How Investors View NewSpace
The space industry is no longer a mystery hidden under the arms of the state agencies. More and more people are now determined to explore the space and are willing to risk their resources in the sector. Several private companies such as SpaceX and Firefly Aerospace have scheduled their launches soon. But the people who are continually investing money and support in the space industry hold divergent ideologies and purposes for their investments. NewSpace movement depends on how these people use their ideologies to improve people’s lives or prevent natural disasters.
Elon Musk is one of the major investors in the space industry. He is known for the launch of Tesla aboard Falcon Heavy, which was watched live by 2.3 million people on YouTube. Eighteen years ago, Elon founded SpaceX to reduce the cost of space flight and preserve humanity on Earth and beyond. Besides, he wants to colonize Mars and is planning to send resources and equipment there using the Starship missiles. TechCrunch revealed that SpaceX plans to send the first cargo ship to Mars by 2022, but the crewed mission will have to wait until after 2023. Apart from Mars, Elon is also interested in space tourism.
Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic focuses not only on flying people across cities and countries but also on space. His company Virgin Galactic has so far sold 500-1000 tickets for a space trip. Each ticket costs $250,000. The flight will last 2.5 hours, including 5-6 in weightlessness. The flight will begin with a 16-km ascent before SpaceShipTwo can undock from the WhiteKniteTwo accelerator and move by itself. Although the motive for Branson’s passion for space tourism is not clear, it may be for the hype or love for the limelight.
Jeff Bezos, the owner of Blue Origin, once invested in space tourism but later changed his focus on conquering the Moon. However, he has not entirely abandoned space tourism as he plans to partner with Branson to take people to the first suborbital hotel called Aurora Station. Bezos, whose investment in Amazon, saw him become the richest man in the world, considers Blue Origin as the most critical job. He plans to start taking people to the Moon in ten years and also transfer massive production there. According to him, only light industries should operate on Earth. Experts believe that Blue Origin’s determination to colonize the Moon is more real that SpaceX’s idea of conquering Mars.
Max Polyakov is investing in space but with a different view. The owner of Aerospace and a partner at Noosphere Ventures wants to fly into space not to abandon the Earth but to use technology and Knowledge to save the planet. His concept is Earth Observing Visioner, which is based on the use of global satellite monitoring tools for infrastructure, geopolitical, climate, and other processes. Apart from Firefly, Max Polyakov’s other investments include SETS rocket engines and EOS Data Analytics.
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