Dear readers,
It’s the second issue of Quartz’s space business newsletter, where we’ll consider the economic possibilities of the extra-terrestrial sphere. Please share widely, and let me know what you think. This week: A space station for business, NOT talking about the moon, and space workers of the world, unite!
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The US node of the International Space Station will be open for business in 2020, available for corporate R&D to visits by private astronauts. It’s the culmination of years of work to create opportunities for economic development in low-Earth orbit. As with anything that combines space tourism and the Trump administration, people got upset. A common complaint was that “seats that could’ve otherwise gone to scientists” will instead go to the super-rich.
That’s not actually what’s happening! The greatest trick the space-industrial complex ever pulled is convincing the world that the space status quo—little competition, guaranteed profits for contractors and zero accountability—is a “public” approach. That way, anytime new entrants suggest a different path, it can be portrayed as taking a public good and handing it over to the private sector.
But NASA officials know that they are paying too much for what they’re getting on the station, and it’s holding them back from a more ambitious civil space program. Michael Suffredini, the former NASA ISS manager who now leads the start-up Axiom Space, says its privately-operated station could do everything NASA needs for half the price. Sure, he’s talking his own book, but given the cost reductions recently generated by private rocket-makers, it’s not hard to imagine potential savings.
The space agency says it will offer 5% of the US node’s operational resources to private companies, who will pay for the privilege. It is hoped that the pilot will generate the interest and learning needed for private companies to invest in their own orbital platforms, in turn allowing NASA to do more space activity. Bill Gerstenmaier, who leads NASA’s exploration directorate, describes the offering as “surplus capability…If we can now have a private sector where we can go acquire services, that’s a huge plus for NASA, and worth a little loss in the near term.”
The big fear for NASA is that the ISS will reach the end of its useful lifespan sometime at the end of the 2020s, and the space agency will be stuck between stations, unable to continue its science and technology research because there are neither private nor public destinations in low-Earth orbit. That means tolerating what could be an awkward hybrid of highly trained astronauts rubbing elbows with wealthy tourists or pharmaceutical researchers.
For the space entrepreneurs, fretting about private companies on the ISS is akin to someone in 1989 arguing that private internet service providers shouldn’t be allowed to connect to the then-nascent internet because it would reduce research at the National Science Foundation. The whole point is making space work like everything else.
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You might have missed the commercial space announcement. The same day, US president Donald Trump let off some steam in a tweet that asserted, “NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon,” though going back to the Moon in 2024 is his signature space policy. Everyone freaked out. And on the birthday of poor Vice President Mike Pence, the biggest advocate for a lunar return. Still, NASA chief James Bridenstine told his employees that “nothing has changed.” As readers of last week’s email know, Bridenstine is right—this program has been slap-dash and lacking in political support from the beginning.
Trump is the first president who didn’t personally announce his moon mission, but he might be the first one to personally kill it. Usually, that task is left to a successor.
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Imagery Interlude: Is there a more relatable astronaut than Owen Garriott, who passed away in April? Look at this guy.
The scientist is seen making dinner on SkyLab, the first US space station, during a 59-day mission in 1973. While aboard, he used a recording of his wife’s voice to try and convince mission control that a female stowaway had snuck aboard the orbiting platform. Garriott’s son, Richard, would later become one of the few space tourists to visit the International Space Station.
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SPACE DEBRIS
SpaceX orbits some SAR. Elon Musk’s rocketeers had a smooth launch and recovery of the first stage of their Falcon 9 rocket on June 12. The mission deployed three synthetic aperture radar satellites for the Canadian government. It was the company’s seventh launch of the year. Still, SpaceX seems unlikely to hit its goal of flying 18 missions this year, reflecting softness in the big satellite market and delays to the company’s efforts to launch astronauts for NASA. But it’s a slow year all around—ULA hasn’t launched a single Atlas V rocket this year.
Launcher: The Next Generation. Relativity Space, a rocket start-up with a focus on 3D printing, will lease a 20,000 square foot facility at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi to build its launch vehicles. It’s another step forward for the company to make its first orbital launch in 2020. The rocket business is crowded with new entrants and only getting more competitive. But this effort—led by veterans of SpaceX and Blue Origin—could be one of the last to catch on as a business.
Sausage-making. The largest US rocket companies are still scrapping over who will fly national security missions for the government, and now their employees are getting involved. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers sent a letter to lawmakers June 11 urging them to reject legislation seen as advantaging SpaceX and Blue Origin. Why? The union represents employees of Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s joint venture, United Launch Alliance, and Northrop Grumman, the two other competitors for the contracts. Even critical national security space activities are, ultimately, just another jobs program.
Get all the news you need from the weather report. During a SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch expected later this month, we’ll get a new set of US-Taiwanese weather satellites called Cosmic-2. These satellites aim to make weather forecasts more accurate by tracking how radio waves, including GPS signals, change as they move through the atmosphere. Focused on the tropics, they’ll help understand how moisture and temperature patterns there affect you, wherever it is you live.
Hidden Figures. Today NASA renamed the street in front of its headquarters “Hidden Figures Way,” referencing the book and movie about black mathematicians who played a vital role in the Apollo program but did not receive credit for their work. The topic (and indeed most topics) makes me wonder what I’m screwing up as a reporter: Who are the hidden figures of today’s space program who aren’t getting deserved attention for their work? You tell me, readers.
your pal,
Tim
Hope your week is out of this world. Please send your space station business plans, orbital pranks, tips and informed opinions to tim@qz.com.