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>7/[...] The early years of this decade will produce a wave of hype and investment in the space business but returns will be slow to come and we will be in a tr
by fabatka 7y ago
>7/[...] The early years of this decade will produce a wave of hype and investment in the space business but returns will be slow to come and we will be in a trough of disillusionment on the space business as the decade comes to an end.
I guess this depends on SpaceX's success with the Starship - if a rocket that is made outside a cleanroom and with cheap rolled steel frame proves to be usable means that going to space becomes very very accessible.
- Faark 7y agoYeah, but space needs to be profitable, not just accessible, for private companies to take over investments. Even as SpaceX fanboy, I have a hard time imagining this any time soon. Space based internet constellations have a huge resurgence right now, but that's unlikely what the author meant. (Asteroid) Mining? Even if we already had the tech, such a mission would take decades. Who would accept the uncertainty risk of investing over such long time-spans? That is, if there is anything worthy enough to mine in space in the first place, will that still be the case many years later? Tourism might be a thing, but enough to bootstrap an entire space economy? Countries/politicians/billionaires wanting to project power or memorialize themselves still seems like the safest bet to me.