January 27, 2025
3 SciFi Stories Set to Become Nonfiction
Dear Subscriber,
 |
| By Chris Graebe |
While we’re still waiting for 2024 data to come in, we already know that the global space industry totaled $570 billion in 2023.
And according to McKinsey & Co., it is expected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035.
Certainly, Elon Musk’s SpaceX will get a big piece of the pie.
But it’s just one company set to profit from the coming explosion of space-related projects.
Let’s look at just the simplest of them … satellite launches.
As Jim Nelson wrote on Saturday, this industry niche is, well, rocketing higher.
Every year since 2021, we’ve seen new records in the number of rocket launches. Last year nearly broke the chart with how many successful launches were made.
But putting satellites into orbit isn’t the only way investors are playing what Michael A. Robinson calls the “New Space Race.”
Here are three science-fiction stories that are inching closer and closer to becoming science nonfiction businesses …
Space Tourism
As of 2023, the global market size for space tourism was $1.25 billion — not exactly a booming industry. So, this is still just a tiny fraction of the overall space market.
However, the projections for this industry are promising.
According to Polaris Market Research, the space tourism market will grow to nearly $28 billion by 2032 at a compound annual growth rate of 47.4%.
Over the short term, I see suborbital tourism continuing to grow as costs come down. Just like we've seen with satellite launches.
Plus, visits to space will become more commonplace. And not just among astronauts!
In a decade or two, a trip to space will be a bucket list item more akin to skydiving or visiting Machu Picchu.
Still a premium vacation idea, yes. But no longer an impossible one.
And watch out for the first company to leverage a super heavy-lift launch vehicle for tourism, like SpaceX’s Starship.
Instead of carrying just a handful of people into orbit and beyond like they do now, a craft like Starship could bring up to 100 people at a time, drastically lowering prices.
Beyond that, as some of the other advancements I’ll mention start to kick off, tourists will be able to visit the Moon and Mars.
With the development of off-Earth bases and settlements, longer-term and even permanent stays will happen.
Making Use of Extraterrestrial Resources
Technologies that can make use of lunar resources will be in high demand in the future. The lunar surface contains metals, volatiles and perhaps water that can be used to make lunar missions more cost-effective.
It’s not so much that we’ll be mining resources on the Moon and bringing them back to earth to sell.
Rather, we’ll use what’s already on the Moon to make building bases and staying there more viable.
The same goes for Mars.
The further out we go into the solar system, the more expensive it becomes to bring everything we need there from Earth.
According to Space.com data, the average travel time from earth to the Moon is about three days. As for Mars, it would take about nine months to get there ... and potentially three years to return!
So, extracting and using what we find in space to make it livable for extended periods of time will be an essential part of the future space economy.
One of the easiest ways to make use of the lunar environment is solar energy. Both lunar poles are illuminated almost constantly, making them perfect for solar farms.
Moving further out into the future, the idea of mining more valuable resources from asteroids and other near-Earth objects is plausible.
In fact, a little more than a year ago, a capsule from the U.S. spacecraft OSIRIS-REx returned to Earth with a small sample of material harvested from an asteroid.
Sample from asteroid Bennu taken by OSIRIS-Rex.
Source: NASA.
Click here to see full-sized image.
The sample was taken as a study but also acts as a proof of concept for future asteroid missions.
Private Space Stations
The World Economic Forum predicts that investment in commercially funded space stations could reach between $2 billion and $4 billion each year between 2030 and 2035.
It’s no secret, the International Space Station is dated. Originally planned for a 15-year mission, its oldest modules have now been in use for over 20 years.
Plans to bring down the ISS have all been delayed so far. But the current goal is to de-orbit it after the end of 2030.
In the meantime, the first signs of commercial space stations are showing.
Axiom Space, a private company, has been contracted to build a new segment for the ISS which is to be launched in late 2026.
Following this, there are plans for at least three more segments to be added onto the ISS.
When the ISS goes down, Axiom’s segments will stay up, forming the basis for perhaps the first private commercial station in history.
There are other planned private space stations like Starlab, Orbital Reef and Haven-1.
While I could spend all day talking about the dozens of futuristic projects that are happening right now in the space industry, I want to end with something you can do today to take advantage of it.
For a limited time, I am sharing something shocking. I recent toured a facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, that holds a secret technology. One that could give Elon’s empire a jet-fueled run for its money.
This company could light another rocket under this $1.8 trillion revolution. And it’s already on the glide path. Check it out here.
I urge you to watch that presentation right now. So don’t wait, as we have to take it down by the end of today.
Happy hunting,
Chris Graebe
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar