74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

IAC-23-D3.3.10

In-Space Economy in 2023 - Statistical Overview and Trends
Erik Kulu
Factories in Space, Nanosats Database, NewSpace Indexerik.kulu@factoriesinspace.com
Abstract
A new in-space economy is emerging, with the nascent industries including orbital transfer vehicles,
commercial space stations, in-space manufacturing, satellite servicing, commercial rovers, and many more.
Factories in Space is the most extensive online database of commercial entities operating in the in-spaceeconomy, space resources, and in-space manufacturing sectors. Launched in 2018, the directory includes 825
entries, more than double from the previous version presented at IAC in 2021. Seraphim recently publishedtheir version of the in-space economy ecosystem map, further indicating growth and interest in this field.
The first part of the paper will update the definition of the in-space economy, including its classificationand glossary. There continues to be a great deal of variation in how these new space industries are groupedand defined, making it more challenging to determine competitors and estimate market sizes.
The second part of the paper will present an updated statistical overview of the companies that are
currently active or aspire to be active in the emerging in-space economy. Within each classification, acomparison will be made between the development status, geographical distribution, and funding. Basedon a previous publication from 2021, some trends and space market booms are apparent. For instance,
microgravity flight services and re-entry capsules appear to experience a proliferation, more space tugs arebeing announced, and space-based solar power has become an active topic. Redwire announced a crystal
grown in space as their first microgravity-manufactured product to be sold, and ispace launched the firstcommercial lunar lander. However, while the number of startups in the new space economy is rapidly
increasing, only a few new services have been demonstrated in space.
The third section delves deeper into selected markets. Despite a proliferation of startups in these sectors,
revenues appear to be growing at a slower pace. Market analyses, including those focused on in-spacetransportation, satellite servicing, and space stations, have been published, and the paper will examine theestimates made. It is worth noting that the number of companies operating in these markets may notnecessarily correlate with the market opportunity, and there may be signs of new market bubbles forming.
Comprehensive analytical overviews and taxonomies for the emerging in-space economy continue to berare as far as the author knows. The aim of this study is to conduct a thorough industry survey and analyse
the developments in this dynamic in-space economy field bi-annually to leave snapshots.
Keywords: in-space economy, space-based economy, beyond-Earth space economy, on-orbit economy,
cislunar economy, in-space manufacturing
1. INTRODUCTION
Factories in Space has tracked new in-space economy entities since 2018. This paper is an updated and improved survey and a statistical overview
about the commercial organisations in the in-spaceeconomy from 2021 by the author.1
There are 825 entries in this study and in the
database as of August 2023, likely making it thelargest public database. This is over double compared to the 472 entries in the 2021 study.1 Numberof unique companies is about 755 because some havemultiple entries due to being active in separate fields
according to the taxonomy presented here.
IAC-23-D3.3.10

In-space economy is the new extraterrestrial
space industries.2 In-space economy means generating revenue in space using assets in orbit or beyond Earth. Sometimes called as space-based economy and in narrower definitions on-orbit economy,
space-for-space economy, low Earth orbit economy,
beyond-Earth space economy. It also encompasses
cislunar economy, Moon and Mars. M. Weinzierl
and M. Sarang called it as space-for-space economy
and defined it as goods and services produced inspace for use in space, such as mining the Moonor asteroids for material with which to construct inspace habitats or supply refuelling depots.3 For clar-

Page 1 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

ity, excluding satellite constellations for terrestrial
purposes and Earth-to-space launch vehicles.
New in-space economy entails space stations,commercial landers, in-space manufacturing, andmuch more. Fields that often started emerging commercially in the 2000s and generally have had small
revenues. New space economy and specifically inspace economy terms were formed to distinct the
new areas and to be able to follow them without existing large space industries inflating the numbers.
Literature reviews have been performed andstudies about the broader new in-space economy
continue to be relatively sparse. The previous study
from 2 years ago includes a longer literature review
for older publications and also includes estimations
about the size of space economy. In case of interest,
please see that survey from IAC 2021 to avoid duplication.1 Broad studies may be rare but writings
about more specialized in-space economy industries
are becoming much more common.
Since 2021, the author has published a survey on
In-Space Manufacturing commercial entities at IAC
2022.4 The author also presented the history andfuture vision of semiconductor manufacturing in microgravity at Stanford University in March 2023.5
For Space Resources Week 2023, the author createda poster titled ”Enabling Infrastructure Ecosystem
for Space Resources”.6
H. Shipman’s book ”Space 2000: Meeting the
Challenge of a New Era” was published in 1987 andcovers many early in-space economy and in-space
manufacturing activities and ventures.7
Seraphim Space published their In-Space Economy Ecosystem Map 2023 in February.8 ESA’s The
Business in Space Growth Network published Low
Earth Orbit Value Chain9 in August 2023. ChadAnderson, founder of Space Capital, published abook called The Space Economy in 2023.10 The classifications of industries continue to be different andthere is more work to do to align them.
U.S. national security space organizations released a report in November 2021 ”State of the Space
Industrial Base 2021”, which noted that there is toomuch emphasis and investment in launch, but too
little capital going into other sectors of the industry such as in-space logistics and manufacturing thatwill be essential to build a space economy.11
Moon Village Association published ”The Lunar
Commerce Portfolio” in November 2022.12 Munich
Re Ventures published blog post ”In Space for Space:
The Next Wave of the Space Economy Needs “Picks
and Shovels” in Jan 2023.13 Philip T. Metzger published a paper on ”Economics of in-space industry
IAC-23-D3.3.10

and competitiveness of lunar-derived rocket propellant” with the latest revision in February 2023.14
DARPA announced a 10-Year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) project in August 2023, seeking
ideas from potential developers of lunar power, communications, navigation, and other infrastructure aswell as users. Plan is to select a group to work together on new integrated system-level solutions thatspan multiple services and be commercially available
by 2035. The study will also define a commercial end
state for lunar infrastructure in 10 years, where there
would be self-sufficient lunar economy, from which it
would be possible to work backwards to identify andsolve technology and economics gaps.15
J. Foust published an article discussing ZBLAN
and space station markets titled ”Manufacturing a
low Earth orbit economy” in September 2022.16
K. Madasamy published an article in January2023 about space economy being here to stay andalso discussed manufacturing in space and lunar
economy. They quoted Ronald Reagan’s 1985 Stateof the Union speech and him describing how manufacturing in space could enable technological breakthroughs in supercomputers and medicine. They
also quoted McKinsey, which found that the number of patents mentioning “microgravity” increased
from 21 in 2000 to 155 in 2020.17
We continue to need new economic drivers forspaceflight. Something new and potentially larger
than any existing space industry, such as telecommunications, remote sensing, launch and research.
The following supporting macro trends for in-spaceeconomy are ongoing: Decreasing launch costs. Now about 2-3 times
less according to P. Lionnet,18 but potentially
10-100 times lower in the future, e.g. Starship.
 Commercialization of space and LEO.
 Commercial services and infrastructure.
 ISRU and space resources advancements.
 Pollution and climate change on Earth.
 Increasing momentum for space settlements.
 NewSpace iterative mindsets and affinity forbolder risks, also from long-term investors.

First part of this paper defines taxonomy forthe organisations in space-based economy to be able
to group them. Second part presents statistical
overview of the 825 surveyed in-space economy entities. Third part of the paper takes a deep-dive intosome of the new in-space economy markets.

Page 2 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

2. RISE OF NEW IN-SPACE ECONOMY
Here follows a non-exhaustive chronologicaloverview of some of the latest advances and companies in the in-space economy fields.
2.1 Commercial Space Stations
Space Industries Incorporated was founded in
the early 1980s and planned to develop a commercial space facility called the Industrial Space Facility(ISF) to be launched in the early 1990s. Reagan administration agreed to become an anchor customer
with up to $700 million in funding, but the request
was not approved by the US Congress.19, 20
Bigelow Aerospace was founded in 1999 to develop expandable orbital station modules. The firstfree-flying technology demonstrator Genesis I was
launched in 2006 and Genesis II in 2007.21 BEAM
module was launched to the ISS in 2016 under a$17.8 million NASA contract22 and is still attached.
Bigelow has developed numerous designs for largecommercial space stations, space hotels and lunar
bases including the BA330 and BA 2100.21 In early
2020, SpaceNews reported that Bigelow decided not
to pursue NASA competition for a commercial ISS
module because of funding concerns.23 In March
2020, Bigelow laid off all employees and it is unknown whether activities will resume.24
Private and cost-effective human spaceflight has
always been a challenge for space stations and a
relatively large expense in general. Once SpaceX
demonstrated crewed flight in May 2020 (Demo-2)
and NASA started seeking commercial International
Space Station (ISS) modules in June 2019,25 Bigelow
seems to have been unable to take advantage of the
finally positive trends and emerging ecosystem, after
20 years and well over $250 million invested.26
In 2007, Galactic Suite Project was announced,
which planned luxury orbital getaways by 2012.27
In 2010, Russian company Orbital Technologies announced Commercial Space Station to belaunched in 2015 in partnership with RSC Energia.28
Axiom Space was founded in 2016 and had raisedover $150 million by 2021.29 In early 2020, NASAawarded Axiom the NextSTEP contract for the firstcommercial ISS module.30 The construction of thefirst two modules was contracted to Thales Alenia
and was planned to be launched in 2024 and 2025.31
The modules will be separated into a free-flying commercial orbital platform before the ISS is deorbited.
Orion Span was founded in 2017, but fell short oftheir $2M crowdfunding campaign in early 2019.32
In February 2021, Orbital Assembly Corporation
IAC-23-D3.3.10

announced plans to start building the Voyager Station with artificial gravity in 2025.33
In March 2021, Sierra Nevada Corporation(SNC, now Sierra Space) announced LEO space station plans with inflatable pods, which would be supplied by their Dream Chaser spaceplanes.34
During 2021, NASA was seeking solutions forfree-flying commercial space stations and did receive
about a dozen proposals.35, 36
Nanoracks CEO Jeff Manber said they have lost
business to China’s Tiangong Space Station.37
Lunar Gateway will likely also have commercial
services for satellite deployment and internal and external platforms for commercial payloads.
In October 2021, Nanoracks, Voyager Space andLockheed Martin announced Starlab, a commercial
space station which could launch as early as 2027.38
A few days later, Blue Origin and Sierra Spacewith Redwire Space, Boeing and Genesis announced
Orbital Reef, a space station that would be ready inlatter half of the 2020.39 Sierra Space seems to bepausing its independent plans from March 2021.
Since October 2021... In December 2021,
NASA selected 3 companies to develop commercial
destination in space. Blue Origin received $130M,
Nanoracks got $160M and Northrop Grumman wasawarded $125.6M. This is the first phase continuing
through 2025. Blue Origin and Sierra Space develop
Orbital Reef. Nanoracks collaborates with Voyager
Space and Lockheed Martin on Starlab.40
In 2022, NASA and the commercial LEO destinations it selected are counting on a booming commercial market in LEO.41
J. Foust quoted Blue Origin’s Erika Wagner in
October 2022 from the ASCEND conference ”wedon’t know what markets will be successful on commercial space stations; if we did, we would be doing
them on ISS. Have to foster new markets. So, weneed to design stations like Orbital Reef to be flexible to set us up for success”.42 He also publishedan article about commercial space station developers
seeking clarity on regulations.43
In Nov 2022, Gravitics raised $20M after being
founded in 2021 to create approx 8 m diameter spacestation modules with a planned delivery in 2026.44
E. Berger wrote in January 2023 that the ISS
will likely fly through 2028, and potentially to 2030.
During the last two years, NASA has awarded overhalf a billion dollars to four groups to start thedesign and construction of private space stations.
When operational, NASA will likely spend about$1B annually on commercial station services.45
Axiom Space announced in August 2023 that it
has raised $350 million Series C for a total of overPage 3 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

$505 million and said said it has more than $2.2
billion in customer contracts.46 However, the first
Axiom module is now scheduled to launch 2026.46
In May 2023, Vast announced its first space station Haven-1 will fly on Falcon 9 in 2025. Vast was
founded in 2021 and has a goal to operate a 100meter-long multi-module spinning artificial gravity
space station launched by SpaceX’s Starship.47
In August 2023, Voyager Space and Airbus created a joint venture called Starlab for the space station development. The Starlab team recently finished a system requirements review with NASA.48
In September 2023, Michael Sheetz from CNBC
reported that the Orbital Reef partnership between
Blue Origin and Sierra Space is having troubles.49
In early October, Northrop Grumman stopped
plans for its own space station and is withdrawing from the NASA contract.50 E. Berger fromArs Technica reported that Northrop was uncertain
about the commercial demand besides NASA astronauts. He further reported that Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef may be internally de-prioritized.51

2.2 Asteroid Mining (Space Resources)
The first wave of commercial asteroid mining has
already come and gone.52
Planetary Resources (Arkyd) was founded in2009 by high-profile backers with the intention tomine asteroids for profit. CubeSats were launched in2014, 2015 and 2018, and over $50M of capital was
raised.53 There were plans to create mid-wave infrared Earth Observation constellation for near-term
revenue generation,54 but the company was sold in2018 after failing to raise further funding.55, 56
Deep Space Industries (DSI) was founded in 2013
with the goal of prospecting and extracting space resources and raised over $3.5 million.52 In the end,
they were unable to launch a demonstration mission,business model was pivoted to deep-space smallsats
and water-based thrusters, and the company wassold to Bradford Space in late 2018.57
There are others, including Asteroid Mining Corporation58 in the UK and Origin Space from China,
latter of which launched a test spacecraft in 2021.59
At the end of 2020, NASA selected four companies to collect space resources and transfer ownershipto the agency: Lunar Outpost, Masten Space Systems, ispace Europe and ispace Japan, paying from
$1 to $15000 for small amounts of lunar regolith.60
Since October 2021...
AstroForge andExLabs have emerged.
AstroForge plans to launch the Brokkr-2 flyby
mission in late 2023 to a small near Earth asteroid
IAC-23-D3.3.10

to collect data to determine if the asteroid is metallic using a 100-kg class platform from Orbital Astronautics (OrbAstro). They are not planning to generate any revenue before and besides mining an asteroid. AstroForge raised a $13M seed in May 2022 andlaunched a 6U CubeSat from OrbAstro in April.61
Argo was founded in 2021 and closed a $2M
round in April 2023. They are aiming to build an inspace transportation network, using reusable spacecraft propelled by water. Lunar water is planned tobe harvested and stored in-space for refueling. Goal
is to be on the Moon, processing regolith and turning
it into water in the late 2020s.62
In June 2023, Exploration Laboratories, ExLabs
announced it has been selected by SpaceWERX
for a $1.7M contract. They are developing nextgeneration spacecraft for capture and control operations for orbital debris clean-up, paving the way fordeep space missions for natural resource retrieval.
Broader mission is to unlock the vast resources ofspace in support of human sustainability.63
Karman+ first asteroid mining mission is scheduled to launch in early 2026.64
In September 2023, Starpath Robotics emerged
from stealth and raised $2.5M pre-seed to build machines to mine and refine water for rocket propellant
using resources on the Moon and Mars.65
In 2022, Michael Mealling proposed ”Strategic
Commodities Reserve”, where the US Government
would act as an in-space commodities market makerby purchasing a set number of commodities at specific transportation nodes within cislunar space.66
Second similar idea from 2022, Tory Bruno et al.
published a study titled ”Creation of a U.S. Strategic
Propellant Reserve” to create a Strategic Propellant
Reserve using lunar-derived propellant.67
2.3 Surface Habitats
The Lunar Resources Company (now The Moon
Society) designed a commercial Lunar Settlement
plan in the 1990s called The Artemis Project.68
Started in 1993, the first description and architecture was published in 1995 in Analog Magazine.69
Mars One organization was announced in 2012and planned to send a crewed mission to Mars on
a one-way ticket to establish a human settlement in
2023.70 After many controversies71 and much scepticism, the project eventually failed to attract enoughfunding and went bankrupt in 2019.72
The overall trends and technological capabilities
were not there, thus making the plans too early at
the time. As of 2021, SpaceX’s Starship and NASA’s
Artemis program are starting to provide a much
Page 4 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

more favourable environment. ICON, Interstellar
Lab and Astreia are further discussed in Section 5.3.
Since October 2021... Only limited updates
in this field. Astreia was shut down in 2023.73
Spartan Space was founded in 2021 and has been
studying and prototyping multiple Lunar habitat
concepts such as EUROHAB, L.I.S.E. and ILOTS.74
Lockheed Martin is developing inflatable habitats for planetary surfaces and space stations.75
2.4 Commercial Landers
In 1998, SpaceDev claimed to be the world’s
first commercial space exploration and development
company and intended to launch the first privately
financed spacecraft to land on another planetarybody. It was selling rides for scientific instruments
to a near Earth asteroid with the intention to sellthat data as commercial products.76
The $20M Google Lunar XPrize was announced
in 2007. The goal was to land a private robotic
spacecraft on the Moon, travel at least 500 meters
and transmit high-definition video. The initial deadline of 2012 was extended multiple times until 2018,
when the challenge ended with no winner.77, 78
Beresheet was a lander from Israel’s non-profit
SpaceIL and their entry to XPrize, which was of 2021
is the only one which had been launched, and which
made an unsuccessful landing attempt in 2019.79
While most of the other XPrize finalists are still active with missions booked, none have launched after
more than 3 years from the initial deadlines.
In 2018, NASA launched the Commercial Lunar
Payload Services Program (CLPS) to use commercial lander services for payloads.80 In May 2019,
Astrobotic was awarded $79.5M, Intuitive Machines$77M and OrbitBeyond $97M.81 Launches were supposed to happen in 2020-2021. OrbitBeyond later
asked to be released from the contract.82 In 2020,
NASA awarded $75.9M to Masten for for a mission
in 2022.83 Also in 2020, NASA awarded Astrobotic$199.5M to deliver the VIPER rover to the Moon.84
In 2021, NASA awarded CLPS contract worth of$93.3M to Firefly Aerospace to deliver a suite of 10
payloads to the Moon in 2023.85
Since October 2021... Lunar lander launchdelays have continued.
In September 2022, Intuitive Machines announced it will go public via SPAC at close to $1
billion valuation.86 The deal closed in February
2023 but had a very large amount of redemptions
resulting in much less funding raised. They projected revenues of $759 million by 2024, up from $73
million in 2021, through diversified services for the
IAC-23-D3.3.10

moon, including landers, data access, infrastructure
and in-orbit servicing. Planning to develop a muchlarger lander Nova-D, capable of carrying 500-750
kilograms of payload to the lunar surface.87
ispace HAKUTO-R launched in Dec 2022 and attempted landing in April 2023 but did not achievea soft landing. Next launch is planned in 2024.88
ispace became a public company.89
In March 2023, NASA awarded Flyfly second
CLPS contract worth $112M to launch in 2026.90
In July 2022, Impulse Space and Relativity Space
announced first commercial Mars lander mission
launching in 2024.91 As of May 2023, they are now
targeting 2026 due to Terran R readiness.92
NASA awarded Draper $73M to land near lunar
south pole in 2025. The Series-2 lander is designed
by ispace U.S.93 In Sept 2023, ispace changed thelander design to APEX 1.0 and launch to 2026.94
More in July 2022, Masten filed for bankruptcy
and most assets were bought by Astrobotic.95, 96
Non-commercial missions have also launched. India’s Chandrayaan-3 and Pragyaan rover successfully landed in August 202397 after Chandrayaan-2
lander did not succeed in September 2019. Russia’s
Luna-25 crashed in August 2023. Japan’s Smart
Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) lightweight
lunar lander was launched in September 2023 but
will take months to reach lunar orbit.98
Intuitive Machines is planning November launch
for their IM-1 Nova-C lander as of October 2023.99
Astrobotic’s Peregrine is scheduled on the inaugural launch of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, which has
been likely delayed to 2024. Second larger Griffin
mission will take VIPER to the lunar south poleon Falcon Heavy in late 2024. In April 2023, another Falcon Heavy was booked for a third mission
in 2025.100, 101
2.5 Commercial Rovers
The first wave of in-space economy companies
happened in the late 1990s and early 2000s during
the first wave of communications constellations andInternet companies.
BlastOff! Corporation operated from 1999 to
2001, peaked at 50 employees and planned to senda robotic lander and rover to the Moon in 2001.102
TransOrbital got permission for the first private
Moon landing in 2002 and planned to send an imaging satellite and a time capsule as early as 2003.103
Google Lunar XPrize kicked off the developmentof plethora of rovers, because one requirement wasto travel 500 meters and capture HD-video.77
Page 5 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

