Rise of the Astropreneurs
The space industry attracts more global attention every day. Investors from the public and private sectors are always looking for new sources of economic growth and innovation, and the newly-emerging space industry has become an important field because of the innovation, new business opportunities as well as for strategic purposes. Divergent activities, inputs and processes in this particular field are contributing to create a new global “space value chain”.
Space systems play a decisive part in modern society and its economic growth in form of a satellite technology used in the navigation systems, communication, meteorology and Earth’s surface surveillance. They are crucial in agricultural planning, disaster evasion, country monitoring, transportation and urban planning.
Broad usefulness within our society is an engine of economic growth.
How space industry work?
Research and development of the space activities was and still is an alluring strategic goal and the number of countries and private companies investing into this field is constantly increasing. The biggest space-related products and services customers are still governments, which invest into a diverse spectra of activities related to their strategic and economic goals and also because of the national prestige. Public investments are the primary source of financing the technological development related to the biggest space projects and cover expenses for research and development in the whole value chain.
According to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), the main segments of Space economy can be summed into manufacturing, satellite operator services and consumer services. The supply chain of the space industry is composed of several kinds of subjects involved in the satellite manufacturing process. Top-ranking contractors in the supply chain are responsible for design and assembly of the complete space systems (communication systems, launching equipment, earth surveillance satellites, etc.), which are then supplied to the government or the commercial user.
The space industry is divided into the following segments:
Upstream — focused on sending objects into space and deep space exploration.
Downstream — using upstream technology to connect to the end-user, such as satellite broadcast, earth surveillance and satellite communication.
The best example of upstream business could be the company SpaceX, which is a private (well-known) American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California with more than 6000 employees. SpaceX has gained worldwide attention for a series of historic milestones. It is the only private company capable of returning a spacecraft from low Earth orbit, first accomplished in 2010. The company made history again in 2012 when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to and from the International Space Station.
On the other hand, the best example of downstream business could be company Planet Labs. Planet Labs is an Earth imaging company based in San Francisco, California. Their goal is to image the entirety of the planet daily to monitor changes and pinpoint trends. The company designs and manufactures Triple-CubeSat miniature satellites called Doves that are then delivered into orbit as secondary payloads on other rocket launch missions. Each Dove is equipped with a high-powered telescope and camera programmed to capture different swaths of Earth’s surface. Each Dove Earth observation satellite continuously scans the surface of the Earth, sending data once it passes over a ground station.
Whereas Upstream business is based around the biggest players on the market and is very difficult to enter this market, mostly because of the vast capital investments needed, downstream attracts more and more attention from the emerging start-up segment — NewSpace.
What is a NewSpace?
NewSpace is a rather new expression for a movement or philosophy which encompass globally emerging, private space industry. This term is used specifically to describe global sector or relatively new, explicitly commercially oriented aerial companies, which are independent from the government and their goal is to develop the accessibility of space technologies, space missions and cosmos itself. Contrary to the government agencies their motivation is not political, but socio-economical and the common goal is primary the colonization of Mars and the colonization of space.
Times are-a changin’
The growth of the launch vehicle, satellite manufacturer and spacecraft operator markets has led to an explosion of downstream activities. These include direct-to-home satellite television services, satellite navigation consumer equipment and value-added services, as well as small terminal providers for data handling and banking. For example, the UK downstream market is expected to grow to GBP40 billion by 2030 (Technology Strategy Board, 2014).
As more public and private funds flow into the commercial applications, the downstream boom in application markets is expected to quadruple in size over the next three decades (Technology Strategy Board, 2014) with new entrants to the market, referred to as NewSpace, further increasing possible areas of growth. Advancements in satellite technologies, such as electric propulsion, reduce the weight of satellites and launch costs, diminishing the financial entry barriers to the space industry. The upcoming LEO-based broadband and narrowband communications satellite constellations are expected to fuel competition for the huge terrestrial broadband service providers (Space Foundation, 2017).
Space 4.0 — Unified but decentralized
Space is evolving from being the domain of the governments of just a few spacefaring nations to a situation in which there is the increased number of diverse space actors around the world, including the emergence of private companies, participation with academia, industry and citizens, digitalization and global interaction. This leads us into new era. Era that is called Space 4.0.
Space 4.0 represents the evolution of the space sector into a new era, characterized by a new playing field. This era is unfolding through the interaction between governments, private sector, society and politics. Space 4.0 is analogous to and is intertwined with Industry 4.0, which is considered as the unfolding fourth industrial revolution of manufacturing and services. There are many elements driving the Space 4.0 transformation. But the next technology that is going to contribute to the revolution is blockchain.
