At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the American space program is going through particularly turbulent times. Many believe that America has lost its vision and focus, and that we will consequently abdicate our leadership role in space exploration and innovation to other international space faring nations. There are many indicators [...]
Commercial spaceports are launch facilities dedicated to serving the needs of the commercial launch industry. The need to move beyond the restrictions and costs of using government facilities was the key driver in the emergence of the industry, and it came about as a result of the gradual commercialization of space launch starting in the [...]
Most sectors requiring a relatively high upfront investment have started off as public, often military funded projects. A typical example is the development of the commercial aeronautical sector with some similarities but also important differences compared to the space sector. Starting with early flights in 1897 performed by Clement Adler (but kept secret due to [...]
Numerous examples of international cooperation among well-established spacefaring states have emerged over the last several decades. Although the prime example may be the International Space Station, other missions are similarly worthy of mention: Cassini-Huygens, Chandrayan 1, Hayabusa, and literally every mission launched by the European Space Agency. As a result of such cooperation our knowledge [...]
Today, we are witnessing a growing consensus that the next frontier for space commerce and space settlement is Low Earth Orbit (LEO). While ‘space’ is usually envisioned as being at a great distance from the Earth, it is actually quite close. In fact, the distance from the Earth to LEO is far less than the [...]
The development and expansion of commercial human spaceflight requires legal and regulatory mechanisms to provide a robust framework under which commercial operators can fly paying participants. Currently, only the United States has specific national legislation to govern this new activity with the mandate to promote the industry. Spain, to the contrary, has neither a national [...]