Space Logistics - Current Status and Perspectives

Abstract

Space exploration has been going on for decades. Although humanity has not been able to reach further than the Moon, and the only human activity in space is currently taking place in the low Earth’s orbit, technological and organizational innovations that accompanied the previous projects have contributed to significant changes in the space sector and the global economy. These changes are also visible in logistics activities, especially in transport. In this article, the author reviews the current achievements in the field of space logistics, presents its definition, principles and functions, and indicates the specifics of processes, resources and the infrastructure. Due to the reviewing nature of the paper, the author’s main goal is to identify a new research problem in logistics and initiate a scientific discussion on space logistics, especially in the Polish logistics environment. The important goal of the paper is also the promotion of this topic on the basis of business practice, pointing to the space sector, as a place for the development of Polish enterprises and organizations, including logistics operators or research centers. The main method used in the work on the paper is a critical, systematic analysis of the literature of the subject and resulting from the author’s interests, the observation of the global space sector. An important premise for addressing the topic is the search for an original research problem using knowledge, interests and intuition. The most important conclusion resulting from the considerations undertaken in the paper is to establish that space logistics, as a result of technological breakthroughs dedicated mainly to the perspective of manned interplanetary missions, is a field that is facing extremely rapid growth, which in turn determines the growing expectations towards the scientific community. Logistics in space considered so far as an “abstract” theme should meet with greater interest of Polish scientists. This article is an introduction to an in-depth research on the subject of setting up and managing orbital and interplanetary supply chains.