satellites and spaceships within a decade at a continuous rate. These tycoons have
become successful within quite different businesses. So why do they all love space
rockets so much? Most likely, they are not only aiming for the business of space
launches itself, but also for autonomous access to Earth orbit and a reliable and
economical transportation system. Perhaps the exploitation of natural resources in
space too. From this point of view, a SBSP station would be the perfect energy
source for commercial initiatives, such as mobility or logistics, ensuring independent access to electric power supply. Furthermore, these tycoons could generate a
profitable business by becoming the Pentagon's preferred suppliers, as happened
with Iridium, sending focused energy to specific areas of interest.
To this point, let’s look at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s public statement from
2016:
We need to go into space if we want to continue to have a growing civilization. If you take baseline energy usage on Earth and compound it at just 3%
a year for less than 500 years, you have to cover the entire surface of the
Earth in solar cells. That’s just not going to happen... Another route would be
just to face stasis, but I don't think that's as interesting. I don't think we want
to just survive on this planet, I think we want to thrive and do amazing things.
And to do that you have to go out into the solar system... I predict that in the
next few hundred years, all heavy industry will move off-planet. It will just
be more convenient to do it in space, where you have better access to
resources, better access to 24 hours of solar energy. The Earth shades itself,
[whereas] in space you can get solar power 24/7. So, there’ll be a lot of
advantages to doing heavy manufacturing there, and Earth will end up zoned
residential and light industry. I think you go to space to save Earth.
61
Speaking before a military audience at the Air Force Association’s annual symposium, Bezos went on to declare:
We’re one of the only launch companies actually building and manufacturing
on the space coast. I want people in this audience to know how committed we
are to this. Our New Glenn launcher, with a reusable first stage, is designed to
compete in the national security market in the coming years with real, operational reusability. Potential competitors are becoming very dangerous, and
you never want a fair fight. Outside the ring, a fair fight is just a bad strategy,
it means you haven't prepared properly. In a time of growing global competition, you need to be able to go to space more frequently, and one of Blue
Origin’s missions is to make access to space more frequent, on a moment’s
61
https://www.geekwire.com/2016/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-motto-logo-boots/.
96 Space Economy: A Business On the Launch Pad
become successful within quite different businesses. So why do they all love space
rockets so much? Most likely, they are not only aiming for the business of space
launches itself, but also for autonomous access to Earth orbit and a reliable and
economical transportation system. Perhaps the exploitation of natural resources in
space too. From this point of view, a SBSP station would be the perfect energy
source for commercial initiatives, such as mobility or logistics, ensuring independent access to electric power supply. Furthermore, these tycoons could generate a
profitable business by becoming the Pentagon's preferred suppliers, as happened
with Iridium, sending focused energy to specific areas of interest.
To this point, let’s look at Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s public statement from
2016:
We need to go into space if we want to continue to have a growing civilization. If you take baseline energy usage on Earth and compound it at just 3%
a year for less than 500 years, you have to cover the entire surface of the
Earth in solar cells. That’s just not going to happen... Another route would be
just to face stasis, but I don't think that's as interesting. I don't think we want
to just survive on this planet, I think we want to thrive and do amazing things.
And to do that you have to go out into the solar system... I predict that in the
next few hundred years, all heavy industry will move off-planet. It will just
be more convenient to do it in space, where you have better access to
resources, better access to 24 hours of solar energy. The Earth shades itself,
[whereas] in space you can get solar power 24/7. So, there’ll be a lot of
advantages to doing heavy manufacturing there, and Earth will end up zoned
residential and light industry. I think you go to space to save Earth.
61
Speaking before a military audience at the Air Force Association’s annual symposium, Bezos went on to declare:
We’re one of the only launch companies actually building and manufacturing
on the space coast. I want people in this audience to know how committed we
are to this. Our New Glenn launcher, with a reusable first stage, is designed to
compete in the national security market in the coming years with real, operational reusability. Potential competitors are becoming very dangerous, and
you never want a fair fight. Outside the ring, a fair fight is just a bad strategy,
it means you haven't prepared properly. In a time of growing global competition, you need to be able to go to space more frequently, and one of Blue
Origin’s missions is to make access to space more frequent, on a moment’s
61
https://www.geekwire.com/2016/jeff-bezos-blue-origin-motto-logo-boots/.
96 Space Economy: A Business On the Launch Pad