Government investment remains key to creating a circular space economy

SYDNEY, Australia – Government demand continues to spur investment in commercial space stations, satellite servicing and space logistics, paving the way for more space asset reuse and repurposing, speakers said at the International Astronautical Congress here.

“We see a steady increase in interest, primarily from defense, around the capabilities that we can provide but also civil-government demand,” Chris Blackerby, Astroscale chief operations officer, said Sept. 30 during a panel on creating a circular space economy. “We’re building a space neighborhood with different types of capabilities. The way we’re going to get there is not through commercial demand but through government investment.”

Attracting Customers

Like Japan-based satellite-servicing company Astroscale, The Exploration Company, a European spacecraft manufacturer, is catering initially to government customers.

“Like many things in the industry, the original demand does come from government,” said Dana Baki, The Exploration Company chief commercial and people officer. “We are serving the European Space Agency’s demand to take cargo up to the International Space Station. But then our future missions will be to the Vast station and other stations.”

Once companies have developed hardware and demonstrated their ability to deliver cargo and people to orbit, new customers “will see the benefit of what can be done in space,” Baki said.

Atmos’ Niche

German startup Atmos Space Cargo changed its business model in response to demand for microgravity research and manufacturing.

“When we started Atmos, it was not about microgravity,” said Jeffrey Hendrikse, Atmos co-founder and chief technology officer. “It was about returning [rocket] upper stages and first stages, but wise investors nudged us in this direction.”

Now, Atmos sees its niche as offering speedy access to and from orbit. “Within the circular economy logistic chain, we are focusing on transportation from low-Earth orbit to Earth on free-flyer platforms to give our customers access to microgravity,” Hendrikse said.

Slashing Costs

Vast Space executives are less focused on creating demand than on cutting costs.

“What’s driving the transition from the ISS? NASA wants to go from spending $3 billion a year to $1 billion or so,” said Vast CEO Max Haot. “They want to do the at least the same amount of work, maybe more, with materially less.”

For Vast, the first step is “lowering the cost materially through execution, but not through new customers,” Haot said. “Once we are there, we believe we can be profitable with the existing market.”

New demand will then emerge because the cost of manufacturing organs or semiconductors or pharmaceuticals in microgravity will have fallen dramatically, Haot said.