The Golden Age of Space Stations is Here

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Launchpad Newsletter
April 23, 2024

Your Comprehensive Guide to the New Space Economy

G. Pettit here, 

Welcome to the Launchpad Newsletter, your top source for political, economic, and social developments in the New Space Economy, built by real entrepreneurs shaping it.

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This Week’s Next-Gen Newsflash

🚀 Billionaires breath a sigh of relief, as the FAA claims no current plans to tax rocket launches

🛰️ Space station startup (yes, that’s a real term now) Vast strikes a deal with SpaceX to use Starlink satellites for communications on its orbital platform

🌙 Starship will be ready for its fourth test flight in May 2024, says CEO Elon Musk

Today’s Subject of Space: The Golden Age of Space Stations

It will be a disappointing day watching the International Space Station disintegrate in the sky in 2031, but the torch will continue to be carried by the private sector.

All by design. Low-Earth orbit will be passed to the commercial domain while world governments turn their full attention to the Moon and beyond. 

A long overdue transition limited by budget and technology, but no more. Decades of continuous research on the International Space Station paired with commercial innovation has led to a resurgence of interest in the low-Earth-orbit (LEO) domain, and most importantly, what we can usefully do there.

By this time next decade the number of stations could be in the double digits. Some names to watch out for: 

Multiple world governments have their own plans as well, with India sending their first national module in 2028, Russia designing a new station, and of course NASA's Lunar Gateway. Of course, budgets and politics are an all too common interference in aerospace that may change these schedules, but time will tell their final launches.

Either way, it’s clear we are at the precipice of the next great expansion into space, akin to the achievements of the Apollo era. 

If even a fraction of these grand projects are realized, humanity will have a lot to be proud of.

State of the New Space Economy

  • The number of international companies literally shooting for the Moon has risen drastically, with 87 known companies commercializing lunar architecture, resource extraction, and communications.

  • American cultural and financial interest in space reflects in corporate acquisitions, with 50% of space company exits performed by US companies.

  • 2023 brought multiple high-profile market exits of promising space companies, and 2024 will likely stick the trend as high interest rates and reluctant investors squeeze the cost of capital required to compete.

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