Space Activity at the Threshold of the 21st Century: A Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Perspective

Abstract

After the Cold War the space programs of individual nations and world-wide space activity had to learn the rules and the laws of economics since this is the only reliable means of survival in conditions of a radical change in world economy and international relations. the principles and procedures of resource allocation for space activity have been drastically revised. There will be no “crash” space programs or the “Apollo” and “Star Wars” type in the foreseeable future. National and international space projects will have to prove their competitiveness across the board in real terms of economic efficiency. a perspective on economic benefits and economic incentives for space activity in conditions of the growing world market of space goods and services is put forward in this paper.The beneficial impacts of space activity reach into many avenues of everyday life of the world community. They are divided into tangible, which may be calculated by cost-benefit analysis and other economic methods, and intangible, which have no apparent applicability to practical use. the utilization of space technlolgy for purposes other than that for which it was originally developed has become one of the most economically useful, socially beneficial and politically challenging endeavours of the post-Cold War history of humankind. the demand for space goods and services grows at a rate of not less than 5% annually and the total annual return in this area is estimated to amount to about 100 billion dollars by the turn of the 21st Century. Space activity is not a luxury; it offers important economic paybacks, which will grow as world space markets will be developed by the joint efforts of governments and the private sector. the complex interdisciplinary essence of space activity makes it necessary to explore future space markets in the framework of at least three interrelated dimensions: economic/commercial, political and legal. Successful business strategies for space programs as well as economic incentives for the further commercialization of space will require due account of both the diverse aspects of space infrastructure and the complicated socio-political environment in which world markets of space-related goods and services will develop.KeywordsSpace ActivityInternational SpaceEconomic IncentiveOuter SpaceSpace TechnologyThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.