Magazine_BEAST_2017_Edition_8_complet

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#Science | Space
NEW SPACE INVESTMENTS
FOR NEW SPACE ACTIVITIES
BY ALEXANDRE KEILMANN
Over the last ten years, investments in space have skyrocketed. The year 2015 actually
saw more venture capitalists invest in space than in the previous fifteen years. Moreover,
a recent study showed that sixteen of the world’s 500 richest people have already
invested in space. We can find the likes of Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg on top of the list.
From commercial space lines to high-speed Internet
Space Angels Network, a global network of early-stage investors focused specifically on
aerospace ventures, calculated that more than 225 private space ventures have already
received equity fund, up from 33 in 2009. And according to Bryce – formerly known as
Tauri Group Space and Technology – nearly $1.5 billion in venture capital was invested
in space deals in 2016 and over 60 venture capital firms invested in space start-ups.
As a matter of fact, the space industry and therefore investments have boomed over
the last decade, notably with Elon Musk and the growing success of SpaceX, which
recently hit a new milestone by reusing its Dragon spacecraft for the first time ever, after
launching a used rocket in March 2017. Part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, SpaceX
seems to be on track to launch astronauts in space by the end of 2018. In mid-August,
Elon Musk unveiled its clean-white spacesuits for its astronauts proving once again how
advanced and confident he feels about SpaceX.
In 2016, Japanese group Softbank invested more than $1 billion in OneWeb, whose
mission is to provide the entire world with affordable high-speed Internet. The joint
venture between OneWeb and Airbus seeks to place a constellation of more than 900
satellites in space in less than two years, turning the Earth into a planet-sized Internet
network. Ten identical prototype satellites will be launched in early 2018 from Kourou,
French Guiana, for validation. If all goes well they will become the first operating satellites
of the network, which will include at its start 648 simultaneously operating satellites in
orbit just two years later.
According to George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic – a «Spaceline for Earth with
the goal of democratizing access to space for the benefit of life on earth», founded by
business magnate Sir Richard Branson – «it’s an exciting moment to be part of the space
industry». The company aims at getting paying customers into space in 2018. In this
respect, Virgin Galactic announced in August a sixth successful glide test of VSS Unity,
the second version of SpaceShipTwo. «Only 556 people have actually been to space, and
we already have more than 600 demands to use the world’s first spaceline» he added
while visiting Luxembourg in May 2017 and attending the Space Forum.
«My business model right now for Blue Origin is I sell about $1 billion per year of Amazon
stock, and I use it to invest in Blue Origin. So the business model for Blue Origin
is very robust» explained Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com
and the second-richest person in the world. He is planning to start flying
people on suborbital space tourism flights, by the end of 2018. Whether
it is on Earth or in Space, tech giants keep competing at a high-level.
Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla)
& Jeff Bezos (Amazon)
BEAST MAGAZINE #8