Commercialization Of Space Essay ⋆ Business Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

The commercial use of outer space centers around the commercial applications of satellite technology, along with a growing space tourism industry. The exploration of space began with communications satellites—Sputnik, the Soviet satellite launched in 1957, was equipped with radio transmitters, as was the American satellite that followed the next year—and they remain the primary focus of commercialized outer space. The first true communications satellite, Telstar, was launched in 1962 and was used to transmit telephone and data communications. The satellite was launched by a multinational group consisting of NASA, the British General Post Office, the French National Post, Telephone and Telecom Office, Bell Labs, and AT&T, which owned the satellite. It was built at Bell Labs, which earned a NASA contract for work on further satellites.

Telstar orbited the Earth on an elliptical orbit, requiring a ground antenna to track its movements and relay its signals. Today’s satellites are geosynchronous (also called geostationary), meaning that their position relative to any spot on the Earth is constant: The satellite, once positioned, orbits at the same speed as the rotation of the Earth. This allows an antenna to be directed at it without needing to track it, which in turn allows for applications that are impractical with elliptical orbit satellites, including consumer satellite dishes (for satellite TV). The first geosynchronous satellite was Syncom 3, used for the first television transmission over the Pacific when the 1964 Summer Olympics were held in Tokyo.

As geosynchronous satellites became more common, and improved in their designs, they helped with the spread of cable television. Early no broadcast networks like HBO, the Weather Channel, and Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network used geosynch satellites to transmit their programming to local cable companies for distribution. Broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) likewise used them to distribute to local affiliates.

Less expensive than geosynchronous satellites are low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Because their position relative to the Earth changes so rapidly, LEO satellites are useful only when there are a lot of them working in concert, in what are called satellite constellations—so that at any given time, one or more of them is accessible from any given spot in the relevant area. This is a more recent approach to satellite technology, and usually used for satellite phones. The Iridium satellite constellation—originally intended to have 77 satellites, and named for the element with the atomic number 77—uses 66 satellites to transfer data to all points of the globe (including the poles and the oceans, where coverage by other means is impossible). Iridium’s financial failure, though, discouraged further development of satellite phones and their associated constellations; one of the problems was that the system’s benefits (global coverage) could not be seen by customers until the entire system was in place, a hugely expensive venture, which in turn meant a significant price for customers. Both the price and the phone were heftier than customers were used to, at a time when traditional cellular phones were lightening both loads. Less than a year after its 1998 launch, Iridium filed chapter 11. The shriveling of the satellite phone industry is well-illustrated by Teledesic, backed by Microsoft co-owner Paul Allen. Teledesic was supposed to have 840 satellites in orbit, scaled back to 277 satellites because of decreasing projected demand, and only launched one satellite before folding operations.

That said, a decade later Iridium remains in business, with a quarter of a million subscribers, the number of which is growing. Rather than replacing or competing with cell phones, satellite phones like Iridium’s have developed a niche among those who need the service’s coverage (the U.S. Defense Department is a major customer).

In the 21st century, communications satellites are used for commercial purposes such as telecommunications, television, digital radio (such as Sirius XM Radio), and direct broadcast (such as used by satellite television companies DirecTV, DISH Network, Bell TV, and Sky Digital). The communications satellite industry includes transponder leasers, a growing industry sector of satellite owners who lease access to their satellites; subscription satellite services, such as those used for satellite television and radio; ground equipment manufacturers, who make the telephones, transponders, receivers, and other equipment used for interacting with satellites; and satellite manufacturers themselves. Satellite manufacturing is growing slower in the United States than in the world at large, in part because of strict controls on the export of American made satellite technology and in part because of the countries now catching up to a space race in which the United States has a decades-long head start.

Commercial uses of other satellites include the sale of satellite imagery from nonmilitary observation satellites and the operation of global navigation satellite systems, which in the United States allows for the world’s only fully-functional Global Positioning System (GPS). GPS navigation devices are increasingly popular in the United States, and many automobile manufacturers offer them as an installed option. Similar systems are in the works in Russia, China, India, Japan, and the European Union.

Most of the space transport industry involves the transportation of satellites into orbit. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)— which governs space as well as air aviation—has licensed four commercial spaceports, in California, Florida, Virginia, and Alaska. Most commercial launches use Boeing’s Delta IV rocket system or the Atlas V system developed by Lockheed Martin and built by a joint Lockheed Martin/Boeing venture.

Both are unmanned craft, and are single-use vehicles; development of reusable launch vehicles for commercial purposes has been sporadic, but investment to such ends has increased since the 1990s. Space tourism—manned commercial spaceflights—is a growing commercial interest, though most companies remain in the development stages.

Bibliography:

Tim Arango, “From the Iron Curtain to the Final Frontier,” Fortune (May 28, 2007);
Jonathan Goodrich, The Commercialization of Outer Space: Opportunities and Obstacles for American Business (Quorum Books, 1989);
Edward Hudgins, Space: The Free-Market Frontier (Cato Institute, 2003);
Shahrokhi, J. S. Greenberg, and T. Al-Saud, Space Commercialization: Satellite Technology (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1990).

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