Perspectives on the international commercial space infrastructure

Abstract

Commercial space activities are emerging as a potentially important segment of the economy in the Western World. However, the high entry costs and the high technological risks are significant impediments to private sector investment in major commercial space segments, such as transportation, microgravity materials processing, and remote sensing. Governments throughout the Western World have developed or are establishing commercial space policies and the infrastructure to minimize the financial, technical, and institutional risks to private industry in commercial space ventures. At the same time, the private sector is also trying to do its share to support the overall space commercialization efforts. These initiatives for the microgravity segment are described and compared for the United States, Western Europe, and Japan.