Researcher Shatha Khalil *
Translated by : mudhaffar al-kusairi
# Economic investment of outer space earns more than $ 250 billion.
Space science is one of the important economic sectors where creativity is a vital part of making billions of dollars in investment for investors, as the space is the heart of the information society where thousands of working satellites are available, many of them in low earth orbits, and some others in fixed earth orbits.
The estimated size of the economy expected from the “space economy” in a study by Morgan Stanley bank exceeds $ 20 trillion in 2040. The study believes that the basic revenues will be from the revenues of satellite and rocket services in anticipation of the density of demand for satellite Internet and the delivery of packages by rockets and does not take into account the more ambitious possibilities such as space tourism, mining and mining in space, housing, agriculture and others.
Services of communications provided by Half of these satellite are worth billions of dollars. In 2013, the world’s outer space economy generated about $ 250 billion in revenue.
The ground monitoring sector is also of interest because its value is not only related to the resources it generates from direct services but also to the reduction of damage in all types of emergencies such as pollution, fuel leakage, flooding etc. It also increases efficiency of modern life.
One of the most important space markets are three markets: telecommunications, ground observation, and navigation.
The satellites of communications are the most advanced and global, as these satellites evolved from the early days of space programs, to become a sustainable business, where revenues exceed the costs of internal structure, and the need to invest in new technologies.
While the development of ground observation is usually the first step to be followed by countries wishing to enter space activity, because the required structure for ground observation is less than requirement for communications and navigation activities.
Ground observation can also rapidly evolve into satisfactory services using available space information.
Navigation , on the other hand, is expensive because of the requirements for its internal structure and its economic resources are not guaranteed.
Both activities, observation and navigation, must respond to controls that are vary according to different countries, which are obstacles to the globalization of the two activities.
Investment in space should be for the benefit of individuals and their service before it is useful to States. Examples of areas of interest are agriculture, forestry, the limits of coastal domination, erosion and qualitative deterioration of land, soil, fishing areas, drinking water sites Etc., as well as in medicine, through information exchange and school education in rural areas.
In addition, the evolution of weather forecasts is usually based on satellite observation, the evolution of computer systems, and developments in climate predictions based on data provided by satellites , all are good examples of the socio-economic benefits.
Volume of space investments:
Space applications include the spread of information technology and communication technology, and it includes also the reduction of the digital divide between developed and developing countries.
The balance of costs between the space system (satellites and their supplements) and the terrestrial system (electronic systems and installations) is the most important factor in the future of communications satellites. There are more than 35650 satellite TV channels, and the number is expected to be more than 47,000.
In the space system – effective satellites, the number of recorded ones is ranging in August 2014 about 1235 satellites, 54% of which are communications satellites, and the size of investment here is estimated , the satellite industry and systems and systems of launch of about 1.4 billion US dollars.
As for the terrestrial system, its economic dimensions are much greater (the construction market itself is estimated at US $ 5 billion), and services and applications are estimated at Hundred and ten billion dollars .
The benefits of using the broadband Internet through satellite will not only reduce the digital divide by meeting the needs of remote areas that lack terrestrial networks services , but also the use is expanding in the United States and Europe, and by using the K-A package, so that the current capacity is now hundred forty gigabytes per second.
Economists liken this phase to the same as the previous cycles of the economy, during the periods of maritime transport and the spread of navigation around the world, and its vital contribution to the international economy, the spread of rail networks around the world, and how it had a remarkable positive role in the mobility of people, goods and industry Millions of jobs and money. The argument that the space economy team has today is that we have to build the infrastructure, and then the imagination will have its role in hiring money and people, because necessity makes impossible opportunities.
But there are those who believe that what is happening today is is anew imperialism and in violation to the law , in 1967, ten years after the Sputnik I rocket, the Outer Space Treaty was enacted, which stipulated that all outer space missions are in the interest of all States, regardless of their economic or scientific status, and will be in the interest of mankind as a whole and the Convention prohibits the use of all weapons of mass destruction, does not claim sovereignty, and makes the States members of this Convention bear the responsibility of non-governmental actors on their territory. At that time , this convention was the result of the Cold War, and thus aimed at curbing the race of Nuclear weapons.
After the multiple Apollo flights, the United Nations drafted a more exemplary agreement, the Moon Agreement in 1979, which was signed by only 18 countries, most recently Armenia this year. But this is an unrealistic agreement given America’s withdrawal from it, for opposing the provision that the moon and its resources are a common heritage of mankind, claiming that this will create a global socialist system that hinders the commercial use of the American private sector. This interpretation is, according to the Association (L5), an association of enthusiasts to create the first colony on space, with a membership of 3600 members.
Which underlines the American transformation, the series of decisions that followed. Under President Ronald Reagan, the US space agency NASA established its commercial department, and under President George W. Bush, a policy focused on cooperation with the private sector in space work, Under President Barack Obama, the Commercial Space Competitiveness Act was launched in America , which guarantees the right of ownership of any citizen of the United States to anything brought from space, it was recognized by an expert as “the most dangerous intellectual property law in the world.” Finally, President Donald Trump Clearly issued a resolution that clearly facilitates all measures for companies wishing to launch satellites or landing on meteorites or building fuel stations on planets.
We have entered the era of space colonization with a special economic and commercial cover. It is the era of science fiction that serves the amazing economic ideas. It is true as they said, next is more amazing.
Journalist Richard Hollingham, polled a number of experts on space and what the future holds ahead of 2020?
Since the 1960s, space has not been as exciting as it is today, with the US space agency NASA launching its spacecraft, Orion, capable of carrying astronauts since the end of its previous Space Shuttle program.
NASA is developing a giant rocket to rival Saturn 5, launched by Europe, and dropped off a space probe on a comet surface about 510 million kilometers away. China is also developing its next space station.
Meanwhile, private companies are changing the economics of space by moving ahead with plans to send human flights to space, tourism trips and even missions to Mars.
Space Law:
A law on space is also being prepared and promulgated, and includes an article giving its companies the right to own and exploit the natural resources their missions find on space on the planets and celestial bodies they reach, in accordance with the International Law on Space Exploration and Uses. And the current law includes new and advanced concepts created in the space we live in, such as the right to own natural resources found in space, organized manned space travel, and so forth.
The UAE space agency predicted that with space coming in, new industries are expected to emerge such as programming, robotics and satellite parts , and the agency expects space industry to grow by 10 percent a year, which is concentrated in satellite communications and the satellite system.
This is a very serious issue, and shapes the economic future outlook in astonishing and shocking way. This news is taken seriously if it is known that behind these projects are three of the most successful businessmen around the world, they are Elon Mask, founder of Tesla, and Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com for electronic shopping , the world’s richest man, and Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Airlines.
Jeff Bezos launched his company Blue Oregon with aim to land on the moon in 2023, and Elon Massack through his company Space X aims to transport people to Mars in 2024, and Richard Branson strives to be a major player on this arena too.
In the same context, the Chinese space agency reported that it collects requests from all foreign parties concerned with the free use of its manned space station, which will be ready by 2022, and before that on the Chinese side to make engineering and technical preparations to ensure the readiness of the station.
Based on the above, we conclude that events and developments are very rapid and sometimes even exceeding expectations. Scientists and specialists believe that the future of the space station depends on the future of international relations. The path must be clear as to what we will do next after the space station; the real response would be its loss. .
Human-made space flights will certainly continue, but the West will not lead the process.
In the middle of 2020, we will see China’s space station orbiting, while Europe is talking to China to send space astronauts aboard their spacecraft.
Economic Studies Unit
Rawabet Center for Research and Strategic Studies