What is NewSpace?

By Charles StotlerManfred Lachs Conference

16-17 March 2015

NewSpace…

“…the entrepreneurial space industry…”

– Jeff Foust, “Current issues in NewSpace,” The Space Review (5 March 2007)

“…an exact, widely-accepted definition of NewSpace still eludes the space community…”

• Circa 2006

• Evolved from ‘Alt.space’

• Suborbital and orbital vehicles– Jeff Foust, “The evolving ecosystem of NewSpace” The Space Review (15 August 2011)

NewSpace…

“…a company that is built, formed, operated by, funded by, or has as part of its business plan the opening of the space frontier, and making a profit doing so.” – Rick Tumlinson, co-founder of Space Frontier Foundation

Commercial space?Since the 1950s, the US government and aerospace contractors have maintained that the aerospace and defense industry operates on a commercial basis. • US v European perspective• Government contracting and infrastructure

investment

– Joanne Gabrynowicz, “One Half Century and Counting: The Evolution of US National Space Law and Three Long-Term Emerging Issues” (2010) 4 Harv. L. & Pol’y 405, 423-424.

The era of commercialization and

privatizationPre-NewSpace movements toward commercialization and privatization: • 1984 Commercial Space Launch Act• 1984 Land Remote-Sensing Commercialization Act• 1990s political pressure to break up national and

international communications monopolies and the restructuring of Intelsat in early 2000s

• 1990s-2000s USAF Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program

– Joanne Gabrynowicz, “One Half Century and Counting: The Evolution of US National Space Law and Three Long-Term Emerging Issues” (2010) 4 Harv. L. & Pol’y 405, 423-424.

The era of commercialization and

privatization“It can be expected that this development toward privatization and commercialization of space applications will continue as demands grow and as States and international organizations continue to have less financial resources available for space activities.”

– Karl -Heinz Böckstiegel, “Chair’s Introductory Remarks” (1997) 22(1) Annals of Air and Space Law 399, 341

A nascent commercial launch market

Globalization as driving a movement toward a free launch trade environment:• Restrictive bilateral launch agreements set to

expire;• US-Russian cooperative ventures, including

Lockheed purchase of the RD-180 engine

– H. Peter van Fenema, “Recent Parallel Developments in Aviation and Space Launch Regulation” (1997) 22(1) Annals A & S L 363, 365-367

The brakes on globalization

Strom Thurmond Act of 1999• Transferred Commercial Communication Satellites

to USML• Commercial satellite launch industry never

materialized.

– Ian F. Fergusson and Paul K. Kerr, “The U.S. Export Control System and the Presidents’ Reform Initiative,” Congressional Research Service, Report R41916 (13 January 2014).

From commercialization to

commercial? NASA has “bet the farm” on commercial companies. – Scott Hubbard, “Why a NewSpace Journal?” (2013) 1(1) New Space 1, 2

• NASA’s CCtCAP Contest: Boeing US $4.2B; SpaceX US $2.6B to ferry astronauts to ISS

• NASA’s CRS program: Orbital ATK and SpaceX delivering cargo to ISS

In addition: • SpaceX challenging ULA’s monopoly on EELV

program launches for US DoD

OldSpace v. NewSpace?

“In a new sort of space race, the [NASA cargo] contract has touched off an intense competition between stalwart defense contractors and new space start-ups that have, in just a few years, shown they can compete.”

–Christian Davenport, “A new space race emerges as NASA prepares to award contract to ferry supplies to space station,” The Washington Post (9 March 2015).

Disruptive technologies?

“They don't spread things all over the country the way that NASA and defense contractors tend to do. They're very focused in two locations in the country. They bring everything in-house. They have no subcontractors, so everything comes to them. That's disruptive.”

– NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Statement to President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, as reported by Frank Morning, Jr., “SpaceX Might Be Able to Teach NASA a Lesson.” Aviation Week (23 May 2011).

A NewSpace industry“[Orbital Sciences], which was founded in 1982, has only a toe hold in the New Space industry.” – “Actually, it is rocket science,” The Economist (8-14 Nov. 2014) at 72

• NewSpace as an evolving industry that any company, new or old can exploit?

NewSpace challenging the status quo?

NewSpace companies are those, “seeking to step outside the status quo of governmental contracting which has been the norm for commercial space actors to date.”

• 2010 US National Space Policy calls upon US gov to purchase services, as opposed to hardware, from commercial providers

“This, of course, begs the question of whether these start-up companies will rely on government contracts for their existence as much as their predecessors have.”

–P.J. Blount, “Renovating Space: The Future of International Space Law,” (2011-12) 40 Denv J Int’l L & Pol’y 515, 521

What’s so new, space?“This New Space age is a time of change and upheaval, when the capabilities once resident in just two national space agencies morph and evolve into a global pipeline of tech incubation stoked by the efforts of some 70 national space organizations around the globe.”

– Elliot Holokauahi Pulham, “The New Space Age” (2013) 1(1) NewSpace iii.

Public-Private Partnerships:

Bridging commercialization to

commercial

PPPs & NewSpace models of government involvement: • Matching fund grants• Government subsidization • A focus on infrastructure

A focus on infrastructure

ISS: infrastructure funded and built by a coalition of governments is enabling commercialization of LEO.• Nanoracks• Bigelow Aerospace• Space Adventures, Ltd. • Made In Space

Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)• Managing the US National Laboratory on ISS• Enabling ZeroG R&D

State involvement within the US

A variety of incentives: • Matching fund grants• Tax credits and exemptions• Infrastructure investments• Training and project assistance• State-backed venture capital• Limited liability and tort immunity

– FAA, “State Support for Commercial Space Activities”

A NewSpace paradigm“…an emerging global industry of private companies and entrepreneurs who primarily target commercial customers, are backed by risk capital seeking a return, and profit from innovative products or services developed in or for space.”

– “What is NewSpace?” NewSpace Global

From garage-based start-ups to billion dollar corporations

Start-ups• Nanoracks, Planet Labs, SkyboxPushing the boundaries of NewSpace• Red Bull Stratos – Space diving contest• Paragon Space – manned capsule as a spacecraftNew business models• Astrobotic – Rideshare/mission planning • Made In Space – Space manufacturing• Planetary Resources – Space miningBusiness, Finance and Venture Capital• Google & Fidelity US $1B investment in SpaceX• Steve Jurvetson, DFJ – venture capital• New Space Global – Market analyses and indices• Space Angels Network - Network of companies and investors

A NewSpace eraA process of evolution from an era of commercialization and privatization to an era of the commercial, driven by entrepreneurial, private actors working within a spectrum of government involvement.

Hallmarks of the the NewSpace era: • New innovations in PPPs• New licensing regimes • New definition of assured access to space• Private equity and finance • Disruptive technologies challenging classic space actors• Exploitation of niche markets (eg: smallsats, ZeroG R&D)

Thank you for your kind attention!