Astrobotic was awarded $5.6M in 2019 by NASAto develop MoonRanger rover, which could fly in
2022 on Masten XL-1 lander.104 In 2018, Astrobotic
announced that it established CubeRover subsidiary
in Luxembourg,105 but does not seem to have happened and website now redirects to Astrobotic.
Since October 2021... Lander delays and failures continue to hold back this field.
In August 2022, Astrobotic won NASA funding
to fly CubeRover as soon as 2025.106
As of February 2023, ispace Mission 2 scheduled
for 2024 will carry ispace’s own micro rover.107
Intuitive Machines second mission IM-2, likely
now scheduled for 2024, will launch Micro Nova(µNova) Hopper, which will be able to hop as far as
25 km across the surface.108, 109 It received $41.6M
NASA Tipping Contract funding award in 2020.110
A couple of other startups developing lunar hoppers
have started to emerge.
STELLS was founded in 2021 and is developing MPR-1 Mobile Power Rover, which is a medium
size rover scheduled to launch in 2024 to the Moon’s
South Pole, and provide power to other missions.111
GITAI announced R1 lunar rover in late 2021,
which is scheduled to launch in 2025.112
Dymon’s YAOKI is a 0.5 kg rover and scheduled
to launch on the first Astrobotic mission.113
Astrolab said in March 2023 that it booked to
fly the Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX)
rover on a Starship lunar lander mission as soon as
mid-2026 and it will include 1000 kg of payloads.114
Lunar Outpost announced it integrated 3 MIT’s
payloads into the Mission 1 MAPP Rover, which will
fly on Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander.115
2.6 Commercial Cargo
In 2004, NASA awarded Kistler, which by thattime was in bankruptcy, a $227 million contract
for a fully reusable launch vehicle K-1’s flight data.
SpaceX protested and argued that other companies
should have been given the opportunity to compete.
NASA cancelled the award after it became clear that
the Government Accountability Office (GAO) would
rule in favor of SpaceX.116, 117
NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) consisted of two phases. Phase 1
was demonstrations and Phase 2 was a competition
for cargo services to support the ISS. NASA payments were made only upon completion of progress
milestones.118, 119 SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kistler
were selected in August 2006.120 The agreementwith Kistler was terminated in September 2007 after it failed to complete financial and technical mileIAC-23-D3.3.10

stones.121 A competition was held to select a newpartner, which resulted in the selection of Orbital
Sciences Corporation (OSC) in February 2008.118
In 2008, NASA announced the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) awards. SpaceX received$1.6 billion for 12 cargo Dragon flights and $1.9
billion went to Orbital Sciences for eight Cygnus
flights.122 SpaceX performed the first demo mission
to ISS in 2012 and Orbital in 2014. In December
2015, NASA extended CRS-1 to twenty flights forSpaceX and ten flights to Orbital ATK.123
Second CRS-2 contracts were awarded in January 2016 to Orbital ATK, SpaceX (Dragon-2) andSNC (Dream Chaser) for flights starting in 2019 andlasting through 2024. Cygnus and Cargo Dragon
have been flying since 2019-2020. The first SNC
Dream Chaser Demo-1 launch was planned for 2022
on a Vulcan rocket, which has not flown yet.124
SpaceX was awarded one-way cargo transportation services called Gateway Logistics Services inMarch 2020 for the Lunar Gateway, using a new
Dragon XL launched on Falcon Heavy.125 As of
April 2021, the contract start has been delayed.126
Chinese startup Interspace Explore is developing reusable spacecraft capable of supplying China’s
Tiangong space station with a first small-scaledemonstration mission planned for 2022. The mission does not seem to have happened yet.127
Since October 2021...
In 2022, NASA ordered 12 further ISS cargo missions, six each to Northrop Grumman and SpaceX,
to last through 2026.128 As of now, the last Cygnus
mission was NG-19 and CRS-28 for SpaceX.
Sierra Space’s Dreamchaser is now likely scheduled for 2024.129 In November 2021, they raised $1.4
billion at $4.5 valuation.130 In September 2023, theyraised $290M at $5.4B valuation.131
In May 2023,132 European Space Agency announced Commercial Cargo Transportation Initiative to find commercial providers to deliver 2 tons to
the ISS by 2028 and be capable of safely returning 1
ton to Earth. Also in May, China Manned SpaceEngineering Office announced a ”Low-cost Cargo
Transportation System” plan to hire companies todeliver at least 1800 kg of cargo to Tiangong spacestation and would pay no more than $17.2 million
per ton of cargo delivered.132
In September 2023, The Exploration Company
signed a preliminary cargo delivery agreement with
Axiom Space. They also raised $44M in February.133
Rocket Factory Augsburg submitted Argo resupply vehicle to the ESA cargo initiative. It uses inflatable atmospheric decelerator for the re-entry module. The consortium includes Atmos Space Cargo,
Page 6 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

Sener, OHB and MT Aerospace.134, 135
China Manned Space Engineering Office downselected 4 proposals out of 10 for the commercial
cargo system. However, all of them belong to stateowned organisations, and for example AZSpace, InterSpace Explore, Orienspace were not selected.136
2.7 Commercial Human Spaceflight
At least two firms entered into negotiations tobuy and operate a fifth Space Shuttle in 1980s.137, 138
In 2009, Excalibur Almaz announced they will
be using Soviet Almaz reusable space capsules tolaunch tourists to orbit and Moon. Flights were firstplanned to start in 2013 and later pushed to 2015.
The company went defunct around 2016.139–141
Space Adventures has sent 7 space tourists, or
space flight participants, on 8 flights to the ISS between 2001-2009 using Sojuz.142 In 2011, Space Adventures announced that one ticket for a circumlunar Sojuz mission in 2015 had been sold at a price of$150 million,143, 144 but that mission has not cometo fruition. Commercial visits to the ISS will continue in December 2021 using Sojuz, with a two-week
mission including Yusaku Maezawa.145 Space Adventures also announced a free-flying SpaceX Crew
Dragon capsule mission but it was paused.142, 146
In 2013, two-time space tourist Dennis Tito announced Inspiration Mars foundation and a private
Mars flyby mission in 2018.147 Trouble started
when a mission study showed that commercial vehicles would not be suitable and NASA’s SLS (Space
Launch System) would be required plus extensive
support.148 In 2014, liftoff was rescheduled to2021,149 but organization went dormant in 2015.
Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Phase
1 awards were announced in early 2010 with funding for concept and technology development.150 The
final phase of CCDev program concluded in September 2014.151 SpaceX was awarded $2.6 billion and
Boeing was awarded $4.2 billion.152 SpaceX performed the first uncrewed flight in 2019, crewed
demo flight in 2020 and many missions followed.153
Boeing’s Starliner performed a partially successful first mission in December 2019,154
In 2016, SpaceX announced plans for a circumlunar mission paid by Yusaku Maezawa with the Crew
Dragon flying on Falcon Heavy.155 In 2018, the plans
were switched to Starship with the lunar flyby mission ”dearMoon” currently scheduled for 2023.156
In September 2021, Inspiration4 mission performed a 3-day flight on SpaceX Crew Dragon,
which did not have any professional astronauts onboard.157 There have been all-civilian and private
IAC-23-D3.3.10

missions before, but they always had at least one
professional astronaut part of the crew, making thisthe first all private sector and citizen mission.
NASA announced Artemis program in 2019 tosend the first woman and the next man to the Moonby 2024 and to develop a sustainable human presence on the Moon by 2028.158 NASA announced
competition for the Human Landing System (HLS)
in 2019, which would perform the human lunar landing in 2024. In the first study phase announced in
April 2020, Blue Origin was awarded $579M, Dynetics $253M and SpaceX $135M.159 In April 2021,
SpaceX won the $2.89B contract with Starship for
the first return lunar landing mission.160 Further
regular flights will have a new competition and possibly 2 service providers. In Sept 2021, NASAawarded $146M for further sustainable human lander technology development.161
Since October 2021...
Since late 2021, ESA is interested in humanspaceflight program, but it will depend on member
states and decision may come in 2025.162 Commercial cargo initiative is the first step towards that.
Early 2022, Jared Isaacman bought three more
flights as part of the Polaris program, where the firstlaunch is now likely scheduled for 2024.163
Blue Origin performed multiple sub-orbital missions throughout 2022 until September, where during an uncrewed flight the booster failed about aminute after launch and they may resume launches
after a year in October.164
Virgin Galactic performed a research mission inJune 2023, private astronaut flight in August andthird astronaut flight in September.165
Axiom has been flying a series of private astronaut missions to the ISS on SpaceX Crew Dragon
spacecraft. The second of those missions, Ax-2, went
to the ISS in May 2023 and included two Saudi astronauts. The next, Ax-3, is planned for early 2024.46
Starliner second uncrewed test was in 2022 andthe first crew mission has been delayed to 2024.166
Starship performed unsuccessful maiden flight inApril 2023 and is not yet cleared for second flight.167
In May 2023, NASA selected Blue Origin as thesecond Artemis human landing system provider andawarded $3.4 billion.168
2.8 Re-Entry Capsules
Small re-entry capsules for on-demand returnfrom space (stations) is a decades old idea with many
missions flown.169 The idea had more support during the retirement of the Space Shuttle when the ISS
was supplied with expendable Progress, ATV andPage 7 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

HTV and only a limited downmass capability existedwith Sojuz capsules. With the recent emergence ofregular commercial crew and returnable cargo flights
every 2-3 months, the practical necessity and business case to save approximately a month of time for aconsiderably more cost has not been proven. Similar
unproven case is with dedicated (reusable) satellites
for microgravity manufacturing and research.170
VBK-Raduga was a reentry capsule that flew 9
or 10 flights between 1990-1994, returning materials from Mir.171 In 2000, European Space Agency(ESA) with international partners tested inflatablere-entry technology with the ISS payload download
seen as one promising application due to the Space
Shuttle costs.172 Around 2005, ESA and EADS
(Airbus) studied PARES (Payload Retrieval System) that would have been launched from the expendable Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) andcould bring back 220 kg with a design that was 70
cm in diameter and 2.28 m in length.173
Small re-entry capsules were commonly used formilitary Earth observation satellites to return thefilm. Soviet lunar sample return missions had asmall re-entry capsule and performed the first 3 successful robotic missions in 1970-1976. BREM-SAT
2 was studied around 1996 and planned be capableof re-entry using a deployable heat shield.174 The
next extraterrestrial samples were returned on Genesis, Stardust, Hayabusa, Hayabusa2 and Chang’e
5 missions while OSIRIS-REx is ongoing and manyplanned including Martian sample-return.
Foton and Foton-M are a Russian series of spacecraft with re-entry capsules. First mission was in1985 and the last mission was performed in 2014.175
In 2014, NASA awarded Terminal Velocity(SpaceWorks) SBIR Phase 1 and Phase 2 contracts
for low-cost small payload return with a capsuleseries called RED (Reentry Device, RED-25, RED4U).176–178 The data recorder version RED-Data2
flew in 2017 on Cygnus OA-7.179
In 2015, Shackelton Energy signed an agreementwith CASIS to develop Oryx series of aerobraking
re-entry capsules for on-demand rapid return of time
critical experiments from the ISS.180
Around 2018, Intuitive Machines advertised their
URV (Universal Reentry Vehicle) capable of returning cargo from LEO and Moon, but it has since been
removed from the website.181
HTV Small Re-entry Capsule (HSRC) performeda successful demonstration returning cargo from theISS in November 2018, but has not flown again. The
capsule has a mass of 180 kg and is 85 cm in diameter and 66 cm in height with internal volume of 30
litres and 20 kg payload capacity.182
IAC-23-D3.3.10

New commercial solutions in development include Varda Space, Space Forge and many others.
Since October 2021...
InterSpace Explore signed a deal in August 2021
for launch of the Zengzhang-1 returnable satellite
on a Ceres-1 rocket in 2022.183, 184 As of September
2023, it does not seem to have happened yet.
Inversion raised $10M in November 2021.185
Outpost raised $7.1M seed in August 2022 andplans to to start building a fleet of returnable satellites called Ferries in 2024.186, 187
In late 2022, Space Cargo Unlimited contracted
Thales Alenia Space to develop REV1 floating spacefactory, which shares technologies with Space Rider,and is scheduled for launch in late 2025.188
In early 2023, The Exploration Company raised$43.6M Series A to develop full-scale capsule, Nyx,
planned for launch in 2026. The first small demonstrator is scheduled to launch in 2024.189
Varda launched its first space-capsule in June
2023 and grew crystals of the drug ritonavir.190 Asof late September, FAA and US Air Force have denied reentry landing requests and the capsule waslaunched without a reentry license.191
Atmos Space Cargo raised $4.3M seed in June
2023 and the first demo mission is scheduled for2024. They are developing Phoenix return capsulewith a payload capacity of 100 kilograms.192
ESA’s Space Rider has been delayed to 2025.
Announcement for flight opportunities in Oct 2021
brought over 40 applications. 16 payloads are scheduled to be on the maiden flight. The pricing has been
$40,000/kg but it is under consideration.193
2.9 In-Space Manufacturing
The first space processing and space manufacturing symposiums were held in 1968 and 1969.
Many space manufacturing experiments were
performed on Skylab in 1973, incl. semiconductors.
First Space Manufacturing Conference was in 1977.
The early 1980s was the first age of in-space manufacturing, with many studies published for profitablematerials, as part of the beginning of regular Space
Shuttle flights and for future usage of the planned
Freedom Space Station.194–201 None of those forecasts came true.
Microgravity Research Associates was founded in1979 and planned to grow crystals in space, starting with gallium arsenide. The high-quality gallium
arsenide crystals could be used to make chips thatwould be much faster than silicon chips.202
Around 1984, John W. Vanderhoff, a chemistry
professor at Lehigh University, worked with NASA
Page 8 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

to design Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR) instrument. A plastic mixture contained in four furnaces congeals and grows around tiny seeds to produce plastic spheres of uniform size. In one space
shuttle experiment, these furnaces produced ten billion identical tiny spheres. The National Bureau ofStandards certified that the size of these spheres is
ten micrometers in diameter, varying by only a tenthof a percent. One could buy these in a 5-milliliter
vial for $384. The plastic beads were worth between$4-12 million per kilogram. The idea of making
spheres in space was behind one of the oldest proposals for space manufacturing: making ball bearings inspace (drop towers). NASA planned to make more
latex balls in larger sizes. Estimates were publishedthat the market for larger 100-micron spheres could
be $200-300 million annually.7
In the mid-1980s, EOS (Electrophoresis Operations in Space) was a joint venture of McDonnell
Douglas and Johnson & Johnson. They planned tomake a drug called erythropoietin in space. Before,
it was available in very small quantities for researchand had not been used clinically. The first flightin June 1982 demonstrated that the expected improvement in volume and purity of product would
happen. In April 1985, 1 gram of drug was produced, and testing started. In July of 1985, McDonnell Douglas planned to fly an EOS production unit
in the payload bay of the Space Shuttle. They had
a shopping list of 20 drugs for space manufacturing. However, ”Johnson & Johnson seems to havegot discouraged.”7 The news seem to have stopped
after the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
ACME Advanced Materials was founded in 2014
to develop and produce unique materials in a microgravity environment. They announced first production of superior Silicon Carbide wafers in microgravity in 2014, which is another promising product.
They raised funding of ¿400,000 in 2015. Seems tohave become dormant around 2018.
Optical fibre ZBLAN was started to be publicly touted as the first profitable product madein space in about 2016-2017.203–205 One of thefirst studies about ZBLAN manufacturing in microgravity was released in 1995.206 News alreadyin 1998 estimated ZBLAN commercial potential at$2.5 billion.207 NASA’s has awarded optical fiber related contracts to FOMS, Physical Optics Corporation, Apsidal and DSTAR starting from 2016.208–211
Made in Space launched internally funded ZBLAN
demonstration missions in 2017 and 2019.212, 213
FOMS reported high-quality production on ISS in
2019.214 Flawless Photonics is developing ZBLAN
production system in Luxembourg.215 After all theIAC-23-D3.3.10

news, progress seems slower than expected in the recent years and Redwire (Made In Space) seems to befocusing elsewhere216
Made in Space, founded in 2010, has been testinglarge-scale in-space assembly and construction technologies and additive manufacturing. They launchedfirst 3D printer to ISS in 2014.217 In 2019, NASAawarded $73.7M for Archinaut One to manufacture
10-meter beams and unfurl solar arrays.218
Varda Space was founded in 2020 and is developing reusable satellites with re-entry capability forin-space manufacturing and other services.219 SpaceForge, founded in 2020, is working on re-usable
ForgeStar satellites with return-to-Earth capability
for microgravity on demand.220
Since October 2021...
J. Foust published an article titled ”Manufacturing a low Earth orbit economy” in September 2022
discussing ZBLAN and space station markets.16
The Workshop on Semiconductor Manufacturingin the Space Domain was held at Stanford in March2023 and a whitepaper will be published soon.5, 221
Purdue University held a workshop on the same
topic in July and more are planned.222
Varda announced in early July that they havegrown crystals of the drug ritonavir in microgravity
but the capsule has yet to return to Earth.190, 191
In June 2022, Redwire announced the first sale ofits space-manufactured optical crystal to researchersat The Ohio State University. Two grams were soldand have an approximate value of $2 million per
kilogram. The crystal was produced in Redwire’s Industrial Crystallization Facility (ICF) on the ISS.223
They said this is the first time that a space-enabledmaterials product has been sold on Earth. However,the latex spheres were the first in the 1980s.
In September 2023, Redwire announced it 3D
bioprinted the first human knee meniscus on orbit
using its upgraded 3D BioFabrication Facility (BFF)on the ISS. This milestone opens the door to improved treatments for meniscal injuries.224
As of September 2023, biotech in space may be
the next wave for in-space manufacturing. However,the ”killer app” for in-space manufacturing is still
yet to be found or published.
2.10 Microgravity Flight Services
There are many commercial services on the ISSto perform experiments, demonstrate payloads andin-space manufacturing processes. For example,
Nanoracks Nanolab, Space Applications Services
ICE Cubes, Airbus Bartolomeo, Space Tango CubeLab and Yuri.
Page 9 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

Airbus Bartolomeo was mounted externally on
the ISS Columbus module in April 2020.225 In Sept
2023, the multi-Needle Langmuir Probe was moved
to the Bartolomeo platform and is the first experiment to use one of the 11 slots.226
Space DOTS announced $1.5M pre-seed in July
2023 to develop the Barnacle DOT, a materials testing payload the size of a phone that can test thetensile strength and other properties of materials inspace. They plan to have a first flight in 2025.227

June 2023, they launched their 11th ION Satellite
Carrier mission after starting in September 2020.238
Momentus first mission Vigoride-3 launched in
May 2022 but had anomalies. Second mission
started in January 2023 and third in April 2023.239
Momentus reported $1.7M in revenues for the firsthalf of 2023. They also announced a satellite platform product line based on Vigoride.240
Launcher flew the first Orbiter space tug in Jan
2023 and second in June 2023 but both missions had
anomalies.241, 242

