Breaking Down the Business of Space for People on Earth

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.

Ready-for-launch into the insights of the most impactful industry of the 21st Century.

This Week’s Next-Gen Newsflash

🚀 Here are the latest updates on Boeing Starliner’s helium leak issues

🛰️ Commercial satellite services takes a hit with sweeping startup layoffs

💸 Virgin Galactic announces reverse stock split to boost falling share price

Today’s Subject of Space: Will Asteroid Mining Ever be Viable?

The holy grail of space exploration may be closer to reality than ever before.

In-situ resource utilization, or ISRU, promises the next great leap into the solar system, leveraging the local resources of our resource-rich planetary neighbors.

Ice deposits on Mars for clean water. Lunar oxygen and hydrogen for rocket fuel. But perhaps the most inspiring of them all is the safe and efficient mining of asteroids and other rocky bodies drifting between.

Asteroid mining has made large promises for years. Fresh resources unburdened by earthly geopolitics. Countless tons of raw materials ready to be fashioned into the stuff of science fiction.

And of course, eye-watering quadrillions (with a Q) worth of precious metals leftover from the formation of our very solar system.

Naturally, the field has spawned a large degree of hype. The potential to catapult humanity to untold levels of advancement, and the business leaders behind it to untold levels of wealth, is an attractive one.

But the current state of the industry, and the sordid history that has led us to this point, has left much to be desired.

The two foremost leaders in the field, Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, sold out in 2019 to owners that had nothing to do with asteroid mining.

The “bubble,” if there ever was one in a field that’s more research domain than true industry, had popped.

The usual suspects were blamed: commodities markets were too volatile, the technology was too nascent, and operations too expensive.

But that was then, and this is now. How does 2024 fare in the age of rising metal values, Starship and other heavy-lift rockets surging space accessibility, and advanced robotic manufacturing?

Better than you might imagine, but still a far cry from the promised dreams of would-be space prospectors. The field is almost entirely comprised of post-pandemic startups like the US-based AstroForge, and China’s Origin Space.

Confidence is high with fresh faces taking up the mantle of what could be humanity’s most impactful industry, though there’s no denying that the industry is still incredibly nascent, and operating on decades-long horizons.

Metals may be valued high, but materials are too, as a consequence. Launch costs may be coming down, but the cost of capital has risen, with interest rates high and venture-capital funding turned bearish. And traditionally, in a domain as high-risk, capital intensive, and regulated as aerospace, the billionaire-backed companies are the ones that survive the ups and downs of the industry, while the cash-strapped startups fight for survival.

Will asteroid mining finally be viable in 2024? Some founders think so, but time will tell if this 2nd generation of space miners can truly break ground.

State of the New Space Economy

• Satellite imagery startups and AI data labelers alike, keep watch on NOAA’s next high-definition Earth observation satellite for your next batch of public domain metadata

• Are you a satellite operator looking to learn how to clean up your own messes? This free Debris Mitigation Guide can help you avoid littering the LEO freeways.

• Looking for launch and payload data to customize your own with? Check out The Space Report’s free analytics!

Top Space Creators to Follow in 2024

📸 Instagram: All Around Science (442k followers)

👔 LinkedIn: G. Pettit (11k followers)

✖️ X: Curiosity Rover (4.2m followers)

📽️ TikTok: AstroKobi (2.7m followers)

ADVERTISE // CAREERS // CONTACT

 COPYRIGHT © 2024 SPACE LAUNCH AGENCY LLC