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Essays to Senator Obama - The Space Economy Pt1

By Ferris Valyn - Mar 5th, 2008 at 9:05 pm EST

Also listed in: Aerospace supporters for Obama | Fly Us To The Moon | Space Policy Advisory Group

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Dear Senator Obama,

It is clear, through your statements, that you have questions about what role human spaceflight can and does play on our society. You have said that you want to have a full evaluation, and have a clear understanding about how and where we can have the most impact in our spending on space.

Part of the problem is how we've interacted with space, and how we view it. For a long time, space has been viewed as being beyond the reach of the average person, and that it can only provide us more scientific knowledge.

However, there is growing evidence that this is about to change, and that properly harnessed, space can have an incredibly positive effect on society - it can help with our economy, and it can help provide us with clean, cheap energy.

It is for this reason I have written these essays - so you can understand how human spaceflight can have a beneficial impact on society, why the time is now that it can have such a beneficial impact, and how best to capitalize on this.

In this first essay, I talk about the economy, and what I call atmospheric space businesses.

Whoever becomes the next president will face an economy in decline. Already people are hurting, and the economic indicators seem to point to the fact that this downturn could be in for an extended stay. From the sub-prime crisis, to the comments from major investor Jim Rogers, there are serious economic problems to be faced by the next President.

And while there are issues such as outsourcing, and China and its currency, the larger issue is jobs, and job creation - a sudden $600 in everyone’s pockets will arguably only have a minimal effect, but the rapid creation of new jobs can cause a massive change in the economic future of a country. While many remember the growth that happened in the 1990s, thanks to the internet, it seems to me, that people forget we entered the 1990s in a very nervous state. After all, “it’s the economy, stupid!” was the quote that helped Bill Clinton win the Presidency.

The creation of the internet was what really helped to pull the economy out of the toilet - not a stimulus package, or a trade deal - it was the expansion of human society into a realm, where it really hadn’t existed. This resulted in MULTIPLE new industries; the search engine industry, video on demand industry, the person to person industry (like Facebook) and the political blog industry (hey kos!!) just to name a few.

So, while we talk about the potential economic growth that can come from a stimulus package, or a trade deal, but what we really need is something that can create at least one new industry, and if we can create multiple new industries, all the better.

This is why I know a number of people are excited about alternative energy and stem cells. Yes, a lot of the excitement for those industries is that they can help society. There is also interest in them because these are new industries that mean new jobs. Why do you think every governor is talking about a bio-science or alternative energy center for their state? But is there another area we should be looking at? Absolutely; that area is spaceflight, and in particular, manned spaceflight.

The environment of space is unique. Aspects such as weightlessness (which prevents clumping), the vacuum, direct access to solar energy, physical resources that haven't been tapped, and new perspectives all combine to make space awash in untapped growth potential. And, of course, these unique aspects of the space enviroment allow for unique activities. These present economic growth potential and business opportunities.

It is worth noting that space businesses fall into 3 categories - atmospheric, sub-orbital, and orbital. Atmospheric level is activities that either simulate space, or advance us towards better access to space, but they all occur within the earth’s atmosphere. Sub-orbital involves those flights that pass the 100km mark (typically thought of as the boundary between space and the earth’s atmosphere), but don’t go orbital. And finally, orbital goes into space, and goes into orbit. As you progress up from atmospheric to orbital, you get more and more exposed to the space environment (from simulated short bursts in atmospheric, to full-fledge long term space in orbital). Consequently, as you move up the ladder, from atmospheric to orbital, what you could do a little bit in atmospheric, you can do a lot in orbit.

It’s also worth noting that everything I am talking about has a real possibility of happening within the next 8 years. So, when I talk about economic growth potential, I am not talking “at some point in the future.” I am talking about examples of companies that are already operating, or will soon be operating, or are in the process of forming, to operate, in these environments. In other words, businesses are being formed NOW.

Let’s start at the atmospheric level. There are already 2 businesses that operate in this area - Zero-G, and the rocket racing league.

Zero-G Corporation, for those who don’t know, is a company that is flying a modified 727-200 aircraft. Flying in a parabolic fashion, it can achieve a very short amount of micro-gravity (about 30 seconds). They received quite a bit of press last year when they flew Stephen Hawking. Just who would use this kind of service?

Well, from the Zero-G website

Who are ZERO-G’s customers?

In addition to Individual seats aboard ZERO-G Weightless Flights, ZERO-G offers groups and fully chartered flights for the following uses:

Corporate & Incentive – A corporate charter or group flight consists of 10 or more individual seats used for corporate promotions, product launches, client or employee incentives, team building or any other corporate use. Charter or group seats are sold through ZERO-G or one of their authorized sales agents.

Film and Entertainment– Production companies have used ZERO-G flights to film movies, television shows and commercials.

Research – A weightless environment is often conducive for conducting research experiments. Companies who book these flights frequently request an increased number of parabolas during a flight and often have other special needs.

Education – One of the largest markets for ZERO-G is flying teachers in order give them a real experience that they can take back to their classrooms. ZERO-G frequently works with State agencies, corporate sponsors, Space and Science Museums and other foundations to develop educational programs including parabolic flights for students.

Government – As part of the governmental initiative for privatization, ZERO-G has performed training and research flights for NASA and is currently pursing a long-term contract to perform these flights. ZERO-G has also conducted weightless flights for other governmental agencies.

Quite a list.

The other company is the Rocket Racing League (RRL) - this is a space sports company, that is promoting a “NASCAR in the sky”, if you will. Whereas Zero-G has a variety of services it can offer, RRL really has only one primary market - mass entertainment. Of course, that's a big market.

Click here to see a preview of what the Rocket Racing League will look like

While there is debate about how much we really need to subsidize major league sports, it cannot be denied that it is a major industry. RRL is the first attempt at a space version of major sports. Its worth noting that advances in automotive technology have happened because of NASCAR and Indy car racing (and all competitive car racing). And there is talk of other space sports - Vertical Drag Racing (high speed vertical flying vehicles, that speed straight up), and super high skydiving (and even spacediving - skydiving from 100km or higher).

Between the very short microgravity flights that Zero-G, and any other potential companies offer, and the wide-appeal/access that Rocket Racing League is offering, these are real market opportunities.

Its worth noting that one of Zero-G’s biggest selling packages is to those people that want the experience of weightlessness. Unfortunately, as I stated, Zero-G flights only offer 30 seconds of microgravity, per parabolic arc. If you want more, then you’ll have to do something other than parabolic flights. Or rather, you’ll have to find a way to extend you parabolas, by quite a bit. The simplest way to do this is to fly higher.

But you can read about that in tomorrow's essay, about sub-orbital spaceflight.

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