2.11 In-Space Transportation (Space Tugs)
There was a time when the Space Shuttle wasplanned to be the only launch vehicle of the UnitedStates and thus an upper stage would have been required for many types of spacecraft to get to their
final orbits. Already by 1972, NASA and DOD had
studied a variety of upper stage approaches including expendable stages and recoverable space tugs,
which included in-orbit servicing.228
By 1984, several companies had developed upper stage vehicles designed to place payloads in highorbit. McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics
manufactured the Payload Assist Module and theCentaur. Boeing and Orbital Systems Corp weredeveloping similar upper stage vehicles.137
Studies and proposals continued.229, 230 In 1986,
TRW was awarded contract for one orbital manoeuvring vehicle, because NASA viewed space tugs as
essential components of the proposed Freedom Space
Station to retrieve and return satellites.231 McManus et al studied over a hundred possible orbitaltransfer vehicle designs in 2003.232
Space tugs are now one of the most popular new
in-space economy fields thanks to the popularityof nano- and microsatellites and low-cost rideshare
missions. Spaceflight (Andrews Space) announced
SHERPA in 2012 and first mission was planned for2014, but happened in 2018.233, 234 Momentus wasfounded in 2017 to provide last-mile transportation
service for satellites. They raised over $140 million
and then went public through SPAC.235 In September 2021, SpaceX founding member Tom Mueller announced Impulse company with the goal to provide
agile economical access to any orbit.236
Since October 2021... This continues to be
one of the most popular and active in-space economy fields. Many more startups have been created,and some are developing reusable orbital transfer vehicles, but uncertainties about the economic sustainability and market size remain.
D-Orbit announced plans to go public via SPAC
in early 2022 but cancelled by August 2023.237 In
IAC-23-D3.3.10

2.11.1 Satellite Servicing
The first satellite servicing was performed in1984 to Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft during
the Space Shuttle mission STS-41-C.243
Orbital Recovery was founded in 2001 and wasplanning the first life extension mission in 2004,
which was rescheduled to 2007 before closing.244
Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) concept got
started around 2010 in ViviSat.245, 246 After mergers, the project continued in Orbital ATK and thenin SpaceLogistics, subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.247 First commercial servicing mission MEV1 launched in 2019 and attached to Intelsat-901 ingeostationary orbit in 2020.248 MEV-2 launched in2020 and attached to Intelsat 10-02 in 2021.249 As
of 2021, SpaceLogistics is developing a new vehicle
with a robotic arm that will install propulsion packs
on dying satellites. Six undisclosed customers havesigned up for servicing by the Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV), projected to launch in 2024.250
MDA announced servicing spacecraft concept inearly 2010.251 In 2017, a subsidiary called Space Infrastructure Services was created and majority wassold to Finance Technology Leverage.252
Astroscale, better known for debris removal,
started in 2013 and has raised over $191M.253, 254
Orbit Fab, founded in 2018 and offering refuelling services in space, is planning to launch a propellant tanker payload on Spaceflight Sherpa-ES orbital transfer vehicle to geostationary orbit, with thelaunch projected for late 2022 or early 2023.255
Starting from 2021, work is ongoing to establish
satellite servicing standards and regulations.256–258
Since October 2021... Launch delays havemeant that new missions are yet to launch.
In January 2022, Orbit Fab signed a deal with
Astroscale to refuel their geostationary satellite servicing spacecraft LEXI (Life Extension In-Orbit)
projected to launch in 2026 by supplying up to 1000kg of Xenon.259 In August 2022, they announced inspace hydrazine refueling service for satellites in geoPage 10 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

stationary orbit as soon as 2024 at a price of $20 million for up to 100 kg of hydrazine.260 In April 2023,
they raised $28.5M at a valuation of over $100M.261
In May, they selected orbital vehicle from Impulse
Space to host a fuel depot for an in-orbit refuelingdemo in 2025 funded by the U.S. military.262
In November 2022, ClearSpace announced a mission to extend the life of an Intelsat satellite before
it runs out of fuel around 2026-2028.263
Astroscale was awarded funding in early 2022 toadvance on-orbit servicing interface technologies.264
At the end of 2022, Astroscale and JAXA started
studying satellite refueling service.265
Starfish launched Otter Pup in June 2023 but
anomalies with Launcher’s space tug will not allow
docking experiments.242 In March 2023, they raised$14M for its planned satellite life extension and debris removal service.266 In late 2022, it was targetinglate 2024 or 2025 for the first Otter mission.267
Northrop Grumman (SpaceLogistics) licensed
three satellite servicing technologies from NASA inearly 2022.268 In June 2023, Intelsat ordered thethird and last pod available on first Mission Robotic
Vehicle (MRV). The MRV is a 3000 kg spacecraft
and first mission will have three MEPs (Mission Extension Pods), each about 400 kg. The first MRV
mission is now scheduled for 2025.269, 270
In May 2023, Italian Space Agency awarded Italian companies $256M for in-orbit servicing demonstration to launch in 2026. The group includes
Thales Alenia, Telespazio, Avio and D-Orbit. Servicer and target satellite will be launched together
and both will include a refueling interface.271
Rogue Space Systems announced two contracts
worth $3M in total to develop a more universallycompatible CubeSat dispenser and a magnetic system for stabilizing tumbling space objects.272
In April 2023, NASA created a consortium for
In-space Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing(ISAM) called COSMIC.273, 274 It aligns with the
ISAM National Strategy275 and National ISAM Implementation Plan276 both published in 2022.
In September 2023, U.S. Space Force awarded
Astroscale $25.5M to deliver in 2 years a ”manifest
ready” prototype capable of refueling a satellite.277
Also in September, Astroscale said its ADRAS-J
mission to inspect the H-2A upper stage is technically ready for launch on Rocket Lab’s Electron.278
2.11.2 Space Debris Removal
In late 2020, ESA signed a ¿86 million contract
with ClearSpace to remove part of Vega rockets upper stage in 2025.279 In January 2023, they raised
IAC-23-D3.3.10¿26.7M Series A and ClearSpace-1 is now scheduled
to launch in 2026.280
In May 2022, Astroscale was awarded $16M from
ESA for a demo mission launching in 2024 to remove
what will likely be a OneWeb satellite.281 They arealso working on UK mission study to remove two
defunct British satellites by 2026.282
In September 2022, FCC approved a rule thatspacecraft have to deorbit no more than 5 years after the end of their mission, which previously was 25
years.283 In 2023, they are working on rules to limit
lifetime of upper stages in orbit.284
NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy published report on ”Cost and Benefit Analysisof Orbital Debris Remediation” in March 2023.285
In September 2023, NASA issued a call for proposals for ISS deorbit module called the UnitedStates Deorbit Vehicle (USDV).286
iMetalX is developing debris removal products
and was selected to Techstars 2023 accelerator.287

2.12 Space Utilities
2.12.1 In-Space Internet
Audacy was founded in 2015 to build intersatellite communications relay network. In 2018,
they announced MoUs and pre-service agreementsfor over $100M.288 However, they closed during 2019
after failing to find new investors.289
Kepler Communications was founded in 2015. In
April 2023, they raised $92M Series C to start deploying an optical data-relay constellation in 2024 toprovide real-time connectivity for LEO satellites.290
In 2020, SpaceLink was established to develop a
constellation in MEO to relay data between groundand LEO. They also acquired Audacy’s assets. However, in late 2022 they winded down operations due
to not being able to attract new investors.291
In September 2021, ESA signed a contract withSurrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) to be the anchor
customer on a Lunar Pathfinder lunar communications satellite, currently scheduled for 2025.292, 293
In January 2022, Plus Ultra Space Outposts announced collaboration with ispace for help to deploy
their Harmony lunar communications and navigation constellation as soon as 2024.294 However, Plus
Ultra shut down in mid-2022.295
In March 2022, Aquarian Space announced raising $0.65M seed to deploy a high-speed communications network for the Moon starting in 2024.296
In December 2022, Quantum Space published theraising of $15M to build a constellation of satellites
to provide services in cislunar space, such as communications and navigation.297
Page 11 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

In March 2023, Lockheed Martin announced thecreation of a subsidiary, Crescent Space, to offer
communications and navigation services around theMoon. Service is called Parsec and first satellites
should launch in 2025.298
2.12.2 Space Energy & Energy on the Moon
NASA’s Watts on the Moon power-beaming challenge was initiated in 2020.299 Similarly to theGoogle Lunar X Prize, many space energy and power
beaming startups were established or supported byit, and some have continued to progress.
Astrobotic announced in July 2023 that it won a$34.6M NASA Tipping Point award to demonstrate
power transmission on the lunar surface. LunaGridLite will transmit power from a lunar lander to atethered rover. During the demo, an Astrobotic 6U
CubeRover will unreel 1 km of cable from an Astrobotic lunar lander and receive the first high voltage power through a cable across the lunar surface.
The demo will serve as a pilot for the LunaGrid service to deliver commercial power service. The full
LunaGrid could use the 20-meter-tall Vertical Solar
Array Technology (VSAT).300
In September 2023, the U.S. Air Force ResearchLaboratory awarded contracts to Intuitive Machines,
Lockheed Martin and Westinghouse to advance technologies for nuclear powered spacecraft.301
2.12.3 Space Solar Power (SSP)
Space-based solar power seems to be taking off ina significant way in the last two years. Major difference to many space industries is that the terrestrial
energy market is very large and already exists.
In November 1968, Peter Glaser proposed thefirst technical concept of space solar power to provide energy for terrestrial use.302
Solaren was founded in 2001 to make space solar power reality. In 2009, California’s biggest energy utility (Pacific Gas & Electric) announced a15-year deal to purchase 200 MQ of electricity thatwould be beamed to Earth from space, beginningin 2016. Solaren’s system would be ”competitive interms of performance and cost with other sources ofbaseload power.”303 In June 2023, they announced
raising $2.5M in an initial Series D round.304
Space Energy was established in Switzerland in2008 and by 2010 it had offices in five countries.
Funding totalled about $4M. Until 2013, they continued to pursue ground and space-based projects.
As a side business, they sold IT equipment. The
company was then targeted by criminals and it
caused a debt from which they did not recover.305
IAC-23-D3.3.10

In 2010, Astrium (now Airbus) was seeking partners to help fund solar power beaming demonstration. After in-house review and a small grounddemo, they started seeking the interest of European
governments for a large satellite in GEO. Applications foreseen were providing power from space toships at sea or other fixed or mobile users.306, 307
ESA started re-exploring space solar poweraround 2020, which has continued. In early 2022,
ESA commissioned two cost versus benefits studies from Frazer-Nash and Roland Berger.308 In
November 2022, the SOLARIS 2-year program wasofficially announced to develop technologies.309 In
April 2023, ESA awarded study contracts to develop
new reference-design space solar power architectures
for large-scale terrestrial use to Arthur D. Little andThales Alenia Space Italy.310 In July 2023, Astrostrom completed their ESA-funded study investigating the feasibility of a ”Greater Earth Lunar
Power Station” (GEO-LPS) manufactured on theMoon and assembled at the Earth-Moon Lagrange
Point 1, to provide power from lunar orbit to operations on the surface of the Moon.311
In June 2022, A. Jones wrote in length about
China’s SSP plans in SpaceNews.
The China
Academy of Space Technology (CAST) plans to conduct a “Space high voltage transfer and wirelesspower transmission experiment” in LEO in 2028.
The satellite will generate 10 kW and test powertransmission over 400 km from orbit. The plan also
involves building infrastructure on the ground forreceiving. Phase 2 in 2030 would be launched into
geostationary orbit. Phase 3 in 2035 would scale to
10 MW and Phase 4 in 2050 to 2 GW.312, 313
In June 2023, UK announced £4.3M in grants tospace solar power technologies.314 Space Solar was
spun out from the Satellite Applications Catapultin the UK in April 2022 and is planning a demo of
MW-scale power beamed from space by 2029.315
Caltech announced in 2021 that they received a$100M donation in 2013 to form the Space-based
Solar Power Project.316 They launched a mission
in January 2023 as a hosted payload on Momentus
spacecraft. Wireless power transfer was demoed in
March, including detecting energy on Earth.317
In June 2023, The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s Space Wireless Energy Laser Link (SWELL)
surpassed 100 days of operations and it should be thefirst laser power beaming demonstration in space.318
Emrod demonstrated wireless power transmission in September 2022.319 Virtus Solis demonstrated 100 m power beaming live in March 2023.320

Page 12 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

3. MARKET SURVEY
3.1 Survey Criteria
The survey criteria, which has resulted in the 823
entries currently, is the following: Belongs to the in-space economy, as definedin the next section of high-level classifications
and sub-categories.
 More precisely ”new in-space economy”. For
example, excluding launch vehicles, unless they
are also meant for interplanetary flight like Starship; excluding satellite manufacturing, unlessthey will be reusable; excluding satellite fleetsand constellations around Earth; and more.
 Commercial entities or at minimum offeringcommercial services to the public markets.
 Discovering the new startups is a main challenge and many might be missed for some time.

3.2 In-Space Economy Classification
One goal of this paper is to continue iteratingon the taxonomy for the commercial entities in thein-space economy to be able to group them.
Until such categories are defined and widely accepted, the activities will continue to be called withdifferent names as per personal preferences, whichmakes it more challenging to determine competitorsand estimate market sizes. The categories have been
limited to 10 to make the figures more practical toread, but this may change in the future.
The following classification is preliminary andauthor expects it to improve greatly thanks to feedback, independent iterations, and especially over theupcoming years as the new space-based industries
continue to grow and become established.
Figure 1 illustrates the in-space economy fields
and has been updates in 2023.
The in-space economy high-level categories:
1. Human Spaceflight & Landers
2. Cargo Transportation & Landers
3. Surface Spacecraft
4. Space Stations & Habitats
5. Surface Habitats & Structures
6. In-Space Manufacturing
7. Space Resources
8. Space Utilities
9. In-Space Transportation
10. Miscellaneous

Figure 1: In-Space Economy
IAC-23-D3.3.10

Page 13 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

4. IN-SPACE ECONOMY TAXONOMY
Here follows the terminology and definitions forthe primary classifications. The following list of keywords, alternative terms, applications and fields is
not exhaustive. Feedback is very welcome and author expects the terminology to evolve greatly as
in-space economy markets develop.
1. Human Spaceflight & Landers - Space vehicles designed for any kind of human flight.
Also referred to as crewed spaceflight.321 It isa separate category due to difficulty level, but
could be merged in the future.
 Human-Rated Spacecraft, Spaceships &Shuttles - Minimum criteria is an orbital
flight in LEO.321 Includes space transport
ships to Moon, Mars and beyond.
 Human-Rated Landers - Moon and Marslanders and reusable shuttles.
2. Cargo Transportation & Landers - Spacecraft transporting goods from and to Earth,
Moon and Mars.
 Cargo Resupply - Space station cargo resupply services.
 Landers - Commercial non-reusable Moon,
Mars and asteroid robotic landers.
 Reentry Capsules (Earth, Mars) - Dedicated free-flyer spacecraft capable of atmospheric return. Many have been andagain are in development.
 Reusable Satellites - the term is also used
under In-Space Transportation, but in thiscontext it would have re-entry capability.
3. Surface Spacecraft - Spacecraft operatingon the surface or near the surface of a planetary body. Includes rovers, drones, hoppers.
 Rovers - Wheeled or rolling robotic vehicles. To be used for exploration, prospecting and transportation.
 Drones - Rocket-powered flight on the lunar surface to reach difficult locations andwinged and rotary aircraft on Mars, Venus
and Titan for example.
 Hoppers - Hopping might become a transportation method on Moon and asteroids.
 Human-Rated Rovers - Sub-set of rovers
designed for human-use, often larger scaleand stricter safety requirements.
4. Space Stations & Space Habitats - Freeflying space stations and very large space habitats. Can be called space platform, orbitalcolony, space colony, and space settlement. May

IAC-23-D3.3.10

be located in orbit around the Earth, Moon,
Mars, Venus and in Lagrange points. Could
be rotating to achieve artificial gravity.322
Merriam-Webster defines space station as a large
artificial satellite designed to be occupied forlong periods and to serve as a base.323 K.
Kennedy et al defined space habitats as a recreation of Earth environment for the purpose ofsustaining life, and that habitats are pressurized crew volumes including laboratories, living quarters, and maintenance facilities.324
5. Surface Habitats & Surface Structures- alternatively surface facilities. Facilities on
the surface of Moon and Mars for habitation,
storage and manufacturing. Structures can include physical infrastructure, antennas, various plants, factories and more.
6. In-Space Manufacturing (ISM) - alternatively Off-Earth Manufacturing325 and SpaceBased Manufacturing.326 ISM divides into 2
large areas. First area is manufacturing products in microgravity for Earth, which will be
brought back to be sold on terrestrial markets.
Second area is manufacturing large-scale spacestructures that will remain in space. Author
presented a dedicated paper on ISM in 2022
including many new subcategories.4
 In-Space Manufacturing - In narrower definition it means making products and materials in microgravity, which cannot bemade on Earth, or which are better.
 In-Space Production - Same as the narrow definition of in-space manufacturing.
ISS National Lab is using this term.327
 Space Food or Deep Space Food - Space
agriculture to supply fresh food to workers, settlers and tourists, both in-spaceand on Moon, Mars and beyond.
 Microgravity Manufacturing - Alternative
name for in-space manufacturing and inspace production.
 In-Space Construction - Large-scale construction in space and on Moon & Mars.
 In-Space Assembly (ISA) - Subset of inspace construction, which will likely be
the first step before the very large-scale
end-to-end construction in space. Xue etal. defines ISA as the assembly activities completed in the target orbit and extraterrestrial space, which is to assemble
modules in space in order to form a largerfunctional element, or to recombine one
or more structures after separation.328

Page 14 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

 In-Space servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM) - Broader term.
 Additive Manufacturing - Subset of inspace manufacturing, also 3D printing.
 Parabolic and Suborbital Flights - Somemicrogravity manufacturing can happen
during short flights and due to that has
been included here for completeness.

