spacelines include Virgin Galactic, Space X, Rocketplane, and Armadillo Aerospace.

The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 instructed the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin formulating rules to govern the transport of passengers into space aboard commercial spacecraft. In December 2005 the FAA issued more than 100 pages of proposed rules dealing with issues such as crew training, pilot certification, and requirements for informed consent about the risks of space flight. Final rules were expected in mid-2006.

Those people who do not make it into space during their lifetime also have another option. Several companies around the world already offer services where the cremated ashes of a loved one can be carried into space. The service costs anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000.