The boom in commercial space continues
Modern rocketry soaring under freedom
Capitalism in space: In the last two days there have been so many stories about different space companies winning new contracts I think it is important to illustrate this in one essay, rather than in multiple posts. Below is the list:
- SpaceX wins contract to launch Yahsat’s Thuraya 4-NGS satellite
- Rocket Lab wins multi-launch deal for IoT constellation
- Sierra Space and Kanematsu Corporation Creating Japanese Partnerships to Advance International Commercialization of Low-Earth Orbit
- OneWeb and AT&T partner to extend fiberlike coverage across United States
- Isar Aerospace to launch OroraTech wildfire monitoring cubesat constellation
- South Korea to spend $593 million on public-to-private transfer of rocket technologies
Just another contract that illustrates SpaceX’s growing market dominance in the larger satellite and payload business. The company already gets about 90% of the launches for lunar probes. It now appears that for the big comercial satellites, SpaceX’s lower prices are allowing its market share to approach that same number.
This contract is for the launch of 25 satellites, and thus solidifies Rocket Lab’s market share as many other smallsat rocket companies arrive to compete with it.
This press release suggests that Kanematsu will be the another customer for the private space station that Sierra Space is planning to build and launch.
This deal illustrates the growing strength of the satellite industry that feeds the growing launch industry. The OneWeb/ATT partnership is aimed at making the OneWeb satellite constellation available to more customers more quickly.
This German startup has not yet launched anything, but it has raised a lot of capital as it develops its Spectrum rocket for a planned first launch in ’22. This contract is for “multiple launches.”
The last two stories are possibly the most significant, because both show that the shift in space from government-built to privately-built, as I advocated in my 2017 policy paper, Capitalism in Space, is spreading to other countries. » Read more