Space programs have had varying levels of success since their beginnings in the late 1950s, but one thing is certain: they are expensive. It currently costs between $2,000 and $10,000 per pound (or $4,400 to $22,000 per kilogram) to put anything into Low Earth Orbit where most satellites and the International Space Station are located. And that’s for tightly packed cargo. Transporting humans is more expensive because those rockets need human-rating certification (i.e. deemed safe enough to transport humans), which adds additional requirements, complexity, and therefore cost. Even reusable rockets have only gone so far towards making space more affordable.

This high barrier to entry is largely why space has been the historical purview of governments, and why the vast majority of space startups receive their financial support. Unsurprisingly, the question most often raised by citizens and politicians alike is whether space programs are worth the time and money, and for good reason. After all, we could be putting all that money to use solving important social and economic problems right here on Earth. In spite of all the recent technological advancements and the increased interest in space, the industry has failed to fully convey the true value of space programs.

There are many reasons why we should be advocating for increasing investments in the space ecosystem, which I will address in two posts. This first part will examine the more tangible, economic benefits.

It’s the (Space) Economy!

Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) for any product and industry is tricky due to the number of moving parts. Doing so for space investments is no different , and might in fact be more difficult.

Many companies and industries have benefited to varying degrees from space-related innovation, so determining which to include in the calculation is subject to debate. Consider that the global financial system is entirely dependent on GPS technology, as is modern transportation. Should we include the respective revenue from companies like Bank of America, Uber, and Google Maps in our ROI? Also, many private-sector companies don’t publicize their earnings. Even if they did, we would need to know what percentage of their products is derived specifically from space research to get an accurate ROI.

So let’s focus instead on what we do know—­the companies that have benefitted from space-derived technologies, and the space ecosystem’s contribution to the global economy.

As part of their PR strategy, NASA has compiled a list of spinoffs since 1976 which catalogs companies that successfully developed commercial products and services based on research they conducted or funded. To give you a few examples:

The list goes on, stretching across virtually every industry of the global economy, which is precisely why it is so difficult to determine its real monetary returns to society. That said, while these spinoffs are nice benefits of space research, they aren’t a reason or justification for it. After all, we would likely get much better returns from standard R&D programs.

The global space economy, on the other hand, is clearly defined by intergovernmental organizations like the OECD Space Forum , and therefore its economic impact can be more easily measured. The Space Foundation and Bryce Space and Technology each determined that the 2016 global space economy was worth between $329 billion and $345 billion , respectively, roughly equivalent to the 2016 U.S. air, rail, water, and truck transportation industries combined.

In addition to R&D, the space economy contributes to the world economy in many other ways. After all, every single dollar or other currency invested in space programs have been spent on Earth, providing wages to thousands of highly skilled and educated workers and contractors. Global government spending for example amounted to around $83 billion in 2016, funding over 70 space programs and their workforce. NASA for example employs around 18,000 people in technical jobs which often require doctoral degrees for entry-level roles—and NASA accounts for less than half of what the U.S. government spends on space programs, and a quarter of global government spending.

The commercial sector accounts for the other 75% of global spending, equivalent to $253 billion in 2016. Private companies operate either fully or partially in the space ecosystem, from nascent startups like Relativity Space and Vector Space Systems , to more mature ones like SpaceX and Planet , to well-established leaders like Boeing and SES . Many such companies would not have been able to survive their early days without some government support in the form of grants, tax breaks, funding, or loans. And the number of people employed by the commercial space sector is significant: around 216,423 in 2016 in the U.S. alone (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics ). These workers are at the top of their fields which enables the United States to remain a leader in technology, science, and engineering.

Although we aren’t investing in space programs to improve consumer electronics, it is undeniable they create a lot of jobs and economic activity. The ecosystem’s positive financial impact is only going to increase over the coming years. Space was the only industry worldwide to have grown during the financial crisis of 2007-2008, and investments from the private sector have increased substantially in the last ten years and are expected to continue. Two of the largest financial services firms, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, have adopted a bullish outlook on the future of the extraterrestrial industry, predicting it will be worth $1.1 trillion by 2040 and $2.7 trillion by 2045 , respectively. One of the key reasons for that growth is attributed to the emergence of new industries like in-space manufacturing.

