I have the privilege of being the vice chair of the World Economic Forum's real estate council. In that role, I review a lot of economic data and original research from around the world.
There are several revenue streams that are near and present that could support a private space station, including in-space manufacturing, microgravity research, and tourism - for both individuals and sovereign nation astronauts - and in-space supply logistics.
People will come back and influence their communities to get excited about space. Space funding will increase because people will see the benefit it has to the way people relate to the world, the way people relate to problems, and the way people view themselves.
We are going to mint new astronauts from all communities. We want to influence public policy and opinion... by changing the mindset.
Until space tourism is a destination-based business (e.g. flights to a private space station or to the moon), will flyers pay to fly more than once after having earned their astronaut wings? The answer to this is likely very dependent on the experience itself.
Fibers made on Earth, and thus made in the presence of gravity, have impurities and defects in the glass that adversely affect transmission speed and quality.
What I tell business leaders is you're in the space industry - you just don't know it yet. Every industry will be impacted by space. The internet would not exist without space-based communication.
If you offshore, if you telecommute, if you do anything to minimize your company's physical real estate, there are real consequences to its culture and cohesion.
Make sure you have a clear understanding of your values and intent, then use technology to enable that. What the tech won't do is compensate for a lack of strategy.
If you dream it, it can happen.
Come year-end, there will be more capital deployed in newspace in 2016 than 2015. I see that trend continuing for the foreseeable future.
You can expect to see us add several notable multifamily producers. We're committed to the space. We're attracted by the space. We have a strong offering, and we want to continue to build on it.
There are really four 'headlines' for me: honesty, integrity, hard work, and what I call a 'can-do' attitude. You could call that 'can-do' attitude optimism, but it is not Pollyannaish optimism. Rather, it is a 'we'll figure it out' type of mentality.
The case for sponsorships in commercial spaceflight is compelling and could dramatically impact the economics of space tourism. Global brands are looking for fresh, new ways to position themselves on the leading edge of their categories.
In addition to the vehicles currently known, the holy grail of commercial spaceflight remains a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) reusable spaceplane.
The bottom line is 2018 should finally be the year where we see the early stages of broad-based commercial space tourism appear. Demand will certainly be driven by the early successes or failures of those missions, the marketing of those missions, as well as the propensity for tourists to become repeat flyers.
One example of an upcoming need for downmass - the ability to transport material from space to the Earth - is space manufacturing.
There are items that have far superior quality when manufactured in space, but need to be returned to Earth to be purchased and used by customers.
The economics of the space industry are changing. Within so called 'NewSpace,' not only are new entrants being created almost daily, the business models and capital sources have proven to be dramatically different from traditional models built upon large government contracts and defence-related spending.
Space is really domain expansion.