7. Space Resources - Deals with the prospecting, mining, beneficiation, processing, ISRU
and recycling of natural or artificial resourcesin space, incl. Moon, Mars and asteroids.2, 329
Some processing and ISRU activities could also
be considered to be in-space manufacturing.
 ISRU (In-Situ Resource Utilization) - Any
hardware or operation that harnesses andutilizes ‘in-situ’ resources to create products and services for robotic and human
exploration.2 Encompasses exploration,mine planning, mineral processing, metallurgy and sale of off-Earth resources.2
 Prospecting - Determining the composition of asteroids, moons and planets using
remote sensing and in-situ measurements
for mining and ISRU.
 Space Mining - Also Off-World Mining330
and includes Moon and Mars mining. Extracting and collecting the raw resourcesfrom planetoids or planetary surfaces.331
 Asteroid Mining - Sub-set of space mining, focused on asteroids in space together
with basic processing to reduce the massof the materials to be transported.
 Lunar Resources - Subset of space resources.
 Pure Substances and Raw Materials - Selling processed materials like ice, water,
oxygen and metals.
 Recycling - Reprocessing artificial objects
including satellites and spent rocket stages
into raw materials or reusing parts of them.
 Processing or Beneficiation - Separating
valuable minerals from waste rock.
 In-Space Metal Processing.
8. Space Utilities - alternatively In-Space Utilities. There will exist distinctive supply chainsand physical infrastructure for common goods
like energy, internet, navigation and water.
 Energy - Includes space-based solar power,
nuclear power and wireless transmission.
Electrical energy will have a more centralized infrastructure on Moon and Mars.
Currently often served by independent solar panels, but solar power stations could
IAC-23-D3.3.10

supply other satellites and vehicles andoutposts on the ground.
 In-Space Internet - Communications will
be a critical infrastructure across the solar system and on the surfaces. More
broadly, this is In-Space Communications
or Data Relay Communications.
 Navigation - Navigation in space and on
Moon and Mars. Possibly required for
future landers and surface vehicles.
 Water - Water in space and on the Moon
and Mars, to be used for human consumption, air, propellant and likely radiation
protection.
9. In-Space Transportation - Broad category
about multi-functional spacecraft providing services to other spacecraft in direct contact or
short-distance away and capable of sizeable orbit changes. There are many similarities between the following sub-categories, because all
those spacecraft must be capable of significant
orbital velocity changes. It is very likely thatsame entities will offer multiple services thanks
to the underlying technologies. Similar to terrestrial applications, where trucks and pickups serve multiple roles, all requiring only small
modifications if at all. Key difference with
Cargo Transportation is that these vehicles will
stay in space and do not have reentry and/or
landing capability.
 On-Orbit Servicing (OOS) - or In-Space
Servicing. Spacecraft with the means togo nearby other spacecraft and dock withthem for propellant loading, orbital repositioning or to stay attached and augment
capabilities. J. P. Davis et al. defines
OOS as on-orbit activities conducted bya space vehicle that performs up-close inspection of, or results in intentional andbeneficial changes to, another resident space
object. These activities include non-contact
support, orbit modification (relocation)and maintenance, refuelling and commodities replenishment, upgrade, repair, assembly, and debris mitigation.332
 Mission Extension, Life Extension - Extending the operational life of spacecrafttrough servicing.
 Satellite Maintenance - Alternative term
for in-space servicing and repair.333
 In-Orbit Inspection - Sub-set of on-orbit
servicing. Spacecraft capable of travellingnearby to other spacecraft and inspecting

Page 15 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

them for damages, status, intelligence.
 Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) - Spacecraft capable of transporting other spacecraft between different orbits. Capabilities can vary greatly. Starting from small
altitude and inclination changes in LEO,
to taking spacecraft from LEO to GEO,
and to Moon, Mars and further.
 Space Tugs - Alternative name for Orbital
Transfer Vehicles.
 Space Trucks - alternative name of OTVs
when comparing to utility vehicles.
 Space Transportation Node - Alternative
name for Orbital Transfer Vehicles.
 Orbital Manoeuvring Vehicle - Alternative term for OTVs and Space Tugs.334
 Propellant Reload Station - Includes propellant refuel stations, propellant depots,
orbital refuelling, and propellant tankers.255
 Active Debris Removal (ADR) - Spacecraft with the means to go nearby otherspacecraft and help them de-orbit faster.
 Reusable Spacecraft - or reusable satellites. Primarily adding propellant reloading. Sharing many technologies with OTVs.
Future uniqueness will be on modular exchangeable payloads changed in space.
 Space Logistics - Another terms for InSpace Transportation that might become
widely used. AIAA defines space logistics as the science of planning and carrying out the movement of humans andmateriel to, from and within space combined with the ability to maintain humanand robotics operations within space.335
 Space Mobility - another popular term.
10. Miscellaneous - Supporting and connected
services to the in-space economy, which largely
would not exist without it. Some of them may
not strictly generate revenue in space.
 Microgravity & ISS Flight Service - Broadterm for service providers and brokers offering access microgravity environment.
They can use and have facilities on the
ISS and upcoming space stations or on
dedicated free-flyer spacecraft. Organisations can have their own hardware, but do
not perform ISM for own purposes nor dothey develop their own space capsules orspace stations for example.
 Space Suits & Garments - Space suits andspace clothing will be required for every
astronaut, settler and tourist.

IAC-23-D3.3.10

 Commercial Astronauts - Privately employed and trained astronauts to help withlarge-scale commercial activities in spaceand on the surfaces.336, 337
 Space Tourism, Suborbital Space Tourism- Wider terms encompassing human spaceflight and habitation services. Suborbital
Space Tourism companies have been included under miscellaneous. Space tourism
is considered to be one of the potential
customer segments for multiple in-spaceeconomy fields in the future.
 Space Tourism Support Activities - Space
tourists, but also commercial astronauts,
will require some training and support for
the foreseeable future. This can also include space-themed experiences on Earth.
 Space Entertainment - In-space economy
will likely start a new form of entertainment, where the activities will happen inspace. Starting with variations of or new
types of sports, space casinos, performanceshows, and other entertainment activities.
 Space Advertising and Marketing - Advertisements in space, Moon and Mars.
 Space Traffic Management - Very active
and common human spaceflight activities
between Earth, Moon, Mars and spacestations will likely need some coordination. This also includes Space Situational
Awareness (SSA), which US Air Force now
calls Space Domain Awareness (SDA).338
 In-Orbit Computing - Edge computing andserver farms in space.
 Space Robotics - Can be covered by inspace construction, in-space manufacturing, surface spacecraft and satellite servicing, but also robotic humanoid robots.
 Moon and Mars Remote Sensing - Imaging in different wavelengths for choosing
landing and base sites, cartography andresource mapping.
 In-Space Infrastructure - Wider term thatwould encompass many of the top-level
categories like transportation, utilities andstations. No companies in the data havethis classification currently and has been
only listed for completeness. S. P Sharma
and C. Moore define in-Space infrastructure as consisting of the systems and services operating in Earth’s neighbourhood
to facilitate commerce, exploration, andscientific discovery.339

Page 16 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

5. 2023 STATISTICAL OVERVIEWThis section presents the statistical overview of
the 823 entries included in this new in-space economy survey of primarily commercial space entities.
5.1 Classifications with Status
Figure 2 shows the classification of in-space economy companies. Many companies now have multiple
entries in the database.
Overall, approximately 1/3 of entities are in dormant, concept or early stages. About 1/3 are in
active development. About 10% of companies havelaunched some technologies to orbit and thanks tothat they can be given the demonstrated status.
Human Spaceflight is expensive and technologically challenging to develop, and as such, it is difficult to enter this market, which has resulted in asmall number of entities. SpaceX is active in thehuman orbital spaceflight category and cargo transportation. Blue Origin is active in the suborbital human spaceflight and Virgin Galactic started regularmissions in the summer 2023.340 Northrop Grumman is active in Cargo Transportation with Cygnus.341
None are active yet in Surface Habitats (increased
from 19) and surface spacecraft (up from 21 from
2 years ago) and few updates in the last 2 years.
Among Space Stations (increased from 25), Nanoracks
launched a commercial ISS airlock in 2020342 andmany new developers such as Vast and Gravitics.

In-Space Transportation with 95 entries (up from
71 from 2 years ago) is popular due to a large increase in orbital transfer vehicle (space tug) startups. This category also includes satellite servicing,
active debris removal and propellant reloading, because of the large overlap in spacecraft technologies.
Northrop Grumman (SpaceLogistics), D-Orbit andSpaceflight are active in the in-space transportation
category because they have launched space tugs forservicing or satellite deployment. Launcher and Momentus have now also launched since 2 years ago.
Number of entries in the Space Utilities classification has grown from 54 two years ago to 96.
In-Space Manufacturing with 167 entries (up from
92 from 2 years ago) is again the most popular single category. This classification also includes numerous companies which have performed demonstrations, done research or made limited quantity of novelty products such as space whisky and space beer.
There are only a few in-space manufacturing entities
making products and materials regularly for Earthor space. Varda will be marked demonstrated oncethe capsule returns. Redwire has performed multiple
demonstrations too.
Miscellaneous includes multiple non-space hardware or space advocacy organizations that are active
due to lower barriers of entry. Previously, In-Space
Manufacturing included the ISS-based and other microgravity testing providers, which are actively offering services, but have been moved to Miscellaneous.

Classification with Status of In−Space Economy Entities
Human Spaceflight & Landers

Status13

Surface Habitats & Structures

1) Active2) Demonstrated3) Development
4) Early stage5) Concept
6) Dormant7) Cancelled
8) Retired

22

Space Stations & Habitats

37

Surface Spacecraft

43

Cargo Transportation & Landers

67

Space Resources

78

In−Space Transportation

95

Space Utilities

96

In−Space Manufacturing

167

Miscellaneous

205

0

50

100

150

200

Figure 2: In-Space Economy Classification by Status
IAC-23-D3.3.10

Page 17 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

5.2 Founded with Status

2021 instead. Some increase can also be attributed
to many companies now having multiple entries.
The start of the increase and new wave of companies founded between 2017-2019 is likely correlated
to SpaceX’s Starship and NASA’s Artemis program
announcements, because of the very high payload capacity and low-cost rideshare missions improve thebusiness cases, and returning to the Moon is creating
new markets for many in-space economy fields.
While there was a decline in 2021, the author
continues to forecast that successful Starship missions and return to the Moon will kick off anotherstartup founding wave in about 2-3 years. Theremay remain a slight decrease for 2022-2023, because
Starship has been delayed, but afterwards the inspace economy is likely to continue to get larger.
Next are some startups, which were founded or
added after October 2021 and not named in Section
2. Founded in 2022 are for example Diatomic (producing oxygen on lunar surface), InspeCity (satellite servicing), KINETIK (robotic arm), IX (fusion
power), LodeStar (additive manufacturing), Orbital
Matter (additive manufacturing), Prometheus Life
Technologies (human tissue production) and Overview
Energy (space power). Founded in 2023 are for example ASTROLAB (microgravity experiments platform), Paladin Space (reusable satellites), Stellar Luxuries (orbital distillery for whiskey) and BioOrbit(large-scale protein crystallisation).

Figure 3 lists the founding years of organisations
together with the status categories.
Establishment of a company does not correlate
to a successful long-term business or to demonstration missions, because most will become dormant
before. As seen from the chart, many commercialorganizations are in the early stages, where the visible progress could be limited to a website and a small
partially committed team. Only a small part of companies have performed orbital demonstrations or are
active. It shows there is still a long path for manyin-space economy services to become commonplace.
The figure shows well the arrival of NewSpace.
The amount of new space companies being createdhas increased rapidly in recent years when compared
to 10 years ago. Between 2008-2010, SpaceX succeeded in launching rockets to orbit. CubeSats started
to be taken seriously around the same time.
There are 823 entries and about 755 unique entities in this study, more than double compared to the472 entries in the 2021 study.1 In the previous 2021
chart, there was a peak in 2018 and a subsequentdecline. It was discussed that there may have beena boom, which had slowed down. Because most of
the fields do not have existing markets, new players
might be in waiting mode, or startups could be instealth mode or early stages, and as such the author has not become aware of them. A lot of them
have been backfilled and the founding peak is now in

100

80

60

Founding Years with Status of In−Space Economy Entities
Status951) Active2) Demonstrated3) Development
4) Early stage5) Concept
6) Dormant7) Cancelled
8) Retired

78 79
69

55

52

40
29
24

21

20
9
4

3

12
8

7
3

8

12 11
7

14

32
26

12 12

12

7

3

19

9
19 6
9
19 7
9
19 8
9
20 9
0
20 0
0
20 1
0
20 2
0
20 3
0
20 4
0
20 5
0
20 6
0
20 7
0
20 8
0
20 9
1
20 0
1
20 1
1
20 2
1
20 3
1
20 4
1
20 5
1
20 6
1
20 7
1
20 8
1
20 9
2
20 0
2
20 1
2
20 2
23

0

Figure 3: In-Space Economy Founding Years by Status
IAC-23-D3.3.10

Page 18 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

5.3 Founded with Classification
Figure 4 plots the founding years of entries in the
database together with the classification.
Among human spaceflight providers, Blue Origin
was founded in 2000 and SpaceX in 2002.
Competitions and challenges are a great way tocreate new startups or gain momentum. NASA’s
Watts on the Moon” power-beaming challenge wasinitiated in 2020.299 ESA’s Moonlight project started
in 2021 and is bringing connectivity to the Moon.343
NASA’s Deep Space Food Challenge started in 2021.344
Google Lunar XPrize started in 200777 and inspired many lunar lander and lunar rover companies
in the following years. In 2021, Beresheet was thefirst non-governmental Moon lander, which madea landing attempt in 2019. ispace made a landing attempt in April 2023 but it also failed. Lackof lunar landing opportunities and delays has also
slowed down the launches of commercial rovers, surface habitats, and space resources demonstrations.
Starting from 2017 and continuing, there has beena large increase of in-space transportation companies, which include space tugs, debris removal andsatellite servicing. Likely coinciding with the firstpublic Starship announcements and successful reusability of Falcon 9, because both are aiming tolower the costs of space access, which may enable
the new business cases using rideshare missions.
Companies developing ISRU solutions and surface habitats have been increasing too but not in
the recent years. The initial motivation was likely

thanks to NASA’s Artemis announcement in 2019with related funding opportunities and SpaceX’s longterm vision for a self-sustaining Mars settlement.
Surface habitat companies continue to be focusedon sustainable housing or farming on Earth, butplan to expand to Moon and Mars when the time
is right. There has been little growth in this fieldin 2 years. For example, ICON was founded in2017,345, 346 Astreia in 2019347 and Interstellar Lab
in 2019.348 However, Astreia shut down in 2023.
During 2021, numerous commercial space station
proposals were presented and announced. NASA’s
Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations program
received 11 proposals, many from new startups.349
Space utilities in LEO include for example inspace internet and wireless electricity. Kepler Communications was founded in 2015, has planned inspace internet from the beginning350 and their optical network is scheduled to launch in 2024.290, 351
For in-space manufacturing, plethora of small reentry capsule companies have been founded in thelast years, for example, Space Forge in 2018,220 Varda
Space in 2020,219 Outpost in 2021,352 Inversion Spacein 2021353 and The Exploration Company in 2021.354
Even more return-capable spacecraft have been announced since 2021. Organisations aiming to perform in-space manufacturing directly have gotten
more numerous too.
Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is under Miscellaneous and has also seen large growth. It is easierto enter but the market opportunity seems unclear.

Founding Years with Classification of In−Space Economy Entities

100

95

Categories
80600) Human Spaceflight & Landers
1) Cargo Transportation & Landers
2) Surface Spacecraft3) Space Stations & Habitats4) Surface Habitats & Structures
5) In−Space Manufacturing
6) Space Resources7) Space Utilities
8) In−Space Transportation
9) Miscellaneous

78 79
69

55

52

40
29
24

21

20
9
4

3

12
8

7
3

8

12 11
7

14

32
26

12 12

12

7

3

19

9
19 6
9
19 7
9
19 8
9
20 9
0
20 0
0
20 1
0
20 2
0
20 3
0
20 4
0
20 5
0
20 6
0
20 7
0
20 8
0
20 9
1
20 0
1
20 1
1
20 2
1
20 3
1
20 4
1
20 5
1
20 6
1
20 7
1
20 8
1
20 9
2
20 0
2
20 1
2
20 2
23

0

Figure 4: In-Space Economy Founding Years by Classification
IAC-23-D3.3.10

Page 19 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

5.4 Funding with Classification

Many startups in the lunar, space resources, andISRU fields have received awards from NASA, reFigure 5 collects funding in the defined ranges
lated to the Artemis program. Moon lander comwith categories. Here, organisations with multiple
panies and funding amounts are for example: Moon
entries also have the funding duplicated. Thus, it
Express with $65.5M,360 non-profit SpaceIL with apwould be wrong to add the funding amounts to getprox over $160M,361, 362 Astrobotic with $212M,363
the overall total. An alternative would be to present
Firefly over $175M,364 ispace over $195.5M,365 Masfunding once per company, but then many categories
ten Space Systems considerably over $75.9M366 but
would seemingly have no funding.
they went bankrupt in 2022.95
The funding levels are the total amounts andRedwire bought Made In Space, Techshot andthe exact investments for in-space economy may beothers, and went public raising over $100M.367, 368
unknown in case of larger companies. ”Yes, but
Voyager Space Holdings has acquired Pioneer Asamount unknown” commonly means an establishedtronautics and many others.369
space company, but it has not been made public ofAmong in-space manufacturing and particularly
how much they are investing in those specific newsmall re-entry capsules are: Varda has raised $51M,219
fields. The ”Unknown” category is for entities which
Space Forge has raised over $10.8M,370 Inversion
have not announced funding and it is likely they haveSpace raised $10M353 and The Exploration Comno or very small amount of capital.
pany has raised over $50M.
Over $1 billion in private and awarded funding
Most surface habitat company investments are355
have received e.g. SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin,limited, but that ecosystem is also early. Relativity
356
130
Relativity Spaceand Sierra Space.
Space is an exception with $1.3B356 and they haveSome in-space transportation services have acstated they want to build first structures on Mars.371
cumulated large funding, e.g. Astroscale with over
ICON has raised over $451M for 3D printed homes$390M.357 Momentus went public via SPAC in 2021
and has concepts for lunar bases.345, 346
358
and has raised over $145M.
Aleph Farms has raised over $130M372 and grew
Commercial space stations are capital intensive.
cultured meat on the ISS in 2019.373 GITAI from
Axiom has raised over $505M.46 Bigelow spent about
Japan has raised over $66M to build space robots$250M over 20 years but shut down in 2021.26 In
and rovers.374 Kepler has raised over $200M to bring
2021, The Orbital Reef from Blue Origin, Starlab
the Internet outside of Earth.290
from Nanoracks and Northrop Grumman were awarded
Largest VC rounds since 2021 have been Sierra$130M, $160M and $125.6M, respectively.359
Space with $1.4B130 and Axiom with $350M.46

Funding with Classification of In−Space Economy Entitiesk) Yes, amount TBD

255j) $1000m+i) $300m+

17

Categories
5h) $100−300mg) $50−100m

17f) $10−50me) $5−10m0) Human Spaceflight & Landers
1) Cargo Transportation & Landers
2) Surface Spacecraft3) Space Stations & Habitats4) Surface Habitats & Structures
5) In−Space Manufacturing
6) Space Resources7) Space Utilities
8) In−Space Transportation
9) Miscellaneous

35

51
22

d) $1−5m49c) $0.1−1m48b) <$0.1m

50a) Unknown
0

273

100

200

Figure 5: New In-Space Economy Status
IAC-23-D3.3.10

Page 20 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

lation;351 Inversion’s353 and Varda’s388 small
re-entry capsules, and ESA’s Space Rider.389
The year of first missions and demonstrations in Planned launches for 2024 were for example luspace have been plotted on Figure 6. The goal in thisnar robotic outpost from Quantum Space,390
section is to collect the maiden launch year of the
Axiom
Orbital Segment,391 Space Entertainactivity most relevant to the in-space economy fields.
mentEnterprise’s
SEE-1392 commercial film
Henceforth, entities may have launched hardware to
studiomodule,
SSTL’sLunar Pathfinder393 misspace before the years referenced here.
sion
to
Moon
and
The
Exploration
Company’s
Knowingly cancelled and dormant entities have354
reusableorbitalvehicleNyx.
been marked with ”Dormant”. ”Not applicable” inIn reality, as the launches happened or currently
cludes organizations, which are not performing own
planned schedules:
space missions. ”Not announced” are companies First launches in 2022 were ispace, Momentus,that do not seem to have announced a planned year
Nanoracks (cutting demo), Mercury Systems
for their first missions or activities in space. The(ZBLAN manufacturing), Cedars-Sinai (stemlarge unknown amount correlates to the prevalencecell production) and others.
of companies in the idea and early stages.
Example first launches in 2020-2021 were As First launches in 2023 have been Epic (space
troscale’s debris removal test,357 D-Orbit’s space tug,375tug), Launcher, Redwire’s multiple missions,Airbus Bartolomeo’s external payload hosting on theStarship, Starfish Space, Varda and others.
ISS.376 Hewlett Packard’s The Spaceborne ComputerPlanned launches for 2023 have Intuitive Malaunched to the ISS in 2017377 and second in 2021.378
chines, AstroForge (asteroid prospecting), ExInspiration4, the all private sector and citizen misotrail (space tug), Space Forge, and others.
sion, happened in September 2021.157
 Notable future launches are Vast Haven-1 space
In the 2021 survey:
station in 2025, Crescent Space lunar space Example missions scheduled for 2022 were lucraft in 2025, Astrolab lunar rover in 2026,
nar landers from Astrobotic,379 Intuitive Macommercial Mars lander in 2026, and others.
chines,380 ispace;381 Space Forge;382 space tugs
 Notable delays during 2 years are Axiom spacefrom Launcher383 and Momentus;384 Starship.385
station module to 2026, Astrobotic lander likely
 Planned launches for 2023 included for examto 2024, SSTL’s Lunar Pathfinder delayed tople Firefly’s386 and Masten Space’s387 Moon
2025, Space Rider to 2025 etc.
landers; Kepler’s in-space data relay constel5.5 First Launches

First Launches of In−Space Economy Entities
436

400

300

200

86

100
53 54
1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

1

1

1

1

4

5

1

6

9

21 18

6

16

27

37
12 5

4

4

1

1

19
8
19 2
8
19 3
8
19 5
8
19 9
9
19 0
9
19 1
9
19 7
9
20 8
0
20 1
0
20 2
0
20 4
0
20 6
0
20 7
1
20 0
1
20 2
1
20 3
1
20 4
1
20 5
1
20 6
1
20 7
1
20 8
1
20 9
2
20 0
2
20 1
2
20 2
2
20 3
2
20 4
2
20 5
2
20 6
2
20 7
2
20 8
2
20 9
N
ot D 2 30
0
N ann orm 50
ot o aap un nt
pl ce
ic d
ab
le

0

Figure 6: In-Space Economy First Space Launch Years
IAC-23-D3.3.10

Page 21 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

5.6 Geographical Distribution

plore (commercial resupply), AZSpace and Rocket
Pi (orbital biology lab).
Distribution of the in-space economy companies
Japan has 28 entries, which include for example
by locations of headquarters is on Figure 7.
Astroscale and ispace, but both have offices around
Approximately half of the 823 entries have headthe world. Further entities are GITAI (robot astroquarters in the United States. Largest founding rounds
nauts and rovers), Dymon (lunar rover), Elevation
are also skewed towards the United States. Many inSpace (microgravity services), IDDK (microgravity
space economy fields are very capital intensive, andplatforms) and Mitsubishi Electric (additive manat the same time do not have large existing or imufacturing). Car manufacturers like Toyota, Lexus,
mediate markets, making them higher risk.
Nissan and Honda have also researched lunar rovers.
Example entries from the 73 in the UK are Space
Canada’s example entries among the 36 include
Forge, Lunasa Space (reusable space tug), Space EnKepler Communications (data relay), Canadian Space
tertainment Enterprise, Spacebit (lunar rover), SSTL
Mining Corporation (space resources), Eternal Light(lunar spacecraft), LodeStar (additive manufactur(power beaming), NorthStar (SSA), STELLS (lunaring), Metalysis (space resources), Space DOTS (mirover and wireless power) and Canadensys Aerospacecrogravity testing), Space Solar (space solar power),
Corporation (lunar rover).
Space Power (in-orbit wireless power) and others.
Australia has 31 entries, which include e.g. Space
Based in Germany and among the 40 entries are
Industries (lunar rover, space resources), HEO Robotics
for example The Exploration Company, yuri (ISS(in-space inspection and SSA), Mawson Rovers, Nebpayload hosting), PTS (lunar lander), Exolaunchula Interplanetary Systems (in-space manufacturing),(space tug), ATMOS Space Cargo (reentry capsule),
Paladin Space (reusable satellites), Reach Robotics
DCUBED (in-space manufacturing), Orbital Mat(robotic arm), Space Machines Company (space tug),ter, Okapi:Orbits (SSA) and RFA.
Solar Space and Metakosmos (space suit).
France’s 39 entries include Space Cargo UnlimAleph Farms (space food) and SpacePharma HQited (microgravity platform, space wine), Spartan
are based in Israel. UARX (space tug) is based
Space (habitats), Thales Alenia, Airbus, MaiaSpace,in Spain. Emrod (power beaming) started in New
Interstellar Lab and Gama Space (solar sail).
Zealand. Four Point (space mining) is based in Poland.
Italy’s example entries include Argotec (space
Maana Electric (ISRU solar cells) is based in Luxcoffee, data relay), D-Orbit, Kurs Orbital (dockembourg.
ing system) and many other large companies, whichhave offices in several countries.
China’s 8 entries include for example Origin Space(space resources), Space Craft Beer, Interspace Ex-

Geographical Distribution of In−Space Economy Entities
440
300
200
100
50
30
20
10
5
1
0
Figure 7: New In-Space Economy Map
IAC-23-D3.3.10

Page 22 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

6. IN-SPACE ECONOMY MARKETSThere are many space industries with large existing markets, such as launch vehicles, telecommunications and spacecraft manufacturing. It is possible tomeasure the revenues and calculate Total Available
Market (TAM). There are limitations, thus Serviceable Available Market (SAM) and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) provide more realistic estimations. It is also possible to determine the unit economics, take advantage of economies-of-scale, andcapture part of the market through various competitive advantages. However, even in those establishedfields, most new actors experience delays, cost overruns and strong competition.
Unfortunately, for almost all the fields in the new
in-space economy, the markets are small or do notexist. Especially when considering commercial customers. Non-existing or small markets also tend togrow slowly. In other cases, even if the monetaryamounts are relatively large, then the amount ofcustomers may be very small, often in single digits. Many in-space economy industries are also connected, with many being the leading potential customers to other. This creates a high risk scenario,
where the failure of one entity could create a chainreaction of failures through many areas.
To conclude, the primary challenge continues tobe the lack of or very small number of customers
and medium-term economic viability for most of thespecialized in-space economy services.
6.1 Market: Space Stations
In the 2017 report ”Market Analysis of a Privately Owned and Operated Space Station”, authors
concluded that a low estimate for revenue from activities on a space station is $455M and the highestimate is $1187M. In the high estimate, manufacturing products in space, specifically optical fibers,
accounted for over a third of revenues. Satellite assembly in orbit was close to it.”394 Manufacturing
optical fibers in space profitably is not a proven business idea and may easily not come to fruition.
M. Kokorich, founder of Momentus and several
space companies, wrote in Aug 2020 that ”The future market opportunities enabled by the disruptionin space transportation are enormous. Even without
space tourism, space habitats will be almost a twotrillion dollar market in 10-15 years.”395 Three years
later, it does not seem to happen in that timeframe.
J. Foust quoted Blue Origin’s Erika Wagner in
October 2022 from the ASCEND conference ”wedon’t know what markets will be successful on com-

IAC-23-D3.3.10

mercial space stations; if we did, we would be doing
them on ISS. Have to foster new markets.”42
J. Foust further wrote at length about the uncertainty of markets for commercial space stations
in June 2023 and most of the developers agreed.396
6.2 Market: Space Tourism
Grand View Research estimated the global space
tourism market size at $695.1M in 2022.397 The year
2022 saw Axiom Mission-1 launch and 3 crewed Blue
Origin sub-orbital launches. This market may also
include training and other astronaut services. However, it seems to be a considerable overestimation.
NSR’s Space Travel & Tourism Markets, 4th Edition report forecasts the opportunity for flying passengers beyond Earth, on commercial vehicles, to exceed $9.2 billion by 2032, with nearly 90 astronauts,
researchers, and tourists to be flown. These revenues
only cover ticket sales, whose prices are expected toaverage $100M per person over the decade.398 The
average price seems high.
6.3 Market: In-Space Transportation
Momentus reported $1.7M in revenues for the
first half of 2023. They also announced a satellite
platform product line based on Vigoride.240
Euroconsult predicts on-orbit services will generate more than $4B in 2031 in the report ”Space Logistics Markets, 2nd edition” released in April 2023.399
Allied Market Research reported on space robotics
market in Feb 2023 with estimation that ”the global
space robotics market size was valued at $4.3B in
2021, and is projected to reach $8B by 2031.”400
6.4 Market: Satellite Servicing
Satellite servicing is a market thanks to two MEV
missions flown by Northrop Grumman (SpaceLogistics) in 2019 and 2020 and more contracted.401
BIS Research forecasted in 2022 that the in-orbit
refueling market will reach $1.09B by 2032.402
NSR’s In-Orbit Servicing Markets, 2nd Edition
from 2019 forecast $4.5B in cumulative revenues by
2028. The growth will be over all applications in allorbits with GEO life extension the largest share.403
NSR’s In-Orbit Services: Satellite Servicing, ADR,
and SSA 6th Edition report from 2023 forecasts over
4,500 satellites could be serviced via Last Mile Delivery service providers. However, the actual market
demand reaches only 1,350 satellites, generating over
$1.8B in cumulative revenues by 2032.404

Page 23 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

Markets and Markets report from May 2023 estimated the on-orbit satellite servicing market to be$2.4B in 2023 and projects to reach $5.1B by 2030.
Considering that no new mission extension orsatellite servicing flights were performed, and only
a few may have been partially booked, it is difficult
to see how such large numbers were deduced.
6.5 Market: Space Debris Removal
Market Business Insights estimated in April 2023
that ”the active space debris removal market size willgrow from $26.50M in 2021 to $452.65M by 2030.”
Fortune Business Insights projects the global spacedebris monitoring and removal market to grow from$942.3M in 2022 to $1527.7M by 2029.405
NASA Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy published report ”Cost and Benefit Analysis ofOrbital Debris Remediation” in March 2023.285 J.
Foust of SpaceNews wrote that NASA billed the report as the most rigorous cost-benefit analysis todate of orbital debris remediation, noting that debris
removal analyses had largely focused on sustainability and “moral responsibility” for doing so. The report found that laser-based debris removal systems
create benefits that exceed costs within a decade,but other systems will likely need over 20-30 years
to break even. He also noted a finding that spacedebris imposes only relatively small costs on satellite operators today through avoidance manoeuvres
and collision damage. The model NASA developed,
which was limited to U.S. operators, estimated annual costs of only $58M a year.406
6.6 Market: Lunar and Cislunar
Moon Village Association published ”The Lunar
Commerce Portfolio” in November 2022. The members of the MVA’s Working Group on Lunar Commerce and Economics compiled the full range of potential lunar businesses, and their interactions, thatare anticipated in the near term and long term; bothon the Moon and in lunar orbit. The best assessments of prices for commercial products and serviceson the Moon, and the resulting revenue projections,were also collected.12
Philip T. Metzger published a paper on ”Economics of in-space industry and competitiveness oflunar-derived rocket propellant” with the latest revision in February 2023.14
NSR published ”Lunar Markets, 3rd Edition”
market report in March 2023.407
NewSpace Global published a market report ”Cislunar Market Opportunities”.408

IAC-23-D3.3.10

7. CONCLUSIONS
A statistical overview of 823 in-space economy
entries and about 750 unique organisations has beenpresented. This is almost double compared to thefirst and previous publication in 2021.1
All the activity areas have been classified into ahigh-level ten category taxonomy of in-space economy. A glossary with sub-categories, definitions, example entities and projects was updated. A shorthistorical overview about the primary in-space economy fields was kept and updates with advancementsfrom the last 2 years were added.
A goal was to leave a second snapshot from 2023,
after the first publication in 2021,1 to be able tocontinue discovering trends and popular new spaceindustries over the coming decade.
 New in-space economy entities are continuing
to emerge and the pace is increasing, but the
number of launches to space or commercial
revenues remains relatively small.
 There has been an overall large growth during the previous 2 years. Number of public
database entries increased from 472 to 823 withsome discovered and many founded.
 Business ideas are converging in cases where
the core technologies are similar. Primarily
due to small or non-existing markets in theoriginal niches. For example, space tugs entering satellite manufacturing, satellite servicing,
and active debris removal markets.
 First space launches are often being delayed.
Possibly even more in these fields compared tosmall launchers and constellations.
 Commercial human spaceflight has been demonstrated with Inspiration4 and Axiom and regular suborbital missions.
 Many commercial space station and module
providers have large funding and are actively
developing. Vast emerged in the last 2 years.
However, uncertainty about commercial markets has been a concern. Very recently, Northrop
Grumman cancelled its own plans and Blue
Origin may be re-prioritizing Orbital Reef.
 The first commercial Moon lander from ispace
failed to have a soft landing in April 2023. Intuitive Machines should launch in 2023. The
rest have been delayed to 2024 and beyond.
Masten went bankrupt.
 Lunar rovers are now planned to fly in 2024.

Page 24 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

 In-space manufacturing has many microgravity service providers and numerous small reentry capsules have been announced. However,recurring commercial in-space production for
Earth and in-space construction has not yet
started. Varda launched their first capsule andmanufactured a drug. Redwire sold an opticalcrystal as their first made-in-space product.
 Satellite life extension has been demonstrated,
and is a market, but only in GEO for now.
 In-space transportation is very popular by theamount of organisations building and launching space tugs, but the ecosystem may not
be able to support all of them in the nearterm. D-Orbit, Momentus and Launcher havelaunched two or more missions each.
 Starship is expected to have a major role in
the future of the in-space economy thanks tolower launch costs together with large volume,
upmass and cadence. First test launch in April
2023 failed and second should happen soon.
 Space solar power has re-emerged in the last
2 years, partially thanks to ESA, and may become one of the largest space industries thanks
to very large terrestrial energy markets.

The intention is to keep repeating this study annually as a whole or as deep dives into specific categories, e.g. in-space manufacturing,4 space solar
power,409 space habitats, and surface spacecraft.
The database and figures are viewable online andplanned to be updated multiple times per year.

References[1] Erik Kulu. In-Space Economy in 2021 - Statistical Overview and Classification of Commercial Entities. In 72nd International Astronautical Congress(IAC 2021), Dubai, United Arab Emirates, October
2021.
https://www.factoriesinspace.com/graphs/
In-Space-Economy-2021_Erik-Kulu_IAC2021.pdf.
[2] Erik Kulu.
Commercial Landscape of Space Resources in 2021.
Poster, April 2021.
https://cloud.list.lu/index.php/s/4jEnpqGPfodTo6o?
dir=undefined&openfile=1689759.
[3] Matt Weinzierl and Mehak Sarang. The Commercial
Space Age Is Here. Harvard Business Review, February 2021. https://hbr.org/2021/02/the-commercialspace-age-is-here.
[4] Erik Kulu.
In-Space Manufacturing:2022 Industry
SurveyandCommercial
Landscape.
In
73rd International Astronautical Congress(IAC 2022), Paris, France, September 2022.
https://www.factoriesinspace.com/graphs/InSpace-Manufacturing_2022_Erik-Kulu_IAC2022.pdf.

IAC-23-D3.3.10[5] Erik Kulu.
In-Space Manufacturing of Semiconductors – History and Future Vision.
https://www.factoriesinspace.com/graphs/History_of_
ISM_of_Semiconductors_2023-03-27_StanfordErik_Kulu.pdf, March 2023.
[6] Erik Kulu. Enabling Infrastructure Ecosystem forSpace Resources, April 2023.
[7] Harry L. Shipman. Space 2000: Meeting the Challenge
of a New Era. 1987.
[8] Seraphim In-Space Economy Ecosystem Map 2023.
https://seraphim.vc/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/
InSpaceEconomyEcosystemMap_v2.pdf, February 2023.
[9] The European Space Agency. Low Earth Orbit Value
Chain.
https://bsgn.esa.int/business-in-space/low-earth-orbit-value-chain/.
[10] Chad Anderson. The Space Economy: Capitalize on the
Greatest Business Opportunity of Our Lifetime. John
Wiley & Sons, Inc, Hoboken, New Jersey, 2023.
[11] Sandra Erwin.
New report calls for U.S. strategy to boost space economy. SpaceNews, November 2021. https://spacenews.com/new-report-callsfor-u-s-strategy-to-boost-space-economy/.
[12] Lunar Commerce and Economics Working Group.
The Lunar Commerce Portfolio.
Technical report, Moon Village Association, November 2022.
https://moonvillageassociation.org/download/
the-lunar-commerce-portfolio-first-editionnovember-2022/.
[13] Munich Re Ventures. In Space for Space’: The Next
Wave of the Space Economy Needs “Picks and Shovels.
https://medium.com/@MunichReVentures/in-spacefor-space-the-next-wave-of-the-space-economyneeds-picks-and-shovels-55ef735b2b6c,
January2023.
[14] Philip T. Metzger.
Economics of in-space industry and competitiveness of lunar-derived rocket
propellant.
Acta Astronautica, 207:425–444, June
2023. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/
pii/S0094576523001339.
[15] Jeff Foust. DARPA to study integrated lunar infrastructure.
SpaceNews, August 2023.
https://spacenews.com/darpa-to-study-integratedlunar-infrastructure/.
[16] Jeff Foust.
Foust Forward — Manufacturing a
low Earth orbit economy.
SpaceNews, September 2022.
https://spacenews.com/foust-forwardmanufacturing-a-low-earth-orbit-economy/.
[17] Karthee Madasamy. Despite tech reset, the spaceeconomy is here to stay. https://spacenews.com/oped-despite-tech-reset-the-space-economy-ishere-to-stay/, January 2023.
[18] Pierre Lionnet.
Twitter Discussion on Luanch
Costs. https://mobile.twitter.com/LionnetPierre/
status/1430497863306465286, August 2021.
[19] David Kaplan.
Space station idea was farout at the time.
August 2007.
https://www.chron.com/business/article/Space-stationidea-was-far-out-at-the-time-1841056.php.
[20] Clifford Kurtzman. Experiment scheduling for the Industrial Space Facility. In 7th Computers in Aerospace
Conference, Monterey,CA,U.S.A., October 1989. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/6.1989-3138.
[21] Bigelow Aerospace. https://bigelowaerospace.com/.

Page 25 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

[22] Paul Marks. NASA buys blow-up habitat for spacestation astronauts.
New Scientist, January 2013.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23083nasa-buys-blow-up-habitat-for-space-stationastronauts/.
[23] Jeff Foust.
Bigelow Aerospace sets sights on
free-flying station after passing on ISS commercial module.
SpaceNews, January 2020.
https://spacenews.com/bigelow-aerospace-setssights-on-free-flying-station-after-passingon-iss-commercial-module/.
[24] Jeff Foust. Bigelow Aerospace lays off entire workforce.
SpaceNews, March 2020.
https://spacenews.com/
bigelow-aerospace-lays-off-entire-workforce/.
[25] Jeff Foust.
NASA seeks proposals for commercial ISS modules.
SpaceNews, June 2019.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-seeks-proposalsfor-commercial-iss-modules/.
[26] Adam Higginbotham. Robert Bigelow Plans a Real
Estate Empire in Space.
Bloomberg, May 2013.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/201305-02/robert-bigelow-plans-a-real-estateempire-in-space.
[27] Emily Clark. Holiday in orbit: Galactic Suite spaceresort opening 2012. August 2007. https://newatlas.
com/go/7811/.
[28] Tariq Malik. Russian companies plan commercial spacestation. NBC News, September 2010. https://www.
nbcnews.com/id/wbna39418605.
[29] Darrell Etherington. Axiom Space raises $130 million for its commercial space station ambitions.
TechCrunch, February 2021. https://techcrunch.
com/2021/02/16/axiom-space-raises-130-millionfor-its-commercial-space-station-ambitions/.
[30] Stephanie
Schierholz
andMatthew
Rydin.
NASA
Selects
First
Commercial
Destination Module for International Space Station.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasaselects-first-commercial-destination-modulefor-international-space-station, January 2020.
[31] Thales Alenia space to Provide The First Two
Pressurized Modules for Axiom Space Station.
https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/space/press_release/thales-alenia-space-providefirst-two-pressurized-modules-axiom-space, July2021.
[32] Jeff Foust.
Orion Span falls far short of funding goal to support its commercial space station ambitions.
SpaceNews, February 2019.
https://spacenews.com/orion-span-fallsfar-short-of-funding-goal-to-support-itscommercial-space-station-ambitions/.
[33] Jeff Spry.
Company plans to start building private Voyager space station with artificial gravity in 2025.
Space.com, February 2021.
https://www.space.com/orbital-assembly-voyagerspace-station-artificial-gravity-2025.
[34] Ozmens’s SNC Announces Details for Commercial Space Station and LEO Commercialization.
https://www.sncorp.com/press-releases/sncdetails-for-leo-commercialization-andcommercial-space-station/, March 2021.
[35] Jeff Foust. NASA seeks proposals for commercial
space station development. SpaceNews, July 2021.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-seeks-proposals-forcommercial-space-station-development/.

IAC-23-D3.3.10[36] Michael Sheetz. NASA reviews pricate space station proposals, expects to save over $1 billion
annually after ISS retires.
CNBC, September
2021.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/20/nasaevaluating-private-space-station-proposals-foriss-replacement.html.
[37] Jeff Foust. China’s space station emerges as competitor
to commercial ventures. SpaceNews, August 2021.
https://spacenews.com/chinas-space-stationemerges-as-competitor-to-commercial-ventures/.
[38] Jeff Foust. Nanoracks and Lockheed Martin partneron commercial space station project. SpaceNews, October 2021. https://spacenews.com/nanoracks-andlockheed-martin-partner-on-commercial-spacestation-project/.
[39] Jeff Foust. Blue Origin and Sierra Space announceplans for commercial space station.
SpaceNews,
October 2021. https://spacenews.com/blue-originand-sierra-space-announce-plans-for-commercialspace-station/.
[40] Stephanie Schierholz and Gary Jordan.
NASA
Selects Companies to Develop Commercial Destinations in Space.
https://www.nasa.gov/pressrelease/nasa-selects-companies-to-developcommercial-destinations-in-space, December 2021.
[41] Josh Dinner.
NASA, private companies countonmarketdemandfor
futurespacestations after ISS.
Space.com, August 2022.
https://www.space.com/nasa-commercial-spacestation-rely-on-market-demand.
[42] Jeff Foust.
Blue Origin’s Erika Wagner.
https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/
1584985929969635329, October 2022.
[43] Jeff Foust. Commercial space station developers seek
clarity on regulations.
SpaceNews, October 2022.
https://spacenews.com/commercial-space-stationdevelopers-seek-clarity-on-regulations/.
[44] Aria Alamalhodaei. Gravitics raises $20M to makethe essential units for living and working in space.
TechCrunch, November 2022. https://techcrunch.
com/2022/11/17/gravitics-space-stations/.
[45] Eric Berger.
Last year marked the endof an era in spaceflight—here’s what we’re
watching next.
Ars Technica, January 2023.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/lastyear-marked-the-end-of-an-era-in-spaceflightheres-what-were-watching-next/.
[46] Jeff Foust. Axiom Space raises $350 million. SpaceNews, August 2023. https://spacenews.com/axiomspace-raises-350-million/.
[47] Mike Wall. Vast Space to launch 1st private station on SpaceX rocket in 2025. Space.com, May
2023. https://www.space.com/vast-space-privatestation-spacex-launch-2025.
[48] Jeff Foust. Voyager Space and Airbus create commercial
space station joint venture. SpaceNews, August 2023.
https://spacenews.com/voyager-space-and-airbuscreate-commercial-space-station-joint-venture/.
[49] Michael Sheetz. Blue Origin, Sierra Space weigh futureof Orbital Reef space station as partnership turns
rocky.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/28/blueorigin-sierra-space-orbital-reef-space-stationin-limbo.html, September 2023.
[50] Jeff Foust.
Northrop Grumman to join Voyager Space commercial space station project.

Page 26 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

https://spacenews.com/northrop-grumman-tojoin-voyager-space-commercial-space-stationproject/, October 2023.
[51] Eric Berger. Northrop Grumman likely to end its bid
for a commercial space station. https://arstechnica.
com/space/2023/10/northrop-grumman-likely-toend-its-bid-for-a-commercial-space-station/,
October 2023.
[52] Atossa Araxia Abrahamian.
How the asteroidmining bubble burst. Technology Review, June 2019.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/06/26/
134510/asteroid-mining-bubble-burst-history/.
[53] Devin Coldewey. Planetary Resources mines Luxembourg for $28M in asteroid-hunting funds. TechCrunch,
November 2016. https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/
03/planetary-resources-mines-luxembourg-for28m-in-asteroid-hunting-funds/.
[54] Jeff Foust.
Planetary Resources sets aside Earthobservation system.
SpaceNews, June 2017.
https://spacenews.com/planetary-resourcessets-aside-earth-observation-system/.
[55] Jeff Foust.
Planetary Resources revising plans
after funding setback.
SpaceNews, May 2018.
https://spacenews.com/planetary-resourcesrevising-plans-after-funding-setback/.
[56] Jeff Foust.
Asteroid mining company Planetary
Resources acquired by blockchain firm. SpaceNews,
October 2018.
https://spacenews.com/asteroidmining-company-planetary-resources-acquired-byblockchain-firm/.
[57] Jeff Foust.
Deep Space Industries acquired by
Bradford Space.
SpaceNews, January 2019.
https://spacenews.com/deep-space-industriesacquired-by-bradford-space/.
[58] Asteroid
Mining
Corporation.
https://
asteroidminingcorporation.co.uk/.
[59] Andrew Jones. China launches space mining test spacecraft on commercial rideshare mission. SpaceNews,
April 2021. https://spacenews.com/china-launchesspace-mining-test-spacecraft-on-commercialrideshare-mission/.
[60] Stephanie Schierholz and Josh Finch.
NASA
Selects Companies to Collect Lunar Resources
for Artemis Demonstrations.
December 2020.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasaselects-companies-to-collect-lunar-resourcesfor-artemis-demonstrations.
[61] Jeff Foust. Asteroid mining startup AstroForge tolaunch first missions this year. SpaceNews, January2023.
https://spacenews.com/asteroid-miningstartup-astroforge-to-launch-first-missionsthis-year-2/.
[62] Aria Alamalhodaei.
After stints at SpaceX,
three brothers want to build spacecraft powered by moon water.
April 2023.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/13/spacex-to-buildspacecraft-powered-by-moon-water/.
[63] Keith Cowing. ExLabs Awarded Space Force Orbital
Prime Contract for Robotic Capture System. SpaceRef,
June 2023. https://spaceref.com/space-commerce/
exlabs-is-developing-the-industrys-largestsatellite-vehicle-for-multipurpose-utility/.
[64] Karman+. https://www.karmanplus.com/, September
2023.
[65] Aria Alamalhodaei. Starpath Robotics wants to minemoon water for rocket fuel for off-world colonies.

IAC-23-D3.3.10

https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/26/starpathrobotics-wants-to-unlock-off-world-coloniesby-mining-moon-water-for-rocket-fuel/, September 2023.
[66] Michael Mealling. Strategic Space Commodities Reserve.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mealling_the-strategic-space-commodities-reserveactivity-6962892404605562880-xJHO/?utm_source=
linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web,2022.
[67] Tory Bruno. Creation of a U.S. Strategic Propellant Reserve. https://medium.com/@ToryBrunoULA/creationof-a-u-s-strategic-propellant-reserveb111044887e8, September 2022.
[68] The Artemis Project. https://www.moonsociety.org/
projects/artemis/.
[69] Gregory Bennett. The Artemis Project: Selling theMoon. January 1995. http://www.tlrc.space/news/
1995/01/artemis-project-selling-the-moon.
[70] Mars One will settle men on Mars in 2023. https://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/marsone-will-settle-men-on-mars-in-2023, May 2012.
[71] Elmo Keep.
Mars One Finalist Explains
ExactlyHow
It‘s
Ripping
Off
Supporters.
https://medium.com/matter/mars-one-insiderquits-dangerously-flawed-project-2dfef95217d3,
March 2015.
[72] Loren Grush. The company that promised a one-way
ticket to Mars is bankrupt.
The Verge, February 2019.
https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/11/
18220153/mars-one-bankruptcy-bas-lansdorphuman-settlement.
[73] Natalie Rens.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/
astreacity_im-sad-to-share-that-ive-made-thedecision-activity-7096952665372246016-ilEp/,
August 2023.
[74] Spartan Space. Habitats and Life Support Systems.
https://spartan-space.com/projects/#habitats.
[75] Jim Vinoski.
Lockheed Martin’s Inflatable
Space Habitats Aim For The Moon And Beyond.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimvinoski/
2023/09/22/lockheed-martins-inflatable-spacehabitats-aim-for-the-moon-and-beyond/.
[76] Jan King Joins SpaceDev as VP Engineering. Terra
Daily, August 1998. https://www.terradaily.com/
news/spacedev-98d.html.
[77] Spencer Reiss. Google Offers $20 Million X Prize to
Put Robot on Moon. Wired, September 2007. https://www.wired.com/2007/09/ff-moon/.
[78] Mike Wall. Ex-Prize: Google’s $30 Million Moon
Race Ends with No Winner. Space.com, January
2018. https://www.space.com/39467-google-lunarxprize-moon-race-ends.html.
[79] Elizabeth Gibney. Israeli spacecraft Beresheet crashes
into the Moon.
Nature, 568(7752):286–286, April
2019. http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-01901199-2.
[80] Cheryl Warner.
NASA Expands Plans for Moon
Exploration: More Missions, More Science. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-expands-plans-formoon-exploration-more-missions-more-science,
May 2018.
[81] Felicia Chou and Rachel Kraft. NASA Selects First
Commercial Moon Landing Services for Artemis Program. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-

Page 27 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

selects-first-commercial-moon-landing-servicesfor-artemis-program, May 2019.
[82] Mik Wall. Private Company Orbit Beyond Drops Outof 2020 NASA Moon-Landing Deal. Space.com, July
2019.
https://www.space.com/nasa-drops-orbitbeyond-moon-landing-contract.html.
[83] Grey Hautaluoma, Rachel Kraft, and Jenny
Knotts.
NASA Awards Contract to Deliver Science, Tech to Moon Ahead of Human Missions.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awardscontract-to-deliver-science-tech-to-moonahead-of-human-missions, April 2020.
[84] Grey Hautaluoma and Joshua Handal. NASA Selects
Astrobotic to Fly Water-Hunting Rover to the Moon,
June 2020.
[85] Grey Hautaluoma and Josh Handal. NASA Selects
Firefly Aerospace for Artemis Commercial Moon Delivery in 2023, February 2021.
[86] Michael Sheetz.
Lunar tech company Intuitive
Machines to go public via SPAC at close to$1 billion valuation.
CNBC, September 2022.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/16/intuitivemachines-going-public-via-spac-near-1-billionvaluation.html.
[87] Aria Alamalhodaei. Intuitive Machines’ post-SPAC
war chest depleted by shareholder redemptions.
TechCrunch, February 2023. https://techcrunch.
com/2023/02/15/intuitive-machines-post-spacwar-chest-depleted-by-shareholder-redemptions/.
[88] Ispace Announces Results of the ”HAKUTO-R” Mission 1 Lunar Landing. https://ispace-inc.com/newsen/?p=4691, May 2023.
[89] Jeff Foust. Japanese lunar lander company ispace togo public. https://spacenews.com/japanese-lunarlander-company-ispace-to-go-public/, March 2023.
[90] Karen Fox and Nilufar Ramji. NASA Picks Firefly
Aerospace for Robotic Delivery to Far Side of Moon.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-picksfirefly-aerospace-for-robotic-delivery-to-farside-of-moon, March 2023.
[91] Thomas Burghardt.
Relativity to launch Impulse
Space’s Mars Lander as early as 2024. NASA Spaceflight, July 2022. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/
2022/07/relativity-impulse-mars/.
[92] Jeff Foust. Impulse and Relativity target 2026 forlaunch of first Mars lander mission.
SpaceNews,May 2023.
https://spacenews.com/impulse-andrelativity-target-2026-for-launch-of-firstmars-lander-mission/.
[93] Jeff Foust.
Draper completes initial milestones
for NASA CLPS mission.
SpaceNews, April2023.
https://spacenews.com/draper-completesinitial-milestones-for-nasa-clps-mission/.
[94] Jeff Foust.
Ispace revises design of lunar
lander for NASA CLPS mission.
https://spacenews.com/ispace-revises-design-of-lunarlander-for-nasa-clps-mission/, September 2023.
[95] Michael Sheetz.
Space company Masten files forbankruptcy after struggle with NASA moon contract.
CNBC, July 2022. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/
29/masten-files-for-bankruptcy-after-nasa-mooncontract-struggle.html.
[96] Jeff Foust.
Lander companies prepare to shootfor the moon.
SpaceNews, September 2022.
https://spacenews.com/lander-companies-prepareto-shoot-for-the-moon/.

IAC-23-D3.3.10[97] Geeta Pandey. Chandrayaan-3: How important are
India’s Moon mission findings?
BBC, September
2023. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india66808808.
[98] Andrew Jones. Japan’s SLIM moon lander completes
1st critical phase in Earth orbit. Space.com, September 2023. https://www.space.com/japan-slim-moonlander-completes-first-phase-earth-orbit.
[99] Jeff Foust.
First Intuitive Machines lunar lander
ready for launch.
https://spacenews.com/firstintuitive-machines-lunar-lander-ready-forlaunch/, October 2023.
[100] Jeff Foust. Astrobotic purchases Falcon Heavy for
third lunar lander mission. SpaceNews, April 2023.
https://spacenews.com/astrobotic-purchasesfalcon-heavy-for-third-lunar-lander-mission/.
[101] Jeff Foust.
First Vulcan launch further delayed for Centaur modifications. SpaceNews, June
2023. https://spacenews.com/first-vulcan-launchfurther-delayed-for-centaur-modifications/.
[102] Peter H. Diamandis.
BlastOff!
https://web.archive.org/web/20080807180818/http://www.diamandis.com/blastoff.html, August 2008.
[103] David Whitehouse. Moon Opens For Business. BBC,
September 2020. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2249064.stm.
[104] Astrobotic Awarded $5.6 Million Nasa Contract
To Deliver Autonomous Moon Rover.
https://www.astrobotic.com/astrobotic-awarded-5-6million-nasa-contract-to-deliver-autonomousmoon-rover/, July 2019.
[105] CubeRover To Develop Next Generation Planetary
Rovers In Luxembourg. https://www.astrobotic.com/
cuberover-to-develop-next-generation-planetaryrovers-in-luxembourg/, September 2018.
[106] Jeff Foust.
Astrobotic wins NASA funding for CubeRover mission.
August 2022.
https://spacenews.com/astrobotic-wins-nasafunding-for-cuberover-mission/.
[107] Ispace Releases Updates on Progress of Mission 2
and Mission 3. https://ispace-inc.com/news-en/?p=4401, February 2023.
[108] Keith Cooper. What is Intuitive Machines and how is
it aiming for the moon? January 2023. https://www.
space.com/intuitive-machines.
[109] Kevin Fitchard.
Nokia helps Intuitive Machines in its search for water on the Moon.
https://www.bell-labs.com/institute/blog/nokiahelps-intuitive-machines-in-its-search-forwater-on-the-moon/#gref, May 2023.
[110] Loura Hall. 2020 NASA Tipping Point Selections.
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/solicitations/tipping_points/2020_selections,
October 2020.
[111] STELLS. https://stells.space/.
[112] GITAI Lunar Rover.
https://gitai.tech/lunarrover/.
[113] Dymon YAOKI. https://dymon.co.jp/.
[114] Jeff Foust.
Astrolab to send rover to themoon on SpaceX’s Starship.
March 2023.
https://spacenews.com/astrolab-to-send-roverto-the-moon-on-spacexs-starship/.
[115] Lunar Outpost Successfully Integrates MIT Payloads
into Mission 1 MAPP Rover. https://lunaroutpost.
com/lunar-outpost-successfully-integrates-mit-

Page 28 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

payloads-into-mission-1-mapp-rover/, September
2023.
[116] SpaceNews Editor.
Editorial:
Who Killed
Kistler Aerospace?
SpaceNews, October 2005.
https://spacenews.com/editorial-who-killedkistler-aerospace/.
[117] Greg Lamm.
Rocket Maker Loses $227M Deal.
July 2004. https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/
stories/2004/07/05/story1.html.
[118] Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office. NASA
Commercial Orbital Transportation Services. https://www.nasa.gov/offices/c3po/about/c3po.html, March
2012.
[119] Commercial Orbital Transportation Services. Technical Report NASA/SP-2014-617, August 2017.
https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-orbitaltransportation-services-cots/.
[120] Michael Braukus, Beth Dickey, and Kelly Humphries.
NASA Selects Crew and Cargo Transportation to Orbit
Partners. https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/
aug/HQ_06295_COTS_phase_1.html, August 2006.
[121] Brian Berger.
NASA Gives Rocketplane Kistler
Termination Notice.
Space.com, September 2007.
https://www.space.com/4323-nasa-rocketplanekistler-termination-notice.html.
[122] John Yembrick and Josh Byerly.
NASA Awards
Space Station Commercial Resupply Services Contracts.
https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/
dec/HQ_C08-069_ISS_Resupply.html, December 2008.
[123] Peter B. de Selding.
SpaceX wins 5 new spacestation cargo missions in NASA contract estimated at $700 million.
SpaceNews, February
2016.
https://spacenews.com/spacex-wins-5-newspace-station-cargo-missions-in-nasa-contractestimated-at-700-million/.
[124] Jeff Foust. First Dream Chaser mission slips to 2022.
SpaceNews, November 2020. https://spacenews.com/
first-dream-chaser-mission-slips-to-2022/.
[125] Jeff Foust. SpaceX wins NASA commercial cargo
contract for lunar Gateway.
SpaceNews, March2020.
https://spacenews.com/spacex-wins-nasacommercial-cargo-contract-for-lunar-gateway/.
[126] Jeff Foust.
NASA delays starting contract withSpaceX for Gateway cargo services.
SpaceNews,
April 2021.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-delaysstarting-contract-with-spacex-for-gatewaycargo-services/.
[127] Andrew Jones. Startup wants to develop cargo services
for Chinese space station. SpaceNews, August 2021.
https://spacenews.com/startup-wants-to-developcargo-services-for-chinese-space-station/.
[128] Sean Potter. NASA Orders Additional Cargo Flights toSpace Station. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasaorders-additional-cargo-flights-to-spacestation.
[129] Jeff Foust.
Dream Chaser moves a step
closer to first launch.
SpaceNews, June 2023.
https://spacenews.com/dream-chaser-moves-astep-closer-to-first-launch/.
[130] Michael Sheetz.
Sierra Space raises $1.4 billion at $4.5 billion valuation as it builds spaceplane, space station.
CNBC, November 2021.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/19/sierra-spaceraises-1point4-billion-at-4point5-billionvaluation.html.

IAC-23-D3.3.10[131] Jeff Foust.
Sierra Space raises $290 million.
https://spacenews.com/sierra-space-raises290-million/, September 2023.
[132] Eric Berger. Nearly two decades after NASA, China
and Europe eye commercial cargo plans. Ars Technica,
June 2023. https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/06/
china-and-europe-both-seek-to-emulate-nasassuccess-with-commercial-cargo/.
[133] Aria Alamalhodaei.
The Exploration Company signs agreements with Axiom,
IndianSpace Research Organization.
September 2023.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/13/the-europeancompany-signs-agreements-with-axiom-indianspace-research-organization/.
[134] Andrew Parsonson.
RFA-Led Consortium Submit Argo for ESA Commercial Cargo Initiative.
https://europeanspaceflight.com/rfa-ledconsortium-submit-argo-for-esa-commercialcargo-initiative/, September 2023.
[135] Rocket Factory Augsburg.
Team,
assemble!
https://twitter.com/rfa_space/status/
1706337364119806249, September 2023.
[136] Andrew Jones.
China narrows field for lowcost space station cargo missions.
https://spacenews.com/china-narrows-field-for-lowcost-space-station-cargo-missions/,
September
2023.
[137] Allen Duane Weber. Launching the Rocket Industry in the United States: Domestic Regulation of Private Expendable Launch Vehicles. Journal of Air Law
and Commerce, 1984. https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/
viewcontent.cgi?article=1721&context=jalc.
[138] U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. Access to Space: The Future of U.S. Space Transportation Systems, OTA-ISC-415. Technical report, April
1990. https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk2/1990/
9002/9002.PDF.
[139] Craig Covault. Beating swords into plough shares with
Soviet Almaz. Spaceflight Now, August 2009. https://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0908/18almaz/.
[140] Jonathan Owen. Shooting for the Moon: Time calledon Isle of Man space race. Independent, March 2015.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/shooting-moon-time-called-isle-man-space-race10101750.html.
[141] Craig Malisow. Selling Space: Entrepreneurs Offer Dreams and Schemes in the Hope of Making a
Buck Off the Cosmos. Houston Press, June 2016.
http://www.houstonpress.com/news/selling-spaceentrepreneurs-offer-dreams-and-schemes-in-thehope-of-making-a-buck-off-the-cosmos-8480202.
[142] Space Adventures.
Space Adventures Announces Agreement with SpaceX to Launch
Private Citizens on the Crew Dragon Spacecraft.
https://spaceadventures.com/spaceadventures-announces-agreement-with-spacexto-launch-private-citizens-on-the-crew-dragonspacecraft/, February 2020.
[143] Greg Autry, Laura Hhuang, and Jeff Foust.
An
Analysis of the Competitive Advantage of theUnited States of America in Commercial Human
Orbital Spaceflight Markets. Technical report, 2014.
https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.
cgi?article=1261&context=mgmt_papers.
[144] Andrew Moseman. Just One ($150 Million) Seat Remains on Space Adventures’ Lunar Flyby. Popular Mechanics, April 2011. https://www.popularmechanics.

