Businesses all over the world, mostly those in exploration, transportation, hospitality, energy, and construction, are all looking for the next opportunity to grow beyond our planet. Using space vehicles such as the Skylark Nano rocket, they can power up the global economy by conducting business in space. The UK business news already presents various business space solutions that either governments or private aerospace companies suggest. If you ask yourself, “how can I take my business to space?” have a look over the next few paragraphs. You will learn what the UK National Space Centre has to say and what private businesses are already doing in this direction, seeing they seem more interested in the subject than any governmental space agency.
Where to conduct the aerospace business?
When it comes to conducting aerospace business with the general public, it can be said on a funny note that the Space Centre Museum is the location where it all started. While the museum is, indeed, part of the aerospace economic arena, what we’re going to discuss further is the sector of this area that’s not limited to only one planet and, at the same time, doesn’t have any physical boundaries. We can’t call this sector an industry yet, but it’s definitely a business medium for commerce. After all, private business groups can generate profits from Earth and asteroids neighboring our planet and even from Mars or the moon. Let’s see the most suited business segments that could benefit from this economic opportunity.
Energy
Currently, the largest industry on our planet because people consume a lot of energy to have an easier life. If we are going to populate space in the next few decades, energy will become a vital part of the space business area. The CEO and founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, thinks the future is about millions of humans working and even living in space. This is why he’s investing over 1 billion a year in Blue Origin, his aerospace transportation company. As Bezos predicts, having such a large population in space would require tremendous energy to make the environment livable and ensure a continuous transit between our planet and outer space.
The energy for this will be solar-powered, as, in space, solar energy can be more effectively gathered because there’s no filtering atmosphere. So, we should expect to see solar-powered rockets developed shortly. Chemical fueled rockets are also an idea because their propellants would be run on methane or liquid hydrogen and cryogenic liquid oxygen. In the beginning, this propellant for fueling the space business will be launched from Earth, as SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have already proposed. But there’s another way to obtain energy for living in space, and that way is mining.
Mining
As soon as the mining business turns to space to obtain resources, its value will increase so much that we can’t even imagine yet how impressively big it is going to get. The extraction of space resources can be done from (and on) celestial bodies such as the moon or the asteroids that neighbor our planet and we already know a lot about. Mining could become the backbone for building a new space business center outside our home planet. This year, Goldman Sachs released a report saying asteroid mining is closer and more realistic than what the general public believes it to be. It has comparable costs with traditional mining. Goldman Sachs also mentioned that the psychological barrier is much higher than the technological and financial one when it comes to mining asteroids.
Meanwhile, Luxembourg’s government trusts the emerging space industry to grow so much that it invested $227,000,000 in a space resources initiative to make Luxemburg a European aerospace business hub. The goal is to peacefully and sustainably use space resources for the entire humanity to benefit. In the first stage, space mining activities will be focused on water and these vital liquid’s-derived propellants for an in-space infrastructure to get built. As soon as such propellants are available, businesses will start looking for natural and precious metals that could be used for space constructions.
Currently, the space business sector is based on launching satellites and mega-constellations of small satellites to ensure life here on Earth is easier. We are prepared for any danger the Universe might send our way. But looking at what plans space agencies and private aerospace companies have, we’re sure to develop our already existing businesses beyond our planet. And who knows? Maybe, we will also come up with entirely new businesses.