Three Industries Bolstering Modern Space Commerce
Expansion is a timeless and crucial part of modern business, and today, that fact has grown to include space. An increasing number of industries worldwide are now looking to space for commercial ventures, augmenting their existing infrastructure and offerings through this ambitious new medium. Practical applications in this regard are widespread, but several industries are already embracing space for commerce-related matters. Based on my experience in the space exploration technology industry, here are three sectors that are showing the greatest levels of interest.
1. Tourism
Perhaps the most noteworthy industry within space commerce is tourism-specifically, that pertaining to the rising subsector of commercial space tourism. As more private clients become interested in space travel as a strictly experiential, leisure-oriented investment, this sector has exemplified the notion of nongovernmental yet commercially viable space business. If you are a leader in the tourism industry, you may want to consider preparing to integrate the ever-evolving space tourism infrastructure into your existing framework. This process may include assessing rapidly changing market sentiments and subsequent partnership opportunities with leading commercial space entities, which can help ensure a more well-rounded and fluid implementation process that can ultimately become more dynamic for consumers as space travel becomes a more viable, accessible reality.
For now, such voyages have remained a fairly exclusive offering, but the sector’s rapid growth suggests future opportunities for more individuals to experience space, and with this comes more implications for investment within space tourism and its adjacent industries. One recent example is an ongoing collaboration between Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Axiom in utilizing AWS Snowcone, a revolutionary computing and storage device integrated with the International Space Station (ISS). This initiative demonstrates the tourism industry’s involvement in space commerce by enabling high-level computing and data transfer while mitigating latency and limited bandwidth-all of which can bolster a stronger, more seamless communication network amid parallel commerce-related advancements.
2. Engineering
A cornerstone of all space infrastructure, the engineering field is invaluable for establishing and maintaining a functional space economy. Today’s engineers are responsible for conceptualizing, designing and integrating the technological systems necessary for space’s ongoing commercialization-propulsion systems, advanced satellites, reusable rockets and countless other resources that enable a more diverse involvement in space. In turn, these advancements present transformative potential for engineering at large, allowing the sector to help shepherd in a new age of comprehensive, more affordable space infrastructure-but only if it is willing to remain both urgent and forward-thinking. For leaders in the industry, I recommend dividing your focus between progressive research and development initiatives, ongoing dialogues related to aerospace regulation and protocol, and high-level technological risk assessment to bolster both engineering prowess and lasting well-being for future fliers.
Beyond technology, engineers have helped facilitate crucial collaborations and partnerships that fortify space commerce’s dynamic framework. As more private companies invest in space exploration and commercial tourism, engineers are at the heart of many of the initiatives to reduce related costs and increase both safety and reliability, channeling these values into new projects supporting economic activity. By actualizing the hardware to make these aspirations a reality, engineers can help carve a clearer path for a fluid capital allocation and new economic opportunity.
3. Telecom And Data Transfer
The future of telecom and the future of space are now inextricably linked, evident in our growing satellite communication networks and increasingly space-rooted communication methods on Earth. It seems natural that this sector’s growth will eventually transcend planetary communication and warrant stronger, more reliable telecom systems in space-another foundational asset to a viable space economy.
For space commerce to reach fruition, telecom and data transfer must be sound to support a wider spectrum of transactions and related communications. However, advanced digital communication solutions also stand to augment peripheral technological processes, as displayed by entities like Orbit Fab, which is working to make remote, geosynchronous satellite refueling a commercial reality. Such advancements could lead to positive, lasting change via diligence within the present telecom and data transfer landscape, especially if industry leaders commit to multifaceted expertise in collecting, analyzing and implementing satellite data and using it as a foundation for insightful and safe decision-making. Telecom leaders can also tackle ongoing challenges related to space data processing and ever-changing regulatory compliance measures-both of which could define space communication and data discussion for years to come.
Like many sectors rooted in research and exploration, space could be one of the most prevailing and potentially disruptive domains of modern times. I believe the increased participation of our largest industries in such activity can help elevate present advancements to greater heights and fully realize economic concepts previously thought impossible.
Originally published at https://www.forbes.com.
About Dylan Taylor
Dylan Taylor is a global business leader, commercial astronaut, thought leader and philanthropist. Currently, Dylan serves as Chairman & CEO of Voyager Space, a multi-national space exploration firm focused on building the next generation of space infrastructure for NASA and other global space agencies.
Dylan has been recognized by Harvard University, SpaceNews, the BBC, the Financial Times, Pitchbook,CNBC, CNN and others as having played a seminal role in the growth of the private space industry. As an early-stage investor in more than 50 emerging space ventures, including Axiom, Kepler, York, Astrobotic, LeoLabs, Relativity, and Planet, Dylan is widely considered the most active private space investor in the world.
Dylan’s technical background, global business experience and unbridled passion for space make him a unique figure within his industry. As a thought leader and futurist, he has written many popular pieces on the future of the space industry for Forbes, FastCompany, Newsweek, SpaceNews, The Space Review, and Space.com. As a speaker, Dylan has keynoted many of the major space conferences around the world and has appeared regularly on Bloomberg, Fox Business, and CNBC.
Dylan has extensive global business experience as both a board director and CEO in several industries, including advanced electronics, finance and real estate. He previously served as a Director for UMB Bank, a Fortune 500 company based in Kansas City and as a mutual fund director for the Jackson Funds where he oversaw assets of $8B across 130 distinct funds. He has also served in the roles of CEO, President and Board Director for multinational companies like Prudential PLC, Honeywell, Colliers and Jones Lang LaSalle. Dylan was recognized as a Fortune 1000 CEO with P&L responsibility in excess of $3B and operations encompassing 15,000 employees in over 60 countries. In addition, Dylan has participated in 4 IPOs over the course of his career.
Dylan is a leading advocate of space manufacturing and the utilization of in-space resources to further space exploration and settlement. In 2017, he became the first private citizen to manufacture an item in space when the gravity meter he co-designed and commissioned was 3D printed on the International Space Station. The historic item is now housed in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
Dylan is an explorer of note. On December 11th, 2021 Dylan became just the 606th human to go to space as part of the crew of Blue Origin’s NewShepard Mission 19. Accordingly, Dylan earned his commercial astronaut wings with the FAA and his universal astronaut wings from the Association of Space Explorers.
He is also one of only a handful of humans to have descended to the deepest part of the world’s oceans, Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench as part of the Limiting Factor Expedition in July of 2022. In that mission, Dylan descended with pilot Victor Vescovo to a depth in excess of 10,800 meters (35,500 feet) into an area of the Mariana Trench that had never been visited by humans. Dylan is the youngest human to have been to the deepest part of the world’s oceans and crossed the Karman line into Space. Dylan has been a member of the Explorers Club since 2014.
Dylan maintains an extensive philanthropic impact on the space industry. In 2017, Dylan founded the nonprofit and social movement, Space for Humanity, which seeks to democratize space exploration and develop solutions to global issues through the scope of human awareness to help solve the world’s most intractable problems. Space for Humanity has successfully sent two citizen astronauts to space via Blue Origin including both the first Mexican-born woman (Katya Echazareta), and first African-born woman (Sara Sabry). Building upon his passion and support for the space industry, Dylan serves as a strategic advisor for both the Archmission and the Human Spaceflight Program and is a co-founding patron of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, which promotes the growth of commercial space activity. Additionally, he is also a leading benefactor to the Brooke Owens Fellowship, Patti Grace Smith Fellowship and Mission: Astro Access.
Dylan is the founder and Chairman of Multiverse Media, an integrated global media company focused on science and technology, with an emphasis on space. Multiverse is the parent company of the popular space philosophy website 2211.world as well as the Ad Astra Dinners, a Jeffersonian-style dinner series featuring some of the world’s leading influencers discussing the future of humanity in space. Another subsidiary of Multiverse Media, Multiverse Publishing, publishes books by leading authors including Frank White, Isaac Asimov and Gerard K. O’Neill. Multiverse is also the executive producer of the documentary film, The High Frontier and the forthcoming film, Fortitude.
For his influence as a global leader and his commitment to creating a positive impact on the world, Dylan has been honored with numerous personal and professional accolades in recent years. The World Economic Forum recognized Dylan as a Young Global Leader in 2011 and a full member of the World Economic Forum in 2014. That same year he was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. In 2020, Dylan was recognized by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation with their top honor for business and finance, following in the footsteps of 2019’s inaugural winner, the late Paul Allen
and subsequent winners Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
Dylan Taylor earned an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Booth School of Business at University of Chicago and holds a BS in Engineering from the honors college at the University of Arizona, where he graduated Tau Beta Pi and in 2018 was named Alumnus of the year. He is also a graduate of the Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century program at Harvard University.
Dylan and his family reside in Denver, Colorado where he is active locally with Colorado Concern and theColorado Spaceport. In his spare time, Dylan enjoys hiking, competing in triathlons and spending time outdoors. As a weekend warrior athlete, Dylan has more than 25 top ten finishes and 25 age group wins to his credit, and he regularly interviews world class athletes whom have shown extraordinary resilience as the host of the Legendary Podcast. He is married to legal expert, consultant and author Gabrielle V. Taylor with whom he has two teenage daughters.