Page 29 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

com/space/rockets/a13025/just-one-150-millionseat-remains-on-space-adventures-lunar-flyby/.
[145] MZ Mission To The ISS. https://spaceadventures.
com/ms-20/, 2021.
[146] Jeff Foust.
Space Adventures no longer planning
Crew Dragon flight. https://spacenews.com/spaceadventures-no-longer-planning-crew-dragonflight/, October 2021.
[147] Michael Belfiore. The Crazy Plan to Fly Two Humans
to Mars in 2018. Popular Mechanics, February 2013.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moonmars/a8658/the-crazy-plan-to-fly-two-humansto-mars-in-2018-15152667/.
[148] Lisa Grossman. Ambitious Mars joy-ride cannot succeed without NASA. New Scientist, November 2013.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24633ambitious-mars-joy-ride-cannot-succeed-withoutnasa/.
[149] Mars Flyby Schedule Reset for 2021, But Will It
Ever Fly?
NBC News, February 2014. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/mars-flybyschedule-reset-2021-will-it-ever-fly-n41546.
[150] Grey Hautaluoma, Ashley Edwards, and Josh Byerly.
NASA Selects Commercial Firms to Begin Development of Crew Transportation Concepts and Technology
Demonstrations for Human Spaceflight Using Recovery
Act Funds.
https://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/
2010/feb/HQ_C10-004_Commercia_Crew_Dev.html,
February 2010.
[151] Charles Bolden.
American Companies Selected
to Return Astronaut Launches to American
Soil.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/bolden/2014/09/
16/american-companies-selected-to-returnastronaut-launches-to-american-soil/, September
2014.
[152] Mike Wall.
NASA Picks SpaceX and Boeing
to Fly U.S. Astronauts on Private Spaceships.
Scientific American, September 2014.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasapicks-spacex-and-boeing-to-fly-u-s-astronautson-private-spaceships/?redirect=1.
[153] Chelsea Gohd.
SpaceX’s Crew-3 is ready for a
Halloween weekend launch.
Space.com, October
2021. https://www.space.com/spacex-crew3-launchhalloween-ready.
[154] Kenneth Chang. Boeing Starliner Ends Up in Wrong
Orbit After Clock Problem. The New York Times, December 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/20/
science/boeing-starliner-launch.html.
[155] Calla Cofield. SpaceX to Fly Passengers On Private
Trip Around the Moon in 2018. Space.com, February 2017. https://www.space.com/35844-elon-muskspacex-announcement-today.html.
[156] Loren Grush.
SpaceX says it will send someone around the Moon on its future monster
rocket.
The Verge, September 2018.
https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/13/17857872/spacexmoon-trip-passenger-announcement-bfr.
[157] Vicky Stein. Inspiration4: The first all-civilian spaceflight on SpaceX Dragon. Space.com, September 2021.
https://www.space.com/inspiration4-spacex.html.
[158] Elizabeth Landau. Artemis Moon Program Advances– The Story So Far. https://www.nasa.gov/artemismoon-program-advances, March 2019.
[159] Eric Berger. NASA awards lunar lander contracts toBlue Origin, Dynetics—and Starship. Ars Technica,

IAC-23-D3.3.10

April 2020. https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/
04/nasa-awards-lunar-lander-contracts-to-blueorigin-dynetics-and-starship/.
[160] Monica Witt and Jena Rowe. As Artemis Moves Forward, NASA Picks SpaceX to Land Next Americans
on Moon. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/asartemis-moves-forward-nasa-picks-spacex-toland-next-americans-on-moon/, April 2021.
[161] Jeff Foust.
NASA selects five companies for lunar lander studies.
SpaceNews, September 2021.
https://spacenews.com/nasa-selects-fivecompanies-for-lunar-lander-studies/.
[162] Jeff Foust.
ESA looks to space summit to endorse human spaceflight efforts. SpaceNews, January
2022. https://spacenews.com/esa-looks-to-spacesummit-to-endorse-human-spaceflight-efforts/.
[163] Jeff Foust. Polaris Dawn mission likely to slip to 2024.
SpaceNews, August 2023. https://spacenews.com/
polaris-dawn-mission-likely-to-slip-to-2024/.
[164] Eric Berger.
A year after New Shepard’s
accident,
Blue Origin may return to flightnext month.
Ars Technica, September 2023.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/09/a-yearafter-new-shepards-accident-blue-origin-mayreturn-to-flight-next-month/.
[165] Jeff Foust.
Virgin Galactic completes third commercial SpaceShipTwo flight. SpaceNews, September2023.
https://spacenews.com/virgin-galacticcompletes-third-commercial-spaceshiptwoflight/.
[166] Jeff Foust.
First Starliner crewed flight delayed
to 2024. https://spacenews.com/first-starlinercrewed-flight-delayed-to-2024/, August 2023.
[167] Michael Sheetz. SpaceX is not yet cleared for anotherStarship Super Heavy test flight, FAA says. CNBC,
September 2023.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/
07/spacex-not-yet-cleared-for-second-starshipsuper-heavy-test-flight-faa-says.html.
[168] Vanessa Lloyd, Kathryn Hambleton, and Jenalane
Rowe. NASA Selects Blue Origin as Second Artemis Lunar Lander Provider. https://www.nasa.gov/pressrelease/nasa-selects-blue-origin-as-secondartemis-lunar-lander-provider, May 2023.
[169] Department of Transportation/Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
Study of Reentry
Vehicle Systems. Technical report, 1989. https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_
offices/ast/media/survey.pdf.
[170] John Givens and Richard Schaupp.
RRS - A
Multipurpose Reusable Reentry Satellite.
1987.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/smallsat/1987/
all1987/28/.
[171] Gunter D Krebs.
VBK-Raduga.
https://
space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/vbk-raduga.htm, October 2021.
[172] L. Marraffa et al. Inflatable Re-Entry Technologies:
Flight Demonstration and Future Prospects.
August 2000. https://www.esa.int/esapub/bulletin/bullet103/marraffa103.pdf.
[173] PARES to complete study phase.
Flight Global,
April 2005. https://www.flightglobal.com/paresto-complete-study-phase-/59682.article.
[174] Matthias Wiegand and Hans J. Königsmann.
A
Small Re-entry Capsule - BREM-SAT 2.
August 1996. https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/
download?doi=10.1.1.599.2741&rep=rep1&type=pdf.

Page 30 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

[175] Stephen Clark. Russian spacecraft back on Earth after six-week mission. Spaceflight Now, September 2014.
https://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1409/01fotonm4.
[176] SBIR. TERMINAL VELOCITY AEROSPACE, LLC.
https://www.sbir.gov/sbc/terminal-velocityaerospace-llc, 2014.
[177] SpaceWorks. RED-25. https://www.spaceworks.aero/flight/red-25/, October 2021.
[178] Debra Werner. Terminal Velocity’s Down-to-Earth
Cargo Delivery Aspirations.
SpaceNews, March2015. https://spacenews.com/terminal-velocitysdown-to-earth-cargo-delivery-service/.
[179] Spaceflight101. Cygnus OA-7 fades from Existencein Fiery Re-Entry after successful Fire Experiment &CubeSat Release. June 2017.
[180] Shackleton Energy Company Signs MOA to Utilize theInternational Space Station For Development and Testing of New Payload Retrieval System. http://www.
shackletonenergy.com/news/2015/2/27/oryx, February 2015.
[181] Intuitive
Machines.
http://www.
spacestationresearch.com/partner/intuitivemachines/, 2019.
[182] Stephen Clark. Japanese cargo capsule succeeds inre-entry tech demo. Spaceflight Now, November 2018.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2018/11/20/japanesecargo-capsule-succeeds-in-re-entry-tech-demo/.
[183] Andrew Jones.
Startup wants to develop cargoservices for Chinese space station.
https://spacenews.com/startup-wants-to-develop-cargoservices-for-chinese-space-station/,
August2021.
[184] Andrew Jones. China’s Galactic Energy raises $200
million for reusable launch vehicle development.
https://spacenews.com/chinas-galactic-energyraises-200-million-for-reusable-launch-vehicledevelopment/, January 2022.
[185] Sandra Erwin.
Startup raises $10 million to develop ‘return vehicle’ for space cargo.
https://spacenews.com/startup-raises-10-million-todevelop-return-vehicle-for-space-cargo/, November 2021.
[186] Outpost Space. Ferry. https://outpost.space/ferry.
[187] Rachel Jewett. Outpost Raises $7M Seed Roundto Develop Returnable Satellites.
https://www.
satellitetoday.com/business/2022/08/30/outpostraises-7m-seed-round-to-develop-returnablesatellites/, August 2022.
[188] Space Cargo Unlimited and Thales Alenia Space
unveil details of their alliance for the development of“REV1”, the first space factory — Thales Alenia Space.
https://www.thalesaleniaspace.com/en/pressreleases/space-cargo-unlimited-and-thalesalenia-space-unveil-details-their-alliance,
December 2022.
[189] Garrett Reim.
The Exploration Company Raises¿40m For Reusable Space Capsule — Aviation Week
Network.
https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/commercial-space/exploration-company-raiseseu40m-reusable-space-capsule.
[190] Stephen Clark. In-space manufacturing startup aces
pharma experiment in orbit. https://arstechnica.
com/space/2023/07/in-space-manufacturingstartup-aces-pharma-experiment-in-orbit/,
July
2023.

IAC-23-D3.3.10[191] Stephen Clark. Permission denied for reentry of Varda’s
orbiting experiment capsule. https://arstechnica.
com/space/2023/09/permission-denied-forreentry-of-vardas-orbiting-experiment-capsule/,
September 2023.
[192] Aria Alamalhodaei. Atmos Space Cargo is building return capsules for in-space research and manufacturing.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/23/atmos-spacecargo-return-capsules-for-in-space-research/,
June 2023.
[193] Bella Richards.
ESA’s Space Rider likely tolaunch third quarter of 2025, program manager
says.
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2023/08/
space-rider-update/, August 2023.
[194] R. L. Worsnop.
Space Shuttle Controversy.
1972.
http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1972031500.
[195] Ed Zuckerman.
Farms on the Asteroids: Hotels on the Moon.
Rolling Stone, October 1978.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culturenews/farms-on-the-asteroids-hotels-on-themoon-39885/.
[196] Thomas J. Lueck.
Technology; Space Shuttle
As a Factory. The New York Times, July 1982.
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/08/business/
technology-space-shuttle-as-a-factory.html.
[197] Richard E. Korf. Space Robotics. Technical report, 1982. https://www.ri.cmu.edu/pub_files/pub3/
korf_richard_e_1982_1/korf_richard_e_1982_1.pdf.
[198] Catherine Rodd. An Industrial Space Race. May
1982. https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1982/
5/17/an-industrial-space-race.
[199] Mark Washburn. What’s A Space Station Good For?We
Should Be Aiming Higher – Toward Space Tugs, Asteroids And the Planets. The Washington Post, April
1984.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/
opinions/1984/04/01/whats-a-space-station-goodforwe-should-be-aiming-higher-toward-spacetugs-asteroids-and-the-planets/d3fac2eb-6acd4a16-aeec-2f6550d0fc45/.
[200] John Noble Wilford.
America’s Future in Space
After The Callenger.
The New York Times,
March 1986.
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/
16/magazine/america-s-future-in-space-afterthe-challenger.html.
[201] James J. Haggerty. SPINOFF. Technical report,
NASA, August 1989.
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/
back_issues_archives/1989.pdf.
[202] Richard L. Randolph. NASA/Industry Joint Venture on a Commercial Materials Processing inSpace Idea.
In The Space Congress, April 1982.
https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?
referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&
article=2497&context=space-congress-proceedings.
[203] Jeff Foust. Making it in space. The Space Review, August 2016. https://www.thespacereview.com/
article/3036/1.
[204] Ioana Cozmuta and Daniel J. Rasky. Exotic OpticalFibers and Glasses: Innovative Material Processing Opportunities in Earth’s Orbit. New Space, 5(3):121–140,
September 2017. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/
10.1089/space.2017.0016.
[205] Jeff Foust.
Industry sees new opportunities
for space manufacturing.
SpaceNews, December
2017.
https://spacenews.com/industry-sees-newopportunities-for-space-manufacturing/.

Page 31 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

[206] Gary L. Workman. ZBLAN Microgravity Study. Technical report, April 1995. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/
citations/19960054007.
[207] Dave Dooling.
ZBLAN Has Great Commercial Potential.
February 1998.
https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-atnasa/1998/msad03feb98_2.
[208] Doug Messier. NASA Selects SBIR Projects to Enhance
Manufacturing on ISS. http://www.parabolicarc.com/
2016/05/07/iss-sbirs/, May 2016.
[209] NASA awards Physical Optics Corporation additional $4M contract for Zero Gravity Optical Fibers.
PR Newswire, August 2019.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nasaawards-physical-optics-corporation-additional4m-contract-for-zero-gravity-optical-fibers300901671.html.
[210] Michael Johnson. NASA Selects Proposals for In-Space
Development of Projects Including Optical Fibers andStem Cells and a Plan to Enable a Low-Earth Orbit
Economy. https://www.nasa.gov/leo-economy/nasaselects-for-projects-optical-fibers-stem-cellsenable-low-earth-orbit-economy, April 2020.
[211] Gwen Weerts.
Competing for space.
January 2021. https://spie.org/news/photonics-focus/
janfeb-2021/competing-for-space?SSO=1.
[212] Mike Wall.
In-Space Manufacturing Is About
to Get a Big Test.
Space.com, December 2017.
https://www.space.com/39039-made-in-space-offearth-manufacturing-test.html.
[213] Mike Wall. Made In Space to Step Up Off-Earth Production of Valuable Optical Fiber. Space.com, September 2019. https://www.space.com/made-in-spacesecond-zblan-optical-fiber-space-factory.html.
[214] FOMS Reports High-Quality ZBLAN Production on ISS.
SpaceNews, November 2019.
https://spacenews.com/foms-reports-highquality-zblan-production-on-iss/.
[215] Flawless Photonics. https://www.flawlessphotonics.
com/, October 2021.
[216] Matthew C. Weinzierl and Mehak Sarang.
Made
In Space, Expectations Management, and the Business of In-Space Manufacturing. Technical report,
March 2021. https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/
item.aspx?num=59293.
[217] Rich McCormick.
NASA is the first to 3D-print
objects in space. The Verge, November 2014. https://www.theverge.com/2014/11/25/7289299/nasa-isthe-first-to-3d-print-objects-in-space.
[218] Debra Werner. NASA awards $73.7 million to Made
In Space for orbital demonstration.
SpaceNews,
July 2019. https://spacenews.com/made-in-spacearchinaut-one-demonstration/.
[219] Jeff Foust. Rocket Lab wins order for three Photon
missions from space manufacturing startup. SpaceNews, August 2021. https://spacenews.com/rocketlab-wins-order-for-three-photon-missions-fromspace-manufacturing-startup/.
[220] SpaceDaily.
Microgravity on demand with Earthreturn through ESA’s Boost! Space Daily, September 2021.
https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/
Microgravity_on_demand_with_Earth_return_through_ESAs_Boost!_999.html.
[221] The Workshop on Semiconductor Manufacturing in theSpace Domain. https://semispace.sites.stanford.
edu/, March 2023.

IAC-23-D3.3.10[222] Space: A Final Frontier for Semiconductor Manufacturing?
https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/
AboutUs/News/Spotlights/2023/2023-0721-spacesemiconductor-manufacturing.
[223] Redwire Opens New Commercial Market for In Space
Production with First Sale of Space-Manufactured Optical Crystal. https://redwirespace.com/newsroom/
redwire-opens-new-commercial-market-for-inspace-production-with-first-sale-of-spacemanufactured-optical-crystal/, June 2022.
[224] Redwire. Redwire BioFabrication Facility Successfully
Prints First Human Knee Meniscus on ISS, Paving theWay for Advanced In-Space Bioprinting Capabilities to
Benefit Human Health, September 2023.
[225] Bartolomeo connected to Columbus.
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2020/04/
Bartolomeo_connected_to_Columbus, April 2020.
[226] M-NLP begins measurements as first experiment onboard Bartolomeo. https://www.esa.int/Enabling_
Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Shaping_
the_Future/m-NLP_begins_measurements_as_first_
experiment_onboard_Bartolomeo, September 2023.
[227] Rachael Zisk. Space DOTS Raises $1.5M Pre-Seed.
https://payloadspace.com/space-dots-raises-15m-pre-seed/, July 2023.
[228] NASA. U.S. General Accounting Office - Staff Study Space Transportation System. Technical report, June
1974. https://www.gao.gov/assets/093967.pdf.
[229] Lockheed Missiles & Space Company for NASA. Space
Tug Economic Analysis Study.
Technical report,
NASA, 1972. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/
19730012174/downloads/19730012174.pdf.
[230] Battelle Columbus Laboratories for U.S. Departmentof Energy.
Satellite Power Systems (SPS) SpaceTransportation Cost Analysis and Evaluation. Technical report, November 1980. https://www.osti.gov/
servlets/purl/6734887.
[231] Lee Dye. TRW Awarded Contract : ‘Space Tug’for Shuttle Will Do Chores in Orbit. LA Times,
June 1986. https://www.latimes.com/archives/laxpm-1986-06-26-me-21476-story.html.
[232] Hugh L. McManus and Todd E. Schuman. Understanding the Orbital Transfer Vehicle Trade Space.
September 2003. http://seari.mit.edu/documents/
preprints/MCMANUS_AIAA03.pdf.
[233] Jason Andrews. Spaceflight Secondary Payload System(SSPS) and SHERPA Tug - A New Business Modelfor Secondary and Hosted Payloads. August 2012.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.
cgi?article=1049&context=smallsat&httpsredir=1&
referer=.
[234] Jodi Sorensen. Spaceflight Prepares Historic Launchof More Than 70 Spacecraft Aboard SpaceX Falcon
9. https://spaceflight.com/spaceflight-prepareshistoric-launch-of-more-than-70-spacecraftaboard-spacex-falcon-9/, August 2018.
[235] Joey Roulette.
Space startup Momentus charged
by SEC with misleading investors.
The Verge,
July 2021.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/13/
22576176/space-momentus-charged-sec-misleadinginvestors-mikhail-kokorich.
[236] Impulse
Space
Propulsion.
https://www.
impulsespace.com/, October 2021.
[237] Jason Rainbow. D-Orbit cancels SPAC merger plan.
SpaceNews, August 2022. https://spacenews.com/dorbit-cancels-spac-merger-plan/.

