As space exploration continues to advance, the space economy has kept its spot as one of the hottest topics globally in 2022. According to Euroconsult, the size of the space economy for 2022 was $464 billion. Considering that many are looking toward the new economy revolving around space, it looks like the issue will continue to maintain its emphasis in 2023 too.
Space-related technologies are essential for our daily lives. Despite it only being initialized at the end of the 1950s, we highly depend on space technologies today. Indeed, the sector has been growing significantly.
As we continue to explore the possibilities of this new industry, it is sure to open up a world of opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses alike. So far, satellite manufacturing, launch capabilities, ground operations and services have all been expanding. As the 2022 space economy continues to develop, we can expect to see a variety of new opportunities for businesses. This includes orbital manufacturing, which uses 3D printing technology to manufacture products in space, as well as space tourism and mining operations. Today, there are many private companies all around the world offering products, services and solutions for space-related problems or demands.
Let’s take a look at the main stories of the space industry from last year:
In 2022, the Russian invasion of Ukraine showed us the importance of earth observation capabilities and also the communication practices in the war zone.
We all remember the first pictures of the Russian army vehicles seen near the Ukraine border via Maxar Technologies (an Earth observation company from Colorado, the United States that was sold to Advent International for $4 billion).
Blue Origin did one successful trip with six people. The crew spent 11 minutes in space and a few minutes floating in microgravity before parachuting back to Earth. Blue Origin’s chief competitor Virgin Galactic did not fly its SpaceShipTwo in 2022. The company pointed to the supply chain and labor problems as excuses for the delay.
The development of this economy has been spearheaded by private companies, like SpaceX and Blue Origin, who have already made significant investments in space-related technologies and infrastructure. To date, they have launched hundreds of satellites and created reusable launch vehicles, reducing the cost of accessing space.
NASA has finally launched SLS, the first mission for their new moon program Artemis 1, after many attempts that were delayed due to first technical problems and then Florida’s weather. After a 25-day-long mission, the Orion spacecraft landed back on earth, successfully. It is not only the American government that is looking for opportunities on the moon but also a private Japanese company, ispace, showed interest. Ispace prepared a moon rover and launched it successfully with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to collect moon soil and rocks and they plan on landing back on earth in April 2023.
The news was not only emerging from outer space! Earth-bound industries were also trying to catch up with technology and innovation. Apple announced that the new iPhone 14 now has satellite signal capability for emergency situations! Customers can connect to a satellite if there is no local mobile carrier and either make a short phone call or send a text message in an emergency.
Besides the advancements made by private companies, the investments made by governments around the world also impacted the 2022 space economy. Countries like China, the United States and India all invested billions of dollars in space exploration, creating their own space programs and launching satellites of their own.
The biggest concern for the sector was the development of China’s space industry for some countries. Between 2019 and 2021, China doubled its number of satellites in orbit from some 250 to a significant amount of 499. In 2022, China attempted to launch 64 rockets, with 62 making it to orbit. In comparison, the success rate for the U.S. was 72 out of 78.
On Nov. 29, 2022, the Shenzhou 15 mission was launched from China, carrying three Chinese astronauts.
With its recently completed space station, called Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace” in Mandarin, and with this successful mission, China became the third nation to operate a permanent space station. But it is important to emphasize that China is now the only country on earth that is operating a space station with no support from any other countries.
I was lucky enough to listen to the director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), Joseph Aschbacher, at George Washington University. He gave insights into ESA’s 2025 agenda. According to Aschbacher, currently, the space industry in Europe is well-trained and the ESA is not afraid of any shift of this workforce to the private sector because they want to see more and more companies who can produce in the space industry and take more responsibility.
He also mentioned that the ongoing situation in Ukraine or future crises are not a threat to space projects because the space industry is not fragile. People are aware of its importance and benefits.
Türkiye’s space industry is another example of the great developments on both the public and private sides. The Turkish Space Agency (TUA) announced its Lunar Research Program, which is one of the primary objectives of the Turkish National Space Program. It also released more details about the project, namely a hard landing. The Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) will also join the mission with a space instrument.
During its orbit around the moon, the Lunar Neutrals Telescope will study how the flow of charged particles from the sun and solar wind interact with the moon’s surface from the Turkish spacecraft AYAP-1.
The private industry in Türkiye has also been growing considerably fast. A hybrid propulsion system is currently being developed by DeltaV for Türkiye’s lunar mission, which is one of the primary objectives of the Turkish National Space Program. The “HİS” is intended to be the world’s first hybrid propulsion system to be used in a space mission.
Plan-S and Hello Space are the cube-sat initiatives in Türkiye. Hello Space is planning to send its first cube-sat “Istanbul” in May 2023. However, we need to pay more attention to the Plan-S team because they built their own satellite in nine months (yes, nine months) and placed it in orbit in 2022. They just sent their second test satellite Connecta T1.2 successfully. The company is planning to produce solutions for the Internet of things (IoT) communication and earth observation services.
The year 2022 was exciting for those closely following space. However, 2023 has started with two failed launch attempts, the first Virgin Orbit and the latest ABL Space Systems.
British billionaire Sir Richard Branson's private spaceship company Virgin Galactic has a Boeing 747-400 passenger airliner – even one that is carrying a roughly 30-ton Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket underwing and it was the first attempt from British soil. Its attempt failed on Jan. 9. Recently, ABL Space Systems, a California-based start-up, failed near the coast of Alaska on Jan. 10. ABL’s RS1 rocket “shut down prematurely” after that there was an “anomaly.”
Despite these failures, space experts are not afraid of the space industry’s future at all.
