Market Analysis: Reports
Commercial Spaceflight Federation: 2009 Annual Report
“This report showcases a year’s worth of exciting progress for the commercial spaceflight industry and the members of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation,” says Bretton Alexander, Commercial Spaceflight Federation President, in the opening page of the report.
Commercial Human Space Travel Provides New Research Opportunities
Katharine Sanderson's Special Report in Nature describes how commercial spaceflight can open doors for lower-cost, more frequent, flexible access to space for researchers (subscript or fee req'd). See free editorial, "Divide and Conquer", same issue, same topic.
"The Growth of Global Space Capabilities"
Pace's testimony was given to the House Committee on Science & Technology on Nov 18, 2009. A summary statement included this paragraph.
" The U.S. is facing a generational transition away from the period represented by the Space Shuttle that is just as profound as the transition from Apollo was. We are facing a transition not just of hardware and contracts, but also of leadership and values. NASA will be cooperating more with commercial and international partners than ever before. The nation will need to compete and cooperate in space as never before. The transition is upon us at home and abroad, just as we see that others are not delaying their entries into space. The question before us is simple. What will this nation do?"
Solar Power Satellites
The latest issue of the "Online Journal of Space Communication" is devoted to Solar Power Satellites. "Evidence is building that 2010 will be the year this turns from an idea to the beginning of reality."
Ex-ESA Officials Claim "Space Tourism is a Hoax"!
Who is selling tickets to people from $20K to $200K to access orbital space? Not the suborbital spaceflight industry as Engstrom and Pfeffer claim!
NASA Chief Onboard with Commercial Spaceflight, Suborbital Science & Innovation Prizes
Bolden says NASA must leverage the power and innovation of American industry and the American entrepreneur as it is tasked to do.
Humans to Mars: Logical Step or Dangerous Distraction? | AIAA Space 2009
"This paper examines post-Apollo proposals for human exploration of Mars and assesses their failure to win enduring political and public support. There are lessons to be learned that are applicable to current exploration efforts. Foremost among them is that the path to solar system exploration that has dominated the space community's thinking since the 1950s may not be a logical or politically feasible approach for the 21st century. The paper proposes that human exploration of the Moon and Mars should be decoupled and treated as separate ventures with each justified by its own merits and pursued at its own pace." Good arguments are made for this viewpoint which include the role of commercial space and public benefits.
Severe Space Weather Events:Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts: A Workshop Report
"The adverse effects of extreme space weather on modern technology--power grid outages, high-frequency communication blackouts, spacecraft anomalies--are well known and well documented, and the physical processes underlying space weather are generally well understood. Less well documented and understood, however, are the potential economic and societal impacts of the disruption of critical technological systems by severe space weather. As a first step toward determining the socioeconomic impacts of extreme space weather events and addressing the questions of space weather risk assessment and management, a public workshop was held in May 2008."
Innovation-Driven Economic Development Model
The Collaborative Economics organization prepared this report for the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, acting as subcontractor to the California Space Authority and their Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development grant (WIRED - Dept of Labor) to the State of California. Its content can be summarized by the quote below (from a report of the Strengthening America's Communities Advisory Committee) that is highly applicable to global collaboration for economic growth in commercial space.
"Globalization has fundamentally transformed the American economy. Regions - defined by economic rather than political boundaries - are the new building blocks of prosperity. In the 21st Century, America's communities will derive economic strength by acting regionally to compete globally. Innovation and entrepreneurship are the new engines of job creation, productivity, growth, economic prosperity and healthy communities" The Commercial Space Gateway is designed to help foster this strategy.
Lunar Science: Window to the Past and Stepping Stone to the Future | NLSI
This recent white paper sent to the Augustine Panel by NASA describes how "the NLSI will bring together scientists and engineers from the academic community and NASA Centers to advance lunar science, support both human and robotic missions to the Moon, train the next generation of lunar scientists and communicate the excitement of this scientific exploration to the public." The Google Lunar X-prize announced in Sept '07 has galvanized the emerging entrepreneurial space community. Nineteen international teams are registered and this will inevitably spur development of a commercial lunar industry. NASA is having policy discussions focused on allowing NASA to buy services including payload transport to the Moon from these companies once reliable capabilities are demonstrated. NLSI is pursuing options to contribute small science payloads to private missions to the Moon". Stay tuned.