Commercial Space Companies Research Articles

Private international law in the context of space law

This article explores the intersection of private international law and space law, shedding light on the legal frameworks and considerations that govern activities in outer space. The primary focus of the article appears to be on the evolving legal landscape as it pertains to private entities and their involvement in space-related activities.
 Key Points:
 Space Law Context: the article delves into the broader context of space law, outlining the various international agreements and treaties governing outer space activities. This context is crucial to understanding the legal framework within which private international law operates in the realm of space.
 Private Entities in Space: given the mention of "Private International Law,” the article discusses the participation of private entities, such as commercial space companies and satellite operators, in activities related to space exploration, satellite communications, and space resource utilization. This touches upon the legal rights and obligations of private actors in space.
 Jurisdiction and Dispute Resolution: the article explores how private international law concepts, such as jurisdiction and dispute resolution mechanisms, apply to space-related disputes. This includes discussions on which legal jurisdictions govern disputes involving space activities and how international treaties address jurisdictional issues.
 Liability and Responsibility: space activities inherently involve risks, and the article touches the legal frameworks for liability and responsibility in cases of accidents or damage caused by space objects, especially when private entities are involved.
 Evolving Legal Landscape: the dynamic nature of space law, with new technologies and actors continually emerging, can be a central theme. The article discusses recent developments, challenges, and adaptations in space law to accommodate private sector interests and innovations.
 Future Implications: the article speculates on the future direction of private international law in the context of space activities. This encompasses considerations of how space law may need to adapt further as commercial ventures expand into the cosmos.
 Global Collaboration: given the international nature of space activities, discussions on the importance of global collaboration and cooperation in addressing legal issues related to space.
 Overall, this article provides valuable insights into the evolving legal landscape at the intersection of private international law and space law, offering readers a deeper understanding of the legal complexities surrounding space activities conducted by private entities.

A PIE analysis of China’s commercial space development

The commercial space industry seems to draw worldwide attention in the recent two decades to respond to the increasingly broad market demand. Compared with Western countries, the development of China’s commercial space industry is still in its infancy and faces many daunting challenges. Few studies have considered the dual perspective of government and market of commercial space industry in China. Aiming at exploring the influencing factors and future directions of the development of China’s commercial space industry, this paper proposed the theoretical analysis framework consisting of Policy, Innovation and Economics, and conducted a synergistic analysis of government and market in China’s commercial space industry. Specifically, based on the interview data, assisted by a machine learning approach, we have conducted an industry analysis of the influencing factors of commercial space in China. The results show that China’s commercial space industry is rapidly developing with many characteristics. Specifically, at present, there is a lack of specific and operational policies at the implementation level. Despite limited disruptive innovation, commercial space companies have achieved breakthroughs in many key areas. The overall industry is exploring more stable and sustainable profit models. The findings of this study contribute to the topic of industry development in business management literature by underpinning the policy discussion, technological analysis and direction for the future development of China’s commercial space industry. The industry practitioners may also benefit from the practices that were discussed in this research.

Space Commercialization is Closing the Digital Divide, but Expanding Global Economic Inequality

Space-based broadband internet could prove trans-formative for half of the world's population, who are currently without access to broadband internet. There is a risk, however, that the economic benefits from space exploration and exploitation will flow to just a handful of countries where commercial space companies are concentrated, chiefly the United States, further widening global economic inequality. While more multilateral mechanisms are warranted, countries should proactively engage in cooperation with leading actors, lest they miss out on the high economic growth resulting from the space economy.