Transformative Potential of In-Space Manufacturing

All our computers, cars, skyscrapers, and drugs have been designed and manufactured on Earth, and their associated technologies and processes are limited by the planet’s properties (i.e. gravity). As our understanding of the world increases, so too do the quality and efficiency of the goods we produce. For instance, the size and sturdiness of buildings have increased dramatically over the years as we learned more about structural engineering, materials, and metallic alloys.

Space opens up entirely new ways to design and manufacture goods because of its different properties and limitations. Temperatures in space are more extreme, energy is abundant, and the vacuum has some decidedly unusual attributes. For example, metals can fuse together in space simply when put in contact with each other (see cold welding ).

Microgravity changes everything

Gravity in space is much lower than on Earth, which creates interesting possibilities for construction. To put things in perspective, in 1992 three astronauts in orbit around Earth managed to catch barehanded a 4.5 ton satellite, stopped it from drifting away, and moved it back into position, something that’s physically impossible to accomplish on Earth (you can watch a video of the feat). On the Moon, you could lift 6.25 times what you can lift on Earth because it only has 16% of Earth’s gravity. Imagine what you could build if you didn’t have to worry about your building tipping over or crumbling under its weight. The sky’s the limit? Not anymore.

Microgravity can also support or enhance manufacturing processes. One area of particular interest is microgravity’s effect on crystal growth. What are crystals and why are they important?

Think of crystals as a lot of atoms and molecules that group-up together in a specific arrangement to form a solid material. Many materials can form crystals , such as metals, minerals, semiconductors, and organic and biological molecules like proteins and DNA.

The biotech and biopharmaceutical industries study the proteins in our bodies to design new life-saving treatments and drugs (penicillin and HIV treatments were both developed this way). Unfortunately, “protein crystals are very fragile and can be affected by small changes in heat or pressure,” which means gravity increases the time and cost it takes to get a sufficient number of viable crystals for study. NASA research has found that about 40% of crystals grown in microgravity were of higher quality than those grown on Earth, and were often larger and more detailed . Manufacturing crystals in space would help biotech companies conduct better and likely cheaper research to discover new proteins and subsequently develop new drug treatments.

Fiber optics , comprised of crystal structures and used for land-based communication and the chips in our electronic systems, could also benefit from space-based production. ZBLAN optical fiber is much more efficient than the traditional fiber optics we use today, but it has a lot of imperfections when created in Earth’s strong gravity. Experiments have shown significant improvements in the quality and clarity of ZBLAN when manufactured in microgravity environments. Similarly, silicon carbide—formed into wafers to power electronics and LED lights—suffers from gravity-based defects , which increase their cost and reduce their size and quality. Microgravity production makes silicon carbide more resilient to higher voltages and temperatures, and has the ability to eliminate up to 90% of power losses of the current standard silicon wafers.

These are just some of the multi-billion-dollar industries that could see incredible advances and cost reductions with the successful introduction of space manufacturing. In fact, startups are already working on producing drugs , artificial organs , and ZBLAN in space.

But getting the materials needed to manufacture in space is still expensive, which is why companies are working on developing a space mining economy.

Limitless availability of resources in space

We use renewable and non-renewable resources to power our lives: freshwater, solar, nuclear, and wind energy are part of the first category; petroleum, natural gas, and minerals are part of the second. Those resources are not uniformly distributed across the planet, and countries can have more or cheaper access to them. For example, China produced 80.7% of the world’s rare earth metals in 2017 but it only accounts for 36.6% of global reserves.

Renewable and non-renewable resources are available in space in virtually limitless quantities , including rare earth metals. As such, that is one of the most popular arguments for going to space, as the availability of resources on Earth is finite. Although that is technically true, experts have differing viewpoints on their long-term availability. Some claim we are running out of most metals , while others say that we have a nearly endless supply of resources or disagree with the commonly held belief that oil and gas will only be available for fifty-three more years or so.

