The volume of the global space market will reach $32.4 billion by 2027. In the last 15 years, private players have been playing an increasingly important role here: the share of state investments is only 25% and continues to decline.
Among the branches of the space business, everything related to satellites is developing most actively, as well as flights into the stratosphere (to an altitude of about 15-30 km). Such services require much smaller investments, pay off faster and are widely in demand in the b2b and b2c market.
Rocket science, space launches and manned flights are the most expensive areas. They require millions of investments and pay off very slowly. Only large corporations with large state investments and grants can afford it.
The world's only private space mission to colonize another planet (Mars) has been launched by SpaceX. The ships that will deliver the first volunteers are currently being tested. They will fly to Mars in the next decade.
The space tourism sector looks the most profitable and promising today. There are programs of orbital flights (Virgin Galactic), as well as flights to the Moon (Blue Origin). They promise to launch them in the next five years. In the future, tourist flights to other planets closest to us are possible for 20 years.
The USA is the leader in the field of private astronautics today. Here, private companies invest in the industry, as well as conduct space launches themselves, create rockets and spaceships, develop orbital satellites and even build their own spaceports. Since 2006, NASA has been attracting private companies to space exploration. It all started with the Commercial Resupply Services program, under which private companies had to deliver cargo, and then astronauts to the ISS. SpaceX was among them.
SpaceX
Elon Musk's SpaceX company was founded in 2002. It develops rockets (including engines) and space satellites, as well as cargo and manned launches. In 2006, the first reusable (returnable) Falcon 1 launch vehicle was launched.
Since 2011, SpaceX has been participating in the manned Commercial Crew Program to deliver astronauts to the ISS. In 2015, her Crew Dragon manned spacecraft, launched into Falcon 9 orbit, successfully delivered astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken to the ISS.
In 2016, the company received a contract with the US Air Force to launch satellites into orbit to ensure state security. In 2018, she launched the TESS space telescope, which is supposed to search for exoplanets suitable for life.
In 2019, Falcon 9 successfully launched 60 space satellites into orbit as part of the Starlink project. Its goal is to provide high—speed Internet access anywhere in the world.
Since 2011, Elon Musk has been talking about his plans to send colonizers to Mars, who will begin to populate the planet and conduct research there. The first flight is promised in 2026. In May 2021, a prototype of the Starship spacecraft, which was developed for flights to the Moon and Mars, made the first successful landing on Earth after launch.
Blue Origin
SpaceX's main competitor is Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Its main goal is space tourism. Since 2006, the company has been developing and testing spacecraft — New Shepard, New Glenn and Blue Moon (for landing on the Moon). To do this, they use, among other things, the company's own launch pad in Texas.
In total, Blue Origin has conducted 15 successful launches of its rockets, the last of which was in April 2021. In July 2021, the company plans to make the first suborbital flight for space tourists. One of the six seats on the ship will be raffled off at a five-week online auction.
Since 2017, Blue Origin has been providing satellite launch services for the television provider Eutelsat and the Internet provider OneWeb.
In 2020, the company, together with SpaceX and Dynetics, was selected by NASA as the main contender for the development of spacecraft for landing on the Moon in 2024. However, in April 2021, it became known that SpaceX received a contract worth $ 2.89 billion. Blue Origin and Dynetics considered the decision unfair and filed a complaint with the US General Audit Office (GAO). As a result, NASA suspended work on the project until the trial in August 2021.
Virgin Galactic
The third major player in the space business. The company is part of Richard Branson's Virgin Group. It was originally created for tourist flights — orbital and suborbital. Tests for the latter are already underway: the WhiteKnightTwo booster lifts the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft to a height of 16 km, after which it undocks and enters orbit. Other released vehicles include the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer single—seat jet for a round-the-world non-stop flight without refueling and the SpaceShipThree spacecraft.
In 2010, Virgin Galactic opened the world's first private spaceport "America" in New Mexico. At the beginning of 2021, another company within the corporation - Virgin Orbit (launches small satellites) — launched the first ten NASA microsatellites using a modified Boeing 747 aircraft and a two—stage launch vehicle LauncherOne.
The first orbital flight of the company's founder is scheduled for the end of 2021, and with tourists on board — not earlier than 2022. They will be delivered to orbit by a new spaceship of the Spaceship III series, which is called VSS (Virgin SpaceShip) Imagine. Tickets will cost $200-250 thousand.
Astra Space
The company was founded in 2005. It develops space technologies for NASA and DARPA — the Agency for Advanced Research Projects in the field of Defense of the United States — providing space launches from the air. Among the developments are rocket engines, launch vehicles and an aircraft to launch them.
The first successful launch of the Rocket 3 series launch vehicle took place in December 2020, the next one is scheduled for the summer of 2021. Its main feature is a body made of thin aluminum, which almost completely burns up in the atmosphere, and the remaining part dissolves in salt water. Now Astra is focusing on space launches and plans to increase their number.
Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab is another American company with a division in New Zealand. It was founded in 2006 and develops light launch vehicles for delivering satellites and small cargo into orbit, including by order of the Pentagon and NASA. In terms of the number of launches, the company is second only to SpaceX: there have been 19 since 2017.
Launches are carried out from their own launch complexes: LC-1 in New Zealand and LC-2 in the USA, using the Electron ultralight launch vehicle. In addition to rockets with satellites, Rocket Lab launched the Photon interorbital tug to launch microsatellites beyond low orbit. Now the company is developing a Neutron medium-payload rocket with a reusable stage, like the Falcon 9, but with a much larger payload. It will be used to deliver satellites and cargo from 1.5 tons to 8 tons, including to the Moon, Venus and Mars, and in the future — for manned flights. The first launch is scheduled for 2024.
Other notable players include Relativity Space, Firefly Aerospace, Phantom Space, and Orbex.
Rocket development and launches are an area that requires huge investments. It takes decades to make a profit. Without state support and private investors, only billionaires like Musk, Bezos and Branson can afford this. Space tourism (like Virgin Galactic) and high-speed satellite Internet (such as Starlink) look more promising, but even here large investments are needed at the start.