Page 32 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

[238] Keith Cowing.
D-Orbit Launches 11 th Orbital
Transportation Mission in Three Years. SpaceRef, June2023.
https://spaceref.com/space-commerce/dorbit-launches-11-th-orbital-transportationmission-in-three-years/.
[239] Momentus.
Missions.
https://momentus.space/missions/, 2023.
[240] Momentus, Inc.
Momentus Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results.
https://investors.momentus.space/news-releases/newsrelease-details/momentus-inc-announces-secondquarter-2023-financial-results/, August 2023.
[241] Jeff Foust. First Launcher orbital transfer vehicle fails.
SpaceNews, February 2023. https://spacenews.com/
first-launcher-orbital-transfer-vehicle-fails/.
[242] Jeff Foust. Second Orbiter transfer vehicle malfunctions. SpaceNews, June 2023. https://spacenews.com/
second-orbiter-transfer-vehicle-malfunctions/.
[243] Ben Evans.
Fixing Solar Max: 30 Years Since
Mission 41C (Part 1). AmericaSpace, April 2014.
https://www.americaspace.com/2014/04/05/fixingsolar-max-30-years-since-mission-41c-part-1/.
[244] Dennis Wingo. Orbital Recovery’s Responsive Commercial Space Tug for Life Extension Missions. In Space
2004 Conference and Exhibit, San Diego, California,
September 2004. American Institute of Aeronautics andAstronautics. https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/6.
2004-6118.
[245] Jeff Foust. The space industry grapples with satellite
servicing. The Space Review, June 2012. https://www.
thespacereview.com/article/2108/1.
[246] Jeff Foust.
U.S. Space sues Orbital ATK
over ViviSat venture.
SpaceNews, May 2016.
https://spacenews.com/u-s-space-sues-orbitalatk-over-vivisat-venture/.
[247] Northrop Grumman.
SpaceLogistics.
https://www.northropgrumman.com/space/spacelogistics-services/, October 2021.
[248] Caleb Henry. Northrop Grumman’s MEV-1 servicer
docks with Intelsat satellite. SpaceNews, February
2020.
https://spacenews.com/northrop-grummansmev-1-servicer-docks-with-intelsat-satellite/.
[249] Jason Rainbow.
MEV-2 servicer successfully
docks to live Intelsat satellite.
SpaceNews, April
2021.
https://spacenews.com/mev-2-servicersuccessfully-docks-to-live-intelsat-satellite/.
[250] Sandra Erwin. Northrop Grumman to launch newsatellite-servicing robot aimed at commercial andgovernment market.
SpaceNews, September 2021.
https://spacenews.com/northrop-grumman-tolaunch-new-satellite-servicing-robot-aimed-atcommercial-and-government-market/.
[251] Peter B. de Selding.
MDA Designing In-orbit
Servicing Spacecraft.
SpaceNews, March 2010.
https://spacenews.com/mda-designing-orbitservicing-spacecraft/.
[252] Marc Boucher. MDA Sells Majority Stake in its Satellite Servicing Business and Gets its First Customer.
Spaceq, June 2017. https://spaceq.ca/mda-sellsmajority-stake-in-its-satellite-servicingbusiness-and-gets-its-first-customer/.
[253] Darrell Etherington. Astroscale raises $51 million
in Series E funding to fuel its orbital sustainability ambitions.
TechCrunch, October 2020.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/13/astroscale-IAC-23-D3.3.10

raises-51-million-in-series-e-funding-to-fuelits-orbital-sustainability-ambitions/.
[254] Jeff Foust. Satellite servicing companies see different
demand in LEO versus GEO. SpaceNews, September
2021. https://spacenews.com/satellite-servicingcompanies-see-different-demand-in-leo-versusgeo/.
[255] Sandra Erwin. Orbit Fab to launch propellant tanker
to fuel satellites in geostationary orbit. SpaceNews,
September 2021. https://spacenews.com/orbit-fabto-launch-propellant-tanker-to-fuel-satellitesin-geostationary-orbit/.
[256] Sandra Erwin.
On-orbit satellite servicing: The
next big thing in space?
SpaceNews, November
2017. https://spacenews.com/on-orbit-satelliteservicing-the-next-big-thing-in-space/.
[257] Jeff Foust.
Industry group working on satellite servicing standards.
SpaceNews, September 2021. https://spacenews.com/industry-groupworking-on-satellite-servicing-standards/.
[258] Jeff Foust. After technical demonstrations, satellite
servicing grapples other issues. SpaceNews, September
2021.
https://spacenews.com/after-technicaldemonstrations-satellite-servicing-grapplesother-issues/.
[259] Sandra Erwin.
Orbit Fab secures deal to refuelAstroscale’s satellite-servicing robots.
https://spacenews.com/orbit-fab-secures-deal-torefuel-astroscales-in-space-servicing-robots/,
January 2022.
[260] Jeff Foust. Orbit Fab announces in-space hydrazine
refueling service.
https://spacenews.com/orbitfab-announces-in-space-hydrazine-refuelingservice/, August 2022.
[261] Jeff Foust. Orbit Fab raises $28.5 million. https://spacenews.com/orbit-fab-raises-28-5-million/,
April 2023.
[262] Sandra Erwin. Orbit Fab selects Impulse Space’s
orbital vehicle for in-space refueling demo.
https://spacenews.com/orbit-fab-selectsimpulse-spaces-orbital-vehicle-for-in-spacerefueling-demo/, May 2023.
[263] Jason Rainbow.
ClearSpace announces life extension collaboration with Intelsat.
https://spacenews.com/clearspace-announces-lifeextension-collaboration-with-intelsat/, November 2022.
[264] Alison Howlett.
Astroscale to Advance On-Orbit
Servicing Interface Technologies Supported by Latest
Award from Japanese National Research and Development Agency. https://astroscale.com/astroscaleto-advance-on-orbit-servicing-interfacetechnologies-supported-by-latest-award-fromjapanese-national-research-and-developmentagency/, January 2022.
[265] JAXA — Astroscale Japan and JAXA Launch
Co-Creation Project for Satellite Refueling Service
Concept.
https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2022/12/
20221207-1_e.html.
[266] Jason Rainbow. Starfish Space raises $14 million for
in-orbit servicers. https://spacenews.com/starfishspace-raises-14-million-for-in-orbitservicers/, March 2023.
[267] Rachael Zisk. Starfish Space Announces Otter Pup Mission.
https://payloadspace.com/starfish-spaceannounces-otter-pup-mission/, November 2022.

Page 33 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

[268] Rani Gran.
NASA Satellite Servicing Technologies
LicensedbyNorthrop
Grumman.
http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/nasasatellite-servicing-technologies-licensed-bynorthrop-grumman, January 2022.
[269] Sandra Erwin.
Northrop Grumman to launch
new satellite-servicing mission in 2024.
https://spacenews.com/northrop-grumman-to-launch-newsatellite-servicing-mission-in-2024/,
February2022.
[270] Sandra Erwin.
Intelsat orders another servicing
mission from Northrop Grumman’s SpaceLogistics.
https://spacenews.com/intelsat-orders-anotherrefueling-mission-from-northrop-grummansspacelogistics/, June 2023.
[271] Jason Rainbow.
Italy awards $256 million
contract for 2026 in-orbit servicing mission.
https://spacenews.com/italy-awards-256-millioncontract-for-2026-in-orbit-servicing-mission/,
May 2023.
[272] Jason Rainbow.
Rogue Space Systems gets US
Air Force funds to advance in-orbit servicing tech.
https://spacenews.com/rogue-space-systemsgets-us-air-force-funds-to-advance-in-orbitservicing-tech/, September 2023.
[273] Roxana Bardan.
NASA Creates In-Space Servicing,
Assembly,
Manufacturing
Consortium.
http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-createsin-space-servicing-assembly-manufacturingconsortium, April 2023.
[274] COSMIC – Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM
Capabilities. https://cosmicspace.org/.
[275] National Strategy for In-Space Servicing, Assembly,
and Manufacturing Released – Office of Space Commerce. https://www.space.commerce.gov/nationalstrategy-for-in-space-servicing-assembly-andmanufacturing-released/, April 2022.
[276] White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Unveils National In-Space Servicing, Assemblyand Manufacturing (ISAM) Implementation Plan —OSTP.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/newsupdates/2022/12/16/white-house-office-ofscience-and-technology-policy-unveils-nationalin-space-servicing-assembly-and-manufacturingisam-implementation-plan/, December 2022.
[277] Sandra Erwin.
U.S. Space Force and Astroscale
to co-invest in a refueling satellite.
https://spacenews.com/u-s-space-force-and-astroscaleto-co-invest-in-a-refueling-satellite/, September 2023.
[278] Jeff Foust.
Astroscale inspector satellite readyfor launch.
https://spacenews.com/astroscaleinspector-satellite-ready-for-launch/, September
2023.
[279] ESA purchases world-first debris removal mission fromstart-up.
https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/ESA_
purchases_world-first_debris_removal_mission_
from_start-up, December 2020.
[280] ClearSpace
raises¿26
milliontocleanupspace in a Series A round led by OTB Ventures and Swisscom Ventures.
January 2023.
https://clearspace.today/clearspace-raises-e26million-to-cleanup-space-in-a-series-a-roundled-by-otb-ventures-and-swisscom-ventures/.
[281] Jason Rainbow.
Astroscale gets funds for 2024
debris-removal mission.
https://spacenews.com/

IAC-23-D3.3.10

astroscale-gets-funds-for-2024-debris-removalmission/, May 2022.
[282] Astroscale on course for first UK national mission
to remove space debris. https://astroscale.com/
astroscale-on-course-for-first-uk-nationalmission-to-remove-space-debris/, March 2023.
[283] Jeff Foust.
FCC approves new orbital debris
rule.
https://spacenews.com/fcc-approves-neworbital-debris-rule/, September 2022.
[284] Jeff Foust. FAA proposes rule to limit lifetime of upper stages in orbit.
https://spacenews.com/faaproposes-rule-to-limit-lifetime-of-upperstages-in-orbit/, September 2023.
[285] Thomas J. Colvin, John Karcz, Grace Wusk.
Cost and Benefit Analysis of Orbital Debris Remediation.
Technical report, NASA Office ofTechnology, Policy, and Strategy, March 2023.
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/
files/otps_-_cost_and_benefit_analysis_of_
orbital_debris_remediation_-_final.pdf.
[286] Jeff Foust. NASA offers choice of contract type for ISS
deorbit vehicle.
https://spacenews.com/nasaoffers-choice-of-contract-type-for-issdeorbit-vehicle/, September 2023.
[287] Aria Alamalhodaei.
Techstars selects 12 companies for its fall space accelerator.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/11/techstars-selects12-companies-for-its-fall-space-accelerator/,
September 2023.
[288] Debra Werner. Audacy customer MOUs top $100 million. https://spacenews.com/audacy-mous/, October
2018.
[289] Debra Werner. Audacy defaulted on debt, shut doors in
2019. https://spacenews.com/audacy-shuts-down/,
January 2020.
[290] Jason Rainbow.
Kepler Communications raises$92 million for optical data relay network. https://spacenews.com/kepler-communications-raises92-million-for-optical-data-relay-network/,
April 2023.
[291] Debra Werner. SpaceLink to wind down operations,barring last-minute investment. https://spacenews.
com/spacelink-wind-down/, October 2022.
[292] Jeff Foust. ESA to be anchor customer on commercial
lunar satellite. https://spacenews.com/esa-to-beanchor-customer-on-commercial-lunar-satellite/,
September 2021.
[293] Lunar Pathfinder mission — Small Satellite supplier— Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd — SSTL. https://www.sstl.co.uk/space-portfolio/missions-inbuild/2023/lunar-pathfinder.
[294] Jason Rainbow.
Plus Ultra’s lunar comsats to hitch rides on ispace moon landers.
https://spacenews.com/plus-ultras-lunarcomsats-to-hitch-rides-on-ispace-moon-landers/,
January 2022.
[295] Carlos Manuel Entrena Utrilla.
This is probably one of the hardest announcements I’ve
ever had to make.
https://www.linkedin.
com/posts/centrenautrilla_this-is-probablyone-of-the-hardest-announcements-activity6962311723752009728-msNS, 2022.
[296] Jason Rainbow.
Another startup joins race toprovide high-speed lunar communications.
https://spacenews.com/another-startup-joins-race-to-Page 34 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

provide-high-speed-lunar-communications/, March
2022.
[297] Jeff Foust.
Quantum Space raises $15 million
for cislunar spacecraft.
https://spacenews.com/
quantum-space-raises-15-million-for-cislunarspacecraft/, December 2022.
[298] Jeff Foust.
Lockheed Martin subsidiary to offer
commercial lunar communications and navigation services.
https://spacenews.com/lockheedmartin-subsidiary-to-offer-commercial-lunarcommunications-and-navigation-services/, March2023.
[299] Molly Porter.
NASA Awards $500K in First
Phase of $5M Watts on the Moon Challenge.
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/
centennial_challenges/500k-awarded-in-firstphase-of-5m-watts-on-the-moon-challenge.html,
May 2021.
[300] Audra Mitchell.
Astrobotic Wins $34.6M for
Power Demo Mission on the Moon.
https://www.astrobotic.com/astrobotic-wins-34-6mfor-power-demo-mission-on-the-moon/, July 2023.
[301] Sandra Erwin.
Air Force Research Lab awards
design contracts for nuclear powered spacecraft.
https://spacenews.com/air-force-research-labawards-design-contracts-for-nuclear-poweredspacecraft/, October 2023.
[302] Peter E. Glaser.
Power from the Sun: Its Future. Science, 162(3856):857–861, November 1968.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.
162.3856.857.
[303] PG&E makes deal for space solar power. https://www.
nbcnews.com/id/wbna30198977, April 2009.
[304] Solaren Raises $2.5M in Series D Financing : Solaren.
https://www.solarenspace.com/2023/06/05/
solaren-raises-2-5m-in-series-d-financing/.
[305] Peter Sage. Space Energy. https://petersage.com/
space-energy/.
[306] Peter B. de Selding.
Astrium Seeks Partners To
Help Fund Solar-power Beaming Demonstration.
https://spacenews.com/astrium-seeks-partnershelp-fund-solar-power-beaming-demonstration/,January 2010.
[307] Nikitha Ladda.
Giant leap for space-based solar.
https://www.power-technology.com/features/featuregiant-leap-for-space-based-solar/,November 2011.
[308] SOLARIS Cost vs. benefits studies. https://www.
esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/SOLARIS/Cost_vs._benefits_studies.
[309] SOLARIS. https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/
Space_Engineering_Technology/SOLARIS/SOLARIS2.
[310] ESA developing Space-Based Solar Power plant plans.
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_
Engineering_Technology/SOLARIS/ESA_developing_Space-Based_Solar_Power_plant_plans, April 2023.
[311] Astrostrom: Press Release: ESA funded study finds
Solar Power Satellite production on the Moon could
eventually ease dependency on fossil fuels on Earth.
https://astrostrom.ch/en/index.php.
[312] Andrew Jones.
China aims for space-based solar
power test in LEO in 2028, GEO in 2030. https://spacenews.com/china-aims-for-space-basedsolar-power-test-in-leo-in-2028-geo-in-2030/,
June 2022.

IAC-23-D3.3.10[313] Deng Xiaoci Global Times reporter tracking China’s
space programs, Cutting-Edge Science, technology
projects Deng Xiaoci, and Fan Wei in Hefei. China
to build gigawatt-level space power station: Leading
expert - Global Times. https://www.globaltimes.cn/
page/202304/1289677.shtml.
[314] UK shoots for the stars as space-based solar power
prepares for lift-off. https://www.gov.uk/government/
news/uk-shoots-for-the-stars-as-space-basedsolar-power-prepares-for-lift-off.
[315] Samantha Amy. Space Solar - Satellite Applications
Catapult Launches new Partnership with Space
Solar to meet the Energy Needs of the 21st Century.
https://www.spacesolar.co.uk/satelliteapplications-catapult-launches-new-partnershipwith-space-solar/, August 2023.
[316] Kathy Svitil. Caltech Announces Breakthrough $100
Million Gift to Fund Space-based Solar Power Project.
August 2021. https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/
caltech-announces-breakthrough-100-milliongift-to-fund-space-based-solar-power-project.
[317] In a First, Caltech’s Space Solar Power Demonstrator Wirelessly Transmits Power in Space.
https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/in-afirst-caltechs-space-solar-power-demonstratorwirelessly-transmits-power-in-space, June 2023.
[318] First In-Space Laser Power Beaming Experiment
Surpasses 100 Days of Successful On-Orbit Op.
https://www.nrl.navy.mil/Media/News/Article/
3457014/first-in-space-laser-power-beamingexperiment-surpasses-100-days-of-successful/,
July 2023.
[319] EMROD — EMROD partners with Airbus and theEuropean Space Agency for power beaming demonstration. https://emrod.energy/blog/emrod-partnerswith-airbus-and-the-european-space-agency-fordemonstration/, September 2022.
[320] Beaming Day 2023: Live 100m Wireless Power Transfer Demonstration.
https://virtussolis.space/blog/beaming-day-2023-live-100m-wireless-powertransfer-demonstration, March 2023.
[321] Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Human Spaceflight. https://www.faa.gov/space/licenses/human_
spaceflight/, October 2021.
[322] Werner Grandl. Human life in the Solar System.
REACH, 5:9–21, March 2017. https://linkinghub.
elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352309317300020.
[323] Merriam-Webster. ”space station”. https://www.
merriam-webster.com/dictionary/space%20station,
October 2021.
[324] Kriss J. Kennedy and Stephen D. Capps. Designing Space Habitation.
In Space 2000, pages 49–
71, February 2000. http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.
1061/40479%28204%296.
[325] Off-Earth manufacturing: Using local resources tobuild a new home. https://www.esa.int/Enabling_
Support/Preparing_for_the_Future/Discovery_
and_Preparation/Off-Earth_manufacturing_using_
local_resources_to_build_a_new_home, August 2021.
[326] Gerard K O’Neill and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Space-based manufacturing from
nonterrestrial materials: Techn. papers derived fromthe 1976 summer study at NASA Ames Research Center Moffet Field, Calif., 1977.
[327] ISS National Lab. CASIS Releases Two ISS National
Lab Research Announcements For In-Space Produc-

Page 35 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

tion Applications. https://www.issnationallab.org/
iss360/release-two-nlra-ispa/, March 2021.
[328] Zhihui Xue, Jinguo Liu, Chenchen Wu, and Yuchuang
Tong. Review of in-space assembly technologies. Chinese Journal of Aeronautics, 34(11):21–47, November
2021. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/
pii/S1000936120304854.
[329] Mary Fae McKay, David S. McKay, Michael B. Duke,and United States, editors. Space Resources - Scenarios. Number 509 in NASA SP. National Aeronautics
and Space Administration, Scientific and Technical Information Program : For sale by Supt. of Docs., U.S.
G.P.O, Washington, DC, 1992.
[330] Davide Sivolella. Space Mining and Manufacturing:
Off-World Resources and Revolutionary Engineering
Techniques. Springer Praxis Books in Space Exploration. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30881-0.
[331] Alex Gilbert. Mining in Space Is Coming. April 2021.
https://www.milkenreview.org/articles/miningin-space-is-coming.
[332] Joshua P. Davis, John P. Mayberry, and Jay
P. Penn.
On-Orbit Servicing:
Inspection, Repair, Refuel, Upgrade and Assembly of Satellites
In Space. Technical report, Aerospace Corp, May
2019. https://aerospace.org/sites/default/files/
2019-05/Davis-Mayberry-Penn_OOS_04242019.pdf.
[333] Bettina M. Mrusek. Satellite Maintenance: An Opportunity to Minimize the Kessler Effect. International
Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace, 2019.
https://commons.erau.edu/ijaaa/vol6/iss2/2/.
[334] William G. Huber. Orbital maneuvering vehicle: A
new capability. Acta Astronautica, 18:13–23, January
1988. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/
pii/0094576588900811.
[335] AIAA Space Logistics Technical Committee Position
Paper - Recommended Government Actions to