Whatever their beliefs on the matter, experts agree we are ultimately limited by the available prospecting and extraction technologies as well as their associated costs. We run the risk of a global collapse of the world economy if the cost of extracting resources become more expensive than their market value or the speed of invention of technologies is no longer be able to keep up with demand.

What’s more, control of natural resources has often been a cause of conflict, and we’re seeing the battle for finite resources play out today. The generational Middle-East wars of the 21st century have been largely motivated by access to the valuable oil deposits in Iraq and Syria. As the human population continues to grow, so will our consumption of resources. Growing a space mining industry would help reduce the risk of conflicts on Earth stemming from resource scarcities.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that as we begin to live in space, harvesting solar energy will become more feasible and cost effective. Gathering solar energy today is very inefficient because solar panels receive little light from the sun due to Earth’s atmosphere, the weather, and the day/night cycle. That’s mostly why solar panels have efficiencies of up to 22.5% at best. While it does not make economic sense today , the efficiency of in-space solar farms would provide us with abundant energy to power the economy both in space and on Earth.

Let’s assume Earth will not run out of resources in the foreseeable future. Why does space mining matter today?

Water is not only the fuel for life, it is the literal fuel for many of the rockets we use. We currently have to ship all of those resources from Earth at considerable cost, including water. By sourcing it in space, we would be able to provide our astronauts with water and oxygen as well as significantly cheaper fuel for satellites and other spacecraft, making spaceflight much more affordable. This makes in-space mining fundamental to expanding our presence on other planets, and companies like Deep Space Industries and the Luxembourg government are working to make that happen.

Are we wasting billions on space programs?

Of course not, and far from it! Space assets like satellites are utilized by people and industries across the globe daily, and their potential uses and returns will only increase as space becomes more accessible.

Governments continue to play a key part in funding the space ecosystem, and that’s a good thing. They often pave the way for nascent industries to overcome the valley of death by building the infrastructure that private companies will then be able to leverage for profit. Without the U.S. government’s significant early investments in the Internet , it is unlikely it ever would have become what it is today for two reasons:

Governments have access to significantly more resources than any individual or private company. Governments can operate on a longer-term basis whereas large companies, often beholden to stakeholders, will be hard-pressed to invest billions of dollars in R&D for a project that may never bear fruit.

The U.S. government seems cognizant of the consequences of falling behind in a 21st-century space race. In the 2018 congressional budget, NASA received $20.7 billion in funding, $1.6 billion more than they originally requested, and the unclassified military space budget was raised to $12.5 billion , a $1.1 billion increase to the Pentagon’s request. Hopefully this trend isn’t reversed in the future, as continued funding from the public sector is critical to the success of the space industry.

Meanwhile, private sector companies have been making up for lost time by disrupting the historically slow and entrenched sectors of the space economy. Blue Origin is seeking to reinvent launch services with their reusable rocket technology, EarthNow is using small satellites to disrupt the Earth-imaging industry, and others are attacking the many different verticals of the space economy. In addition, investments from the private sector have grown so rapidly since 2015 that they account for 60% of all investments since 2000, and more investors are taking notice. Roughly 2% of Forbes’ 2017 World’s Billionaires are now linked to a space venture, including Jeff Bezos, Paul Allen, Bill Gates, and Mark Cuban.

Every sector of the global economy can utilize space assets to enhance or revolutionize itself. Many industries have been around for so long that they only experience incremental advances. The amount of milk a cow produces can be increased by so much. Space has more potential than any other industry not only because technology and science are its fundamental drivers, but also because it is still in its infancy. There is so much we don’t know or have yet to discover.

To top it all off, space is much more than just an industry; it’s a potential destination for humans to visit, live, and create new markets. Settlers began arriving in North America barely four hundred years ago, and today the United States is the largest economy in the entire world. What could humanity accomplish if we began living and working in space? If we are looking to grow the economy and become a more prosperous species, we must look to space as our ancestors looked to new lands like the Americas in search of a new place to live, work, and flourish. The cosmos is calling; time to stop looking at our feet and start looking out.