How to start a space business & launch the space economy

What do we need to kickstart a space economy?

Kickstarting an economy in space wasn’t achievable nor realistic in the near term until recently.

With the development of Starship by Elon Musk and SpaceX, we are on the cusp of achieving the hitherto impossible: reliable, cheap and reusable transport to space at 10€ a kg marginal cost.

What kind of economy do we already have in space? We wave everything that has to do with science: from space looking to earth and from space looking to space or visiting our neighbourhood. The most significant impact on the earth's economy from space are GPS, weather satellites and communication satellites. All services delivering to our terrestrial-based economy. 

What is coming on the horizon as the next step in a space economy? The thing that is happening now is the privatisation of spaceflight. Where government agencies buy trips to ISS from SpaceX and other companies, first for cargo and next for people. The continuation of that is the privatisation of space station(s), where government agencies rent space for science experiments. When you have space available, a small next step is space tourism—starting with visiting space for a short time, minutes to hours, and evolving into overnight stays. The second thing happening now is fast internet from space by Kepler (Amazon) and Starlink (SpaceX), with thousands of satellites each.

Both projects are only possible due to the first wave of cheaper transport to space and inevitable with the full reusability of spacecraft. So the beginnings of a space economy are already there. What we have yet to see is specialisation. Everything we send into space is, by necessity, fully independent. Every satellite and every spacecraft is fully autonomous. It brings its own fuel, solar panels, and satellite dish; there is no energy utility or phone company. You have to make, obtain and maintain your solution. So if you want to start a business in space, you have to create and maintain everything yourself. No easy phone company, electricity provider, room to rent, or factory build for you. So what we need are the basics. Communication that is fast and reliable over huge distances, such as is currently being tested with laser communication between earth and the moon or between satellites of Starlink. Energy is another one. Now, you are limited with the number of solar panels you can bring, producing little further from the sun. We need energy produced at scale in the gigawatt range and then beamed to the client. A solar photovoltaic concentrator with energy beamed via laser is a probable solution.

So to conclude, space is a very challenging environment that is also rich in resources: much room, sun (energy 24/7), and flying mines (asteroids). When we build the basics in power, communication and room, we can unleash entrepreneurship to capture the resources in space and create prosperity for all of us.

Would you ever consider starting your own space business? & what niche would you specialise in?