Human Health during Space Travel: State-of-the-Art Review

The field of human space travel is in the midst of a dramatic revolution. Upcoming missions are looking to push the boundaries of space travel, with plans to travel for longer distances and durations than ever before. Both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and several commercial space companies (e.g., Blue Origin, SpaceX, Virgin Galactic) have already started the process of preparing for long-distance, long-duration space exploration and currently plan to explore inner solar planets (e.g., Mars) by the 2030s. With the emergence of space tourism, space travel has materialized as a potential new, exciting frontier of business, hospitality, medicine, and technology in the coming years. However, current evidence regarding human health in space is very limited, particularly pertaining to short-term and long-term space travel. This review synthesizes developments across the continuum of space health including prior studies and unpublished data from NASA related to each individual organ system, and medical screening prior to space travel. We categorized the extraterrestrial environment into exogenous (e.g., space radiation and microgravity) and endogenous processes (e.g., alteration of humans' natural circadian rhythm and mental health due to confinement, isolation, immobilization, and lack of social interaction) and their various effects on human health. The aim of this review is to explore the potential health challenges associated with space travel and how they may be overcome in order to enable new paradigms for space health, as well as the use of emerging Artificial Intelligence based (AI) technology to propel future space health research.

Water Recognition on the Moon by Using THz Heterodyne-Spectrometer for Identifying the Appropriate Locations to Extract Water for Providing Oxygen for Breathing and Fuel for Spaceships’ Propulsion on the Moon with CubeSat

Asteroid mining offers vital sources for improving human lives and provides opportunities for interplanetary missions and space travel. There are many professional commercial space companies that are only investing billions of dollars on asteroids mining, but prior to that, one condition for asteroid mining could be planetary stations to refuel the pioneers’ spacecraft or human colonies on alien planets; hence, one of the vital sources for these purposes is water. Water can be harvested to split oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for refueling spaceships’ propulsions, and Earth-to-space water payload transporting is extremely expensive; therefore, discovering extraterrestrial water in outer space is economically beneficial. This paper presents a Lunar CubeSat Injector to deliver four 3U CubeSats into Low Lunar Orbit to make a constellation to identify locations of water sources on the Moon by using a THz heterodyne-spectrometer. In sum, this project can help scientists to recognize more water resources for those who will colonize the Moon and for those planning to go beyond it.

Economic value analysis of on-orbit servicing for geosynchronous communication satellites

In recent years, On-orbit servicing (OOS) is in the ascendant, attracting attentions of a growing number of institutions and commercial space companies. The sustainable development of OOS is heavily relied on its economic benefits. However, the economic feasibility of OOS is not sufficiently analyzed in the existing studies. Based on this, a general economic value analysis framework for OOS is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the maximum price that clients would be willing to pay is obtained by real option method through comparing values of OOS by an alternative scheme. Secondly, the minimum price that the servicer could afford is predicted by Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) method, which is based on a service provider value model. Six necessary factors are considered in this model at the same time, including servicing architecture and its initial construction cost, mission related depreciation, income tax, operating expense, monetary value, as well as technical risks and the corresponding insurance premium. Then, the above two prices are compared to analyze the economic feasibility of OOS. Finally, mission cost, pricing strategies and OOS value drivers are modeled and discussed within the estimated acceptable price range. The results show that the OOS is commercially viable when the initial costs of geosynchronous communication satellites and the servicing architecture are more than $242 M and less than $140 M respectively. The applicability and usefulness of the proposed method are demonstrated by an actual business case analysis of the Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1).

Calibrating Intellectual Property and Innovation in NewSpace

The commercial space industry is soon expected to explode into a trillion- dollar industry, but patent protection in NewSpace has been largely ignored by an industry that is driven by technological innovation and rapid develop- ment. There has been little disclosure of inventions as large commercial space companies rely on trade secrets that are almost impossible to independently invent or reverse engineer. The benefits of both invention disclosure and se- crecy are well known, but there has not been analysis on inventions in the space industry. This paper fills the gap in the literature by analyzing common intellectual property practices in the aerospace industry and applying intellec- tual property theory. I also review past government actions on intellectual property in the aerospace industry. I find that actors in the commercial space industry have little incentive to disclose their inventions. This lack of incentive may harm or slow the expansion of the commercial space industry. This Arti- cle may be useful to policymakers who wish to continue the expansion and innovation of the commercial space industry through intellectual property policy.

