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Entrepreneurial Space Age Began In 2009, Says Report (arstechnica.com)
"In July 2009, SpaceX launched its first commercial payload -- a 50kg Earth observation satellite for Malaysia -- which flew into space aboard a privately developed rocket," reports Ars Technica. "According to a new space investment report that will be published Tuesday by the Space Angels, an angel fund and a venture capital fund focused on space, which marked a key inflection point between the "governmental" space age and the "entrepreneurial" space age." From the report: "With that launch, SpaceX significantly lowered the barriers to entry in the space industry," the fund's chief executive, Chad Anderson, writes in the new report. "By vertically integrating, the company was able to drastically reduce the cost to get to orbit. But what deserves at least as much credit is their decision to publish their pricing, which fundamentally changed the way we do business in space. This transparency enabled would-be space entrepreneurs to develop a business plan and raise equity financing based on those cost assumptions."
From 2009 through September 2017, the report finds that $12 billion in equity investments have been made in space, with annual amounts increasing significantly in 2015 and beyond to more than $2 billion per year. At $10 billion, launch services, landers, and satellites have accounted for the bulk of this investment since 2009. Aside from the SpaceX launch that year, other data supports the year 2009 as the beginning of an entrepreneurial space age in which the private sector began making investments to return profits from space-based activities. About 250 space ventures have received non-government equity funding, the report states, and, of those, 88 percent have been funded since 2009.
From 2009 through September 2017, the report finds that $12 billion in equity investments have been made in space, with annual amounts increasing significantly in 2015 and beyond to more than $2 billion per year. At $10 billion, launch services, landers, and satellites have accounted for the bulk of this investment since 2009. Aside from the SpaceX launch that year, other data supports the year 2009 as the beginning of an entrepreneurial space age in which the private sector began making investments to return profits from space-based activities. About 250 space ventures have received non-government equity funding, the report states, and, of those, 88 percent have been funded since 2009.
This comment is no less retarded than the article. I didn't think we could get lower here
That's pretty cool, i never thought about that. I guess until then, all space flights were one-off deals with no room for bargaining. Goes to show the difference between state financing and capitalism.
Another important milestone was the recent name-check on Elon Musk in Star Trek: Discovery. In ep.4, the captain says (paraphrasing): "The Wright brothers, Elon Musk, Zephram Cochran... do you want to be remembered in that group or be forgotten as just another obscure scientist?"
My point is that even pop culture is beginning to realize that we're entering a new paradigm for space flight, and that Musk is the most visible proponent of it. Of course, it remains to be seen how much of Elon's vision will be realized. But if, in 10 or 15 years it's possible to buy a ticket to an orbit for less than $100k, it will certainly be enabled by the "entrepreneurial" space industry, and not by any government effort. And, for better or worse, Elon is the poster-boy for that industry.
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This seems a bit...dramatic...in its description. Yes, as of comparatively recently you can now get satellite launch services that are substantially private sector (both in who you buy them from and in the launch vehicle not being some defense contractor's ICBM work warmed over a bit); but to the degree that the private sector has found things worth doing in space(mostly communications satellites, some sensor ones) that predates the new launch options by a fair bit; and none of the asteroid mining/private colonies/etc. stuff seems to have changed much, particularly as of 2009.
This is not to dismiss the developments in launch systems; but 'space age' usually includes something to do in space, which hasn't shown up to nearly the same degree, and also existed under the prior launch model; it seems more accurate to limit the claim to launch systems.
I guess that's just one more reason why The Orville is superior to STD.
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