The Commercial Space Age: Opportunities for the Startups of Tomorrow
The commercial space age is at the beginning of its golden peak and brings many opportunities for businesses and inventors. Still, the space industry has immense potential that has long remained largely untapped and unexploited by business people, institutions, and even governments until recently.
It’s mainly because we have always seen space as the forte of national governments, the military, or national security organizations. However, today numerous new startups in this area are looking for opportunities the space industry has to offer.
Join us as we discuss the benefits of investing in the space industry and which business ideas are more likely to flourish.
What Is the Commercial Space Age?
The commercial space age is a term used to refer to the space industry, dominated by private companies looking to tap into the benefits of space exploration. It also includes scientific research as well as government-funded projects in the sector.
Why Start a Company in the Commercial Space Industry?
The industry is worth over $400 billion and is projected to climb to $1 trillion by 2040. It’s divided into two primary categories:
Upstream services, e.g., launches and exploration
Downstream services, e.g., the products and activities relying on satellite technology to function.
As of 2022, the space industry employs roughly 230,000 jobs in the European Union alone. In addition, the space industry also provides important data to tackle social issues such as climate change, food production, and security.
Other benefits of investing in the commercial space industry include:
The study of the effects of space on the human body has helped scientists understand diseases such as hypertension and heart failure.
Medical advancements such as programmable pacemakers and fetus monitoring transmitters.
New technological advancements, e.g., heat repellant blankets.
Sources of Funding for Startups in the Space Industry
There are two major sources of funding for Space:
Government agencies, e.g., The European Space Agency (ESA), and
Private investors, e.g., venture capitalists.
Private capital can further be broken down into:
Crowdfunding
Angel investment
Incubator programs such as the Copernicus Accelerator program
Equity crowdfunding.
A study by Brycetech revealed that investors had given out up to $15 billion in capital to space companies in just 2021 alone. That’s a massive difference from the $7 billion dispensed in 2020. This fact shows that private investors form a considerable percentage of capital for startups.
Examples of Space Industries
The best part about investing in space industries is that there is much potential to be explored and capitalized. Here are some of the industries and occupations that would make a perfect business opportunity for startups
Aerospace Engineering
Aerospace engineering is a wide niche specializing in designing, manufacturing, and testing air, spacecraft, and related equipment. It has two branches:
Aeronautical engineering
Astronautical engineering.
The average aerospace engineer makes roughly $120,000 a year, making it a lucrative career choice.
Software Development
Software development is integral to space exploration as it forms the systems used during missions. Space software engineers design and test systems used on ground stations and satellites.
Space Logistics
This section of the industry deals with the application of the infrastructure used in space missions. It’s mostly a lot of planning, designing, and monitoring. Some of the components of space logistics include:
Crew operations
Storage
Maintenance
Waste and disposal
Transportation.
Satellite Networks
Satellite networks involve maintaining, updating, and monitoring the systems that receive and interpret data from satellites in space.
Applied Research
Applied research has a variety of personnel, including astronomers, astrophysicists, and biologists, each studying the various parts of space.
Opportunities for Startups in the Space industry
Launch Services
The launch services industry is estimated to grow to $14 billion in 2022, a major improvement from $12 billion in 2021. It’ll be worth approximately $31 billion by 2029.
There are a few reasons why we should expect this kind of growth. First, developments in research have improved the efficiency of 3D printing such that it’s used during the manufacture and launching of spacecraft.
Growing partnerships between space companies and governmental agencies is also a key factor in the growth of the launch service industry. In addition, continued collaboration between bodies such as ESA and private startups leads to more and improved space exploration missions.
An excellent example of a launch service making great strides is Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA). RFA is developing and launching a small rocket with an estimated payload of 1600kg up to 420km or 650kg up to 2000km in altitude.
Lunar Mining
Scientific research shows that the moon has three essential elements that would benefit us. These elements are water, rare earth metals (REM), and helium. These rare earth metals manufacture electronics like smartphones and medical equipment. They include:
Yttrium
Terbium
Lanthanum
Scandium and,
Europium.
Unfortunately, lunar mining remains a pipe dream until we develop the infrastructure to support it.
Asteroid Mining
Most asteroids orbit in the asteroid belt found between Mars and Jupiter. However, sometimes they leave their orbit, passing close to Earth and crashing here. It is because they’re much easier to reach than the little to zero gravity.
Asteroids are rich in metals such as platinum, silver, and gold, which are important in making electronic devices like mobile phones. Although asteroid mining is still in the hypothetical stage, it’s much more sustainable than conventional mining. It would mean less pollution and environmental degradation.
Deep Space Exploration
Deep space exploration has shown much progress, going from being dominated by countries participating in the space race to private and public agencies pioneering space missions.
The sector is now largely populated by private companies looking to explore and research the depths of the universe. More funding will lead to better research and developments in space equipment and infrastructure, e.g., Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics.
Space missions thereby get higher success rates and reduced system breakdowns than before. As a result, experts predict the industry will be worth about $630 billion by 2028 and 385 billion in just 2021 alone.
What's Next?
The Commercial Space Age has just begun, and there are many opportunities for tomorrow's startups. The private space industry has been growing year by year, and it will continue to grow in the future.
The commercial space age will bring new opportunities that startups can capitalize on, and those with new ideas have the chance to make their dreams come true. Sign up for the Vytah Space Conference and be a part of an exciting community where you’ll learn everything there is to on space.