One of the problems with our economic system is that it allows the unlimited accumulation of money by individuals. Often fortunes are wasted on the whims of immature selfish individuals on idle pursuits and expensive toys. The arbitrary decisions of the wealthy can affect the lives and incomes of millions of people. Some other wealthy people spend their money interfering with our political process. On the other hand, a few wealthy people spend money on creative activities. And a few spend money on socially worthwhile projects. As far as I am concerned (and the subject of this blog), I am fine with extremely wealthy people spending their fortunes on getting the human race into space in a serious way.
The Bloomsberg Billionaires Index and a consulting firm named Bryce Space & Technology took a look at space industry investments by billionaires. The names of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson are very well known in space exploration and exploitation. But it turns out that there are another thirteen billionaires who have been investing in space ventures. Most of the billionaires mentioned in the report are from the tech industry but Sheldon Adelson, a casino owner, and Ricardo Salinas, the owner of the OneWeb satellite network are also on the list.
Altogether, these sixteen billionaires have a collective net worth of over five hundred billion dollars. Jeff Bezos, who is currently the world’s second richest man, is putting a billion dollars a year into his space company, Blue Origin. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic company has received six hundred million from him to create a service to take passengers on suborbital flights in the near future. Elon Musk invested a hundred million to start Space Exploration Technologies in 2002.
Beyond the efforts of billionaires, many other space industry startups have been formed by investors in the last fifteen years. There is a network for space investors called Space Angels. They say that there are more than two hundred and twenty five private space companies that have gotten equity financing. It is estimated that over three hundred billion dollars has been invested in these companies in 2016 alone. Analysts warn that these ventures have high risk and that most investors have not yet received returns on their investment.
New imaginative ventures are part of the new rush to space. There is a company called SpaceFlight, backed by Paul Allen who was the co-founder of Microsoft. It is accepting bookings for payloads on launch vehicles. Recently the company purchased the entire launch capacity of one of Musk’s Falcon 9 rockets and then sold portions of the load to different customers.
One of the benefits of having private companies involved in the exploration and exploitation of space is the fact that, unlike national governments who had had a monopoly in space, private companies work hard to standardize components and to reduce overhead as much as possible. It has been estimated that to go back to the moon with manned flights would cost over one hundred and fifty billion dollars if done by a federal Apollo style project where every single component involved would be custom. On the other hand, using private contractors for components and launch services, it has been estimated that it may be possible for men to return to the Moon for around ten billion dollars. Considering that the budget for NASA is only twenty billion dollars, it is obvious that private companies are critical for the exploration of space.
