Business and Space

Space is a $300 billion industry worldwide. NASA is a tiny percent of that. But, that little bit is what inspires dreams. – Neil deGrasse Tyson

Tyson speaks about how space exploration has influenced culture; from how the fins on early rockets made fins on automobiles possible in the 1950s, to how the mission of Apollo 8 in 1968 gave us a magnificent picture of Earth rising above the horizon of the moon, leading to a greater appreciation for our planet and the need to protect it. These are just samples, however, many people outside the space community see it as a special interest group, or just people interested in science.

What I admire and appreciate about Neil deGrasse Tyson is how he has made it easier for people to connect to science. I enjoy hearing his talks encouraging people to support space exploration and getting the public to understand how pushing the boundaries of the space frontier benefits the country’s innovation, culture, and economy. By the same token, he also talks about the government reducing its funding for space exploration and the impact of this action.

Innovation drives economy . . . It’s especially been true since the Industrial Revolution. – Neil deGrasse Tyson

In the BoominGroup ecosystem, we agree with Neil, but we also believe that space exploration transcends interests, economy or innovation, and more than anything, it’s a call for unity for the next frontier of our whole civilization and our survival as a species.

We foresee this exploration and unity held by the force of Business.

The Force of Business Behind Space Exploration

When we follow NASA’s space explorations and the International Space Station, we see business. And when I speak of business, I’m not merely speaking of money-making incentives behind business opportunity. I’m talking about the systems, culture, and manner of exchange that arise from the project of business. Imagine! There is a business behind every single tool, machine, device, part of that device, the people, etc! There is business behind everything they touch and they need.

What if scientists stopped asking for funding, and instead, started to present the possibilities of commerce in Space and the importance of aligning this commerce with ethical values, so we don’t make the same mistakes we did here on planet Earth?

What if we create a new economy that benefits future endeavors? Over the next decade, significant technological advancements and policy implementations are planned to each of the five space infrastructures: telecommunication, positioning and navigation, broadcasting, earth observation, and tourism, creating new opportunities for business and of course, the people behind them. What will be your role?

Imagine. If it were not for our brave ancestors, people who risked their lives to discover the unknown, crossing undiscovered territories, voyaging through seemingly endless bodies of water with no man or land in sight for days and months, our existences would be left unknown to others, leaving ourselves to our own ignorant existence. It’s through each new discovery, and the creation of business and systems, that we were able to connect consumers and suppliers through all means. It’s how we contributed to the evolution of our civilization.

Knowing what we know now about the harm we created through business in the past, with misguided and selfish interests, we can understand how to forge a new way of doing business and creating systems.

Business and Our Space Dreams

For many industries that will be born within this particular age of space exploration, our major advancement had been within the technological means of transport. Now we are, once again, at a crossroad to the next big thing in this industry. But it won’t be for efficient burning fuel vessels nor for faster vessels, but for space commerce.

Embrace yourselves for a new world, a world with endless space of opportunities, a new marketplace in outer space.

You may be wondering what outer space has to do with shipping or supply chains. Why does NASA have anything to do with this industry? Through each advance in technology, shipping and supply chains had benefited from every mode of transportation: cargo carried on horse carriages, water via boat and steamship, and aircrafts through air. It’s now not too far fetched to think of Space with new points of discharge from the Moon, Mars, Venus, etc.

We began trade from village to village, town to town, city to city, state to state, country to country, now it’s time to open up the possibilities of trading between one planet to another planet.

Who are the major players in space commerce?

NASA had partnered with private firms such as Spacex and Orbital Science to transport space cargo, satellites and even astronauts. Entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, co-founder of Paypal, is also a co-founder of SpaceX. Virgin Galactic, founded by Richard Branson is another such company, which launched flight and is taking bookings from interested patrons at $250,000 per ticket to go to space.

President Obama’s National Space Transportation Policy: A Bold Vision of Space, supports the development of space transportation in order for the U.S. to continue being a leader in the field. NASA has already subsidized costs associated with flights to Space for private firms to build a program that will one day make space transportation as routine as taking a flight from Turkey to the U.S.

What does space commerce mean for the logistics industry or supply chain?

When humans first stepped onto the moon, we knew there was nothing we couldn’t do. Even though there are no such graces as space hotels, cheap flight tickets, or smooth rides to the moon just yet, we believe we are slowly getting there. Even though space travel and habitation is still very much science fiction, we can no longer say it is impossible! And once we humans inhabit outer space, it will open a new market, out of necessity, for a supply chain that transports food and building materials. Even before we establish such hotels or cheap flights, outer space is already a high natural resource of precious metals, such as platinum, rhodium, iridium, rhenium, osmium, ruthenium, palladium, germanium and gold, for example.

Imagine that.

Some part may sound “science fiction”, but we’d be remiss to sell this short. Space Commerce will be the future. One day you will be asking for a freight quote from Port of loading: Houston, Earth to Port of discharge: Moon. Who knows, maybe the moon will just become like a transshipment hub stop to Mars or other distant planets.

Don’t undermine the moving steps towards space commerce; it is something that is happening, just as we had when business began developing on Planet Earth. Except this time, we finally have the opportunity to be aware of how we do business, and how we can create practices that bring joy, prosperity, and benefit to all.

Perhaps Business in Space allows Scientists not to rely on just “funding” to continue their space exploration and innovations, but to find ways to be creative in how to integrate business and live business while exploring our next frontier.

Remember, business is not something you do, it is something you are! When we consider our dreams of Space, we can rethink and deliver the right kind of business and systems this time around.