When we start to look at next-generation satellite system infrastructures use cases and matching those with blockchain characteristics, blockchain appears to be a very valuable technology to fuel the technology transformation. Blockchain will bring value wherever there is a need for various and multiple participants in a business network to transact, and exchange and share data while maintaining a trusting environment.
Decentralized Space Agency
One of the newest players exploring the potential of blockchain in Space 4.0 transformation is company DSA. Name DSA stands for “Decentralized Space Agency”. Besides other activities, DSA is primary focused on development of the Hermes platform.
Hermes Platform is a decentralized network of LEO satellites with an infrastructure of ground stations. Hermes platform focuses on employing the principles of shared economy between satellite technology providers, ground station facilities and end-users and transforming the closed ecosystem of current satellite infrastructures to free, open platform with a specific asset traded: satellite data.
Hermes serves as a gateway for satellite providers and end-users. Satellite providers or universities with an innovative satellite deployed on Earth’s orbit allowing access to its satellite payload services through Hermes Platform will vastly broaden the spectrum of its users or customers and will become a part of shared orbital economy and its value chain.
Blockchain technology plays an important role in the Hermes platform. With the blockchain technology, Hermes records every interaction between the satellite provider, satellite, ground stations and end-user, ordering services from one or more satellite provider on Hermes Platform. Blockchain technology is the most effective solution for an untrusted environment, where multiple independent entities trade assets between each other. In case of Hermes Platform, these assets are the satellite data.
Ground stations are the key part of every satellite network as well as for Hermes Platform. These facilities provide the communication between Earth and the satellite, obtaining data and transmitting back commands for the satellites in form of radio signals. To secure the most effective and fluent data stream between satellites and the internet, ground stations are also part of the Hermes network and its value chain. Everyone with the motivation to setup a ground station, be it an enthusiast, student or a member of the community is able to provide downlink and process the satellite data directly to the Hermes cloud. The core part of this model is an economic incentivization for setting up these stations. Every participant of given communication on Hermes Platform is entitled to a share from the value paid in the specific cycle between the end user and the satellite provider. You can find more information about Hermes here.
This approach can be a possible solution for continuous and multiple accessibility in a commercial sharing operation of all the Earth ground stations. Ground operators should share their download link and start a data downloading service industry. Ground stations across the world can share technical specifications, including radiofrequency link budget, supported bands, and modulations. Modifications of the ground stations, especially the software upgrade to support missions required from other companies will be necessary. Sharing can happen at different levels. Optimistically, in the next few years, ground stations will operate 24/7 instead of waiting for the spacecraft to pass over.
Conclusion
The author of the article, “Space Exploration and the Age of the Anthropocosmos” published in magazine Wired, proposed a new term or rather a word — Anthropocosmos.
“Anthropocosmos, n. and adj. Chiefly with “the.” The epoch during which human activity is considered to be a significant influence on the balance, beauty, and ecology of the entire universe.” — Joi Ito, Wired 2019
The development of our society directly influenced the present and the future of a blue dot that we call Earth. Yet our never-ending desire to explore and to expand our frontiers is extending humanity’s influence on the cosmos. The term/word “Anthropocosmos” captures the idea of how we must consider our role in the universe much more responsibly. We are facing the old, well-known challenges — how to protect the commons — the resources that humanity depends on.
One of the amazing examples is the internet in its early days. People and organizations from a variety of sectors comes together to create a global commons that was self-governed and well-managed by those who built it. The space industry is now in the early internet-like moment in which we can imagine an explosion of innovation as non-government groups, companies, and individuals begin to drive progress there. We can learn from the internet — its successes and failures — to create a generative and well-managed ecosystem in space. Blockchain and other, upcoming technologies are just tools to help us getting there.
Sources:
Handbook for New Actors in Space 2017, The Secure World Foundation
Astropreneurs — The Galactic Guide to Space Entrepreneurs, International Space University 2017
https://www.spacex.com/
https://www.planet.com/
https://decentralizedspaceagency.com/
https://medium.com/decentralized-space-agency/introducing-the-decentralized-space-agency-hermes-6439dc74393d
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Ministerial_Council_2016/What_is_space_4.0
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Digital_Agenda/Beyond_Bitcoin_Leveraging_the_Blockchain_for_Space_4.0
https://www.wired.com/story/space-exploration-and-the-age-of-the-anthropocosmos/
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