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  • February 12, 2021
  • Article
  • Harvard Business Review Digital Articles

The Commercial Space Age Is Here

By: Matt Weinzierl and Mehak Sarang
  • Format:Electronic
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Abstract

In May of 2020, SpaceX made history as the first private company to send humans into space. This marks not only a tremendous technological achievement, but also the first indication that an entirely new “space-for-space” industry—that is, goods and services designed to supply space-bound customers—could be close at hand. In the first stage of this burgeoning economy, private companies must sell to NASA and other government customers, since today, those organizations are the only source of in-space demand. But as SpaceX has demonstrated, private companies now have not just the desire, but also the ability to send people into space. And once we have private citizens in space, SpaceX and other companies will be poised to supply the demand they’ve created, creating a market that could dwarf the current government-led space industry (and eventually, the entire terrestrial economy as well). It’s a huge opportunity—now our task is simply to seize it.

Keywords

Space Economy; New Markets; Emerging Markets; Opportunities; Entrepreneurship; Commercialization; Aerospace Industry

Citation

Weinzierl, Matt, and Mehak Sarang. "The Commercial Space Age Is Here." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (February 12, 2021).
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About The Author

Matthew C. Weinzierl

Business, Government and the International Economy
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More from the Authors
  • Your Company Needs a Space Strategy. Now. By: Matthew Weinzierl, Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Alan MacCormack and Brendan Rosseau
  • Spaceport America, Public Sector Risk-Taking, and Political Accountability (B) By: Matthew Weinzierl, Dava Newman, Rebecca Browder and Angela Acocella
  • Spaceport America, Public Sector Risk-taking, and Political Accountability (A) By: Matthew Weinzierl, Dava Newman, Rebecca Browder and Angela Acocella
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