SpaeCor News » Space Business Theory

4 Reasons to Return to the moon

Bryan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:48:53 +0000

1. National Security: A lot more countries are looking to the stars these days and beginning to become spacefaring nations. Countries such as China and India are newly entering space while Japan and Russia are planning more space missions. All of these countries have their eye on the moon. Many Americans still fear communism and what would happen if China were the first to establish a base on the moon.

2. Resources: The moon is not so much a barren wasteland as the original Apollo missions claimed it to be. The Presence of PGM’s(Platinum Group Metals) may trigger a moon rush. Platinum is the most rare and valuable metal on the planet, and the moon may have an abundant amount of PGM’s deposited by asteroids over millions of years. The moon dust (Regolith) also possesses multiple minerals and even includes oxygen. The moon dust can be broken down into its components and used for building bases on the moon.

3. Exploration: There has been many debates on what process would be used to colonize space. One side of the debate is we should head straight for mars because of its likeness to earth and it would be easier to colonize. The other side of the debate is that the moon should be used as a gateway to mars. Its better to get experience on a celestial body that is only days instead of months or even years away.

4. The Economy: lets not sugarcoat it the economy is going to crap. The only way we were dragged out of the depression was from the world wars and a greater push to industrialism. Today the economy is experiencing the same stagnation and needs to move to a new realm of economic stability. This stability will come from space exploration and development. It will Create millions of jobs in electronics, and even create entirely new jobs the world has yet to see.

Best Outer Space (Aerospace) Companies of 2009

Bryan — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:21:20 +0000

The last few years have given rise to a whole new industry, Aimed at Outer Space! We’ve had some amazing developments in the industry and in the next decade it will only heat up more. We will have a presence in outer space but it wont be thanks to any one government. The following is a list of companies that either have proven themselves as a great private space enterprise or show great potential for future outer space Development.

9) Armadillo Aerospace
While this company was a favorite at previous X Prize competitions, they’ve since gone into obscurity. Armadillo Aerospace continues to make the list because it does have very promising LEO capabilities and could still offer a winged answer to space exploration rather than the usual rockets of the day.

8 ) Space Adventures
Space Adventures is responsible for putting the first tourist into space. In 2001 Denis Tito became the first Space Tourist. Space Adventures brokered the launch on a Russian Soyuz Rocket. They currently has plans for returning to the moon and putting even more tourists into space.

7) TeamFredNet
Team Frednet is the most popular team competing in Googles Lunar X prize. While not considered a private company its an open source answer to the space problem. Team Frednets philosophy is the belief that a million peoples input is much better than a few, therefore they use the open source model to come up with great ideas and propel humans into space.

6) Bigelow Aerospace
Bigelow Aerospace is another proven space company, they currently operate Genesis. Genesis is currently orbiting the world. It is part of their plan to produce inflatable habitats, whether on the moon or orbiting earth. Although Bigelow Aerospace doesn’t offer incredible profits, its backed by the real estate giant Robert Bigelow. The Success of Genesis hopes to propel orbiting hotels as a viable commercial enterprise.

5) Xcor Aerospace
Xcor the 2nd company to ever receive a reusable Launch Vehicle mission license is potentially the greatest competitor for Virgin Galactic, Space Adventures and Armadillo Aerospace. Their Lynx model proves to be a major contender for a piece of the tourist pie.

4) Astrobotic
A competitor in Google’s Lunar X Prize challenge, Astrobotic is also a leader in terrestrial unmanned robotic missions to remote locations around the world. They now plan to extend their operations to the moon. Astrobotic has a great business plan for exploration of the moon. With the sale of their survey information Astrobotic proves to be a formidable company in future space exploration. Plus the gotz robots! need I say more!

3) Scaled Composites
Scaled Composites is one of the most innovative aerospace companies in existence. Its founder Burt Rutan is the creator of SpaceShip One, the only non governmental spacecraft to reach earth orbit.

2) Virgin Galactic
Yet another division of Richard Branson’s Virgin Brand, Virgin Galactic proves to be innovative and has the funding to back them up. After buying Burt Rutans Spaceship one model Virgin Galactic, is in position to be the worlds first space liner. Offering the civilian flights to outer space. Virgin Galactic will be able to offer cheap access to LEO ushering in an era thats come to be known to people in the biz…. as NewSpace.

1) SpaceX
Probably the most well known private space company in the industry. Boasting the first fully privately funded rocket launch, SpaceX is the worlds first space trucking company. SpaceX was awarded the contract to supply the international space station after the discontinuation of the space shuttle in 2010. These guys have a working spaceship and are already making money. Just 1 month ago they sent Razaksat into orbit. Its only a matter of time before their RnD has the ability to surpass that of even NASA.

Moon Hoax or Moon Profit?

Bryan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:34:34 +0000

After discussing the Google Lunar Challenge in my last two articles I thought it would be interesting to delve deeper into the commercial development of the moon. The main question is: How do we extend business past the earths sphere of influence to the moon?

To help answer this question I studied the Age of Discovery. The Age of Discovery was all about searching for trading partners, but what it turned into was colonization and searching for valuable materials. Gold fueled the Age of Discovery and was incredibly profitable, but there was a huge upfront cost. For example Columbus’s discovery of the New World was a complete bust in terms of profits, but that initial investment fueled further investment that created a huge profitable gold mining industry. While its impossible for the moon to contain gold, it can harbor a more valuable resource.

In the 21st century profits drive expansion, so we need to find profit in returning to the moon. For example the Lunar Challenge provides companies with a way of earning profit. The companies participating currently utilize the business model of exploration and sale of valuable lunar information. The presence of PGM’s (Platinum Group metals) has long been speculated on the moon but a discovery made by one of the Lunar Challenge companies may act as a catalyst for moon development and cause an explosion of space commerce.

The platinum found on the moon would be a result of impacting meteors. It has also been speculated that because of the moons gravity and its lack of atmosphere, the moon could harbor a significant source of PGM’s(http://www.thespacereview.com/article/205/1).The initial upfront cost of developing moon mining operations would be huge, but the rewards would be great, not only for the mined resources but also for space travel and the development of space commerce.

The moon is already an abundant source of rocket fuel. The rocket fuel could be made on the moon and shipped to gas stations in LEO(low earth orbit), cutting the amount of fuel carried by ships in half, because it takes so much energy to lift the remaining fuel past GEO(greater earth orbit). Sales of the Rocket fuel would push space travel even farther bringing us closer to presence on mars, which is of course NASA’s ultimate goal.

Space commerce today exists in the form of satellite communications and the newly blossoming space tourism. Hopefully by the time space tourism is developing we can have a lunar base and gas station developed in order send tourists to the moon resulting in even greater profits and a bustling space community.

Odyssey Moon Base?

Bryan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:36:01 +0000

As part of my Lunar Challenge Spotlight I’m adding another team team to the ranks, Odyssey moon.

Odyssey moon is an international team based in the Isle of man was the first to sign up for the Google lunar Challenge. This team reflects a well organized corporation and offers a solid business plan, while broad the plan does a good job of formulating a vision for future moon development. They have one of the best websites I’ve seen a team create yet, but with international funding I would hope their pockets would be deep enough to spend a few bucks on a good website. Odyssey moon may be the most organized teams in the Lunar Challenge and with a well defined chain of command in mission critical areas it looks on paper to be a team of choice for the execution portion of the contest. The execution will play a much bigger role in the Lunar Challenge than that of the Ansari X Prize was. Because the moon will require a greater deal of resources. The mission will take much longer than one day and with a small team commanding such an expedition would result in overlooked mission critical problems. As I discussed above Odyssey Moon has a vision for the development of a lunar base, and to help them execute the plan Paragon.

One of Oydssey moons partners, Paragon, plans to work with Odyssy to create the first generation of plants to grow on the moon, in glass chambers. Properly named project greenhouse, the mission is important for developing long lasting lunar bases. Although we may be a long way from it Odyssey moon says they will establish moon bases by the year 2020, while I believe that timetable is a bit shunrealistic, with the ambition of corporations behind space development, we may progress faster than any country can alone. For Example NASA recently pushed back their timetable for their new series of rockets. Giving the Chinese that an even greater chances of reaching the moon before we return. With decreased funding We cahave to rely on the ambition of corporations to lead us to the moon before China.

X Prize Space Companies Pack Bags for the Moon

Bryan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:50:19 +0000

While NASA is commemorating 40 years of wasted time, private space companies bound for the moon are preparing for the next major breakthrough. The private sector, fed up with the funding that space exploration has received, have pooled resources for the Google Lunar Xprize. As a follow up to my first Article on the Lunar X Prize Contest , I will be taking a look at two out of the nineteen teams competing for the $20 million USD. Romanian based team ARCA and US based team Astrobotic.

ARCA (Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association) is one of the few teams that has the ability to launch their own robotics into space. Every other competitor is relying on outside launch capability mostly SpaceX to boost their payloads to the moon. ARCA plans to launch their balloon like moon rover from a solar powered balloon that will be 15km above the earths surface. This is expected to cut their launch costs, but create headaches for orbital calculations on getting to the moon.

Astrobotic plans to begin their exploration of the moon and claim the Lunar X prize as soon as 2011. They will begin their exploration of the moon by landing at the Apollo 11 site during the contest thus claiming an extra $5 million in prize dollars. Future missions Astrobotic plans to explore the poles and areas with persistent sunlight.

Astrobotic is not new to building robots for extreme environments. They’ve sent rovers to earths poles the most inhospitable deserts, and abandoned mine shafts. Now they’ve decided to expand their business to the moon. Astrobotics’s business plan, for the moon, consists of scouting the surface of the moon for high interest areas for commercialization. Exploration of polar regions for liquid ice and areas with persistent sunlight will be among the first high interest areas. With information about these sites future colonization efforts will be able to make much more detailed lunar base blueprints.

ARCA is the first team that will attempt to take the Google’s Lunar X prize. They plan to launch as soon as 2010. Personally I would like to see ARCA succeed in their plan, but their lack of a long term business plan makes me less inclined to cheer for them. ARCA definitly seem like the underdogs in the media’s light, but the fact that they run their own time schedule and not that of SpaceX they have a much higher chance of winning the XPrize. Although the media neglects ARCA support is high for them among online forums. One thing is for sure starting 2010 there will be no shortage of excitment about the moon.

NewSpace Conference Set to Take Place in Silicon Valley

Bryan — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:17:00 +0000

This is it kids the main event for everything business related about space. The Space Frontier Foundation Conference will bring together experts in engineering, science and business to help advance new space. The focus is to make space travel cheaper and more reliable.

On Sunday will be the business plan competition where a series of teams will present business plans to a panel for review. The winning teams will get prize money up to $5,000 a nice incentive for aspiring students but pocket change for any real space company. As of right now it is unknown whether these plans will remain secret but hopefully we can get a sneak peak of what aspiring space entrepreneurs are planning and what the rest of us are up against.

Google Attempts to Colonize Space

Bryan — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:47:49 +0000

Google could be planning to colonize space by creating the first permanent network in space, in effect extending the internet from earth to the moon. Through a business standpoint this makes perfect sense, what could be better than having a monopoly in space! Google has long been looking for a way to defeat their rivals at Microsoft and maybe they have found their edge.

Google’s lunar Lander challenge, partnered with the X prize foundation, offers a concrete plan for entering space and landing on the moon. The X prize foundation while possessing a short history of success created an entirely new industry. Support of the first challenge included the Virgin group. The Virgin group created Virgin Galactic as a result of the first privately built reusable space craft. Virgin Galactic’s business model was to take advantage of the LEO(low earth orbit) tourist industry . The question is does Google have some secret business plan?

The companies competing in the lunar challenge need to have some long standing business plan in order to profit. The prize money alone is not enough to cover the massive expenses that will be incurred. Secretly each company is working towards their own agenda and Google may be doing the same. For example why would Google want HD video to be transmitted back to earth and how could they do this? Streaming live content through space has never been done before and may even seem impossible. However Google may be fronting the prize money in hopes that these companies will be able to test a new form of internet in space Google has partnered with NASA with called the DTN.

NASA and Google partnered up to create the deep space internet. This passage from Nasa.gov perfectly describes the new Space internet.

“Unlike TCP/IP on Earth, the DTN does not assume a continuous end-to-end connection. In its design, if a destination path cannot be found, the data packets are not discarded. Instead, each network node keeps the information as long as necessary until it can communicate safely with another node. This store-and-forward method, similar to basketball players safely passing the ball to the player nearest the basket means information does not get lost when no immediate path to the destination exists. Eventually, the information is delivered to the end user.”

The new DTN will allow for more real time data transfer than the current DSN or Deep space network currently in place. This will offer a huge advantage when creating and administering computer systems in space crafts, for travel to the moon and beyond.