Assessing China's commercial satellite communications sector as a potential case of disruptive innovation

China's space industry has made exponential advancements since its creation in 1956, and has recently witnessed a rapid growth of commercial companies. At the same time, certain Chinese industries have found success in disruptive innovation, which have displaced established competitors in both domestic and international markets. We examine whether Chinese commercial space companies might follow the footsteps of these other industries and generate cost, application, and business model innovations that disrupt the satellite communications sector. Our findings draw from in-person interviews with commercial space companies in China, and a review of news articles and investment data. Results indicate that while emerging commercial space companies are not very technologically mature compared to their Western counterparts, they exhibit many of the attributes of disruptive innovation in the global space sector.

Electromagnetic-launch-based method for cost-efficient space debris removal

Abstract The increase in space debris orbiting Earth is a critical problem for future space missions. Space debris removal has thus become an area of interest, and significant research progress is being made in this field. However, the exorbitant cost of space debris removal missions is a major concern for commercial space companies. We therefore propose the debris removal using electromagnetic launcher (DREL) system, a ground-based electromagnetic launch system (railgun), for space debris removal missions. The DREL system has three components: a ground-based electromagnetic launcher (GEML), suborbital vehicle (SOV), and mass of micrometer-scale dust (MSD) particles. The average cost of removing a piece of low-earth orbit space debris using DREL was found to be approximately USD 160,000. The DREL method is thus shown to be economical; the total cost to remove more than 2,000 pieces of debris in a cluster was only approximately USD 400 million, compared to the millions of dollars required to remove just one or two pieces of debris using a conventional space debris removal mission. By using DREL, the cost of entering space is negligible, thereby enabling countries to remove their space debris in an affordable manner.

Space Medicine Training in Canada

INTRODUCTION: Aerospace medicine training is often difficult to obtain outside of military education streams. Undergraduate medical trainees and residents may undertake training opportunities, but often have trouble locating programs and/or receiving credit for their experiences and learning. In many countries, no formal aerospace medicine training program or pathway exists and trainees must search out opportunities on their own. Canada is used as an example of a country which, until recently, had no defined civilian aerospace medicine training program or credentialing pathway. Recent development of a Diploma in Aerospace Medicine certified by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons now outlines a series of competencies for trainees and medical professionals seeking advancement in aerospace medicine. Growth of the aviation and aerospace fields will require more training opportunities and more aerospace medicine professionals to support the increased number of aviators and the spacefaring population. This will be particularly important as commercial space companies develop the potential for civilian spaceflight. While few opportunities exist for training, we highlight the major aerospace medicine training opportunities that have been recently available to Canadians. It is our hope that highlighting previous and current opportunities may aid in the development of a formal training program leading to certification in aerospace medicine for Canadians and act as an example for other nations.Sirek A, Samoil K, Harrison MF. Space medicine training in Canada. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2019; 90(8):725-729.

The Economic Impacts of the Commercial Space Industry

The market structure of government investment domination in the space industry is being disrupted as commercial companies began working in the commercial space sector. As the 1960s was known as a government-funded space race, the 21st century may be known as a private interest space race. U.S. policy intended to speed innovation and drive costs down by expanding the role of commercial space companies. Hence, the 2018 orbiting sports car, yet more importantly, reusable rockets, satellites, and associated services developed as a result of the deliberate shift in government policy starting with the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984.As growth is expected to accelerate, input-output analysis is useful to predict what industries will benefit and inform the government in their policy decisions. Using a benchmarked growth rate, this research constructed the projected economic impact of yearly growth in commercial space on the U.S. and Florida economies and industries. Growth in the sector not only spurs growth in higher labor income jobs but also causes growth in jobs in other sectors, some of which also have higher than average labor income. Furthermore, growing these types of jobs would have a positive influence on the U.S. and Florida's economy and tax revenues.

The Low-Cost Ticket to Space

The article discusses the potential impact of the commercial spaceflight industry on space research, with information on the previous limitations posed by the costs and frequency of space launches. Topics include the scientific research conducted through the suborbital program of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the development of reusable suborbital vehicles by commercial space companies such as XCOR Aerospace, Virgin Galactic, and Spacex, and the development of private space stations that would give space access to researchers in countries that are not partners of the International Space Station (ISS).

Hubert Curien

Hubert Curien

US commercial space companies prepare to fill shuttle vacuum

US commercial space companies prepare to fill shuttle vacuum