A New Frontier

In previous decades, governments and national entities were the ones leading humanity’s charge into space. These efforts met with stunning success. The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union put the very first human in space and took the very first humans to the Moon. The united efforts of five space agencies gave humans a permanent base in space—the International Space Station (ISS). Ultimately, these breakthroughs resulted in the creation of a host of spinoff technologies that transformed our society.

But it has been 40 years since we have been to the Moon. The ISS is nearly 20 years old. Governments have stalled, and a new generation of entrepreneurs has taken over.

This is the age of privatized space. From Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has successfully deployed a host of reusable rockets and carried goods to the ISS, to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which has successfully tested its own reusable rocket and is well on its way to making space tourism a viable option for all people, commercial space companies are taking space out of the hands of governments and giving it to the people.

This is where the New York Center for Space Entrepreneurship (NYCSE) comes in. In short, their main goal is to accelerate humanity’s journey into space, and they seek to do this by working with companies, investors, and other entities in order to help democratize space for all people and create a global space economy. With this in mind, today, they are announcing a series of initiatives that will support space entrepreneurship around the globe.

To learn more about the initiatives that are being launched today, uncover why private spaceflight is important, and see how NYCSE is working to make space affordable, tune into Futurism’s 360º livestream with NYCSE tonight at 7pm est, which can be found here.

Sidney Nakahodo, Lecturer in International and Public Affairs at Columbia University co-founder of NYCSE, notes that our space projects are transforming at an unprecedented rate. He states that the “convergence of decreasing costs, access to launching opportunities, and fast technology evolution has propelled innovation in new products, services, and business models” is and ushering is into “a new era of space entrepreneurship.”

To this end, by nurturing businesses and entrepreneurs, NYCSE aims to help shape (or reshape) space exploration in the 21st century.

Making Space Affordable

The importance of these efforts cannot be overstated. As Nakahodo notes, commercial space has already helped to create a host of breakthrough technologies, and more are on their way.

Commercial space has helped solve some of the most pressing problems of our time. Telecommunications, GPS, weather forecast are just a few examples of applications. Currently, non-government space already accounts for more than USD 250 billion, around 75% of the total yearly global space economic activity. Beyond tax revenues and job creation, the most important outcome of the commercial space expansion will be how it will affect our lives. Fundamentally, the more we travel to space, the more we will reflect upon our own place in the universe, both in the attempt to address existential questions as well as a quest for collective inspiration.

Sadly, most innovators, researchers, and entrepreneurs aren’t able to fully participate in this ecosystem, as they lack access to the necessary monetary resources. Nakahodo outlines the succinctly summarizes the specific issue, noting that, “all of this is happening in times of limited public funding for space activities.” This is something that NYCSE hopes to help fix; however, their initiatives are about far more than just providing finances.

For Nakahodo, the most notable aspect of this new age in space entrepreneurship is the way that it equalizes spaceflight, bringing all people closer to the stars. He asserts, “The most interesting projects involve democratizing access and bringing humanity closer to space. That means not only developing the rockets necessary to take us there, such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic are doing, but also creating the infrastructure that will allow private citizens to spend time in space.” And that infrastructure is precisely what NYCSE is working to create.

Outlining the specifics of the work, Nakahodo states that the first problem is tackling issues related to access to information. “One of the main challenges for commercial space ventures is the lack of business knowledge and early stage support. Therefore, we are launching a series of initiatives aimed at assisting space entrepreneurs with business learning and idea validation.”

The next problem stems from issues associated with networking—with connecting individuals working on various aspects of the industry so that they have all of the tools and resources (and people) needed to successfully complete their work. Nakahodo states that the second part of their initiative involves “developing an online platform that will allow space entrepreneurs to help each other, as well connect with mentors and investors.” Finally, NYCSE is giving individuals direct access to necessary resources by sponsoring specific joint programs.

In case you missed it, the initiatives are being fully unveiled today at Knotel. Be sure to tune into Futurism’s 360º livestream with NYCSE at 7pm est, which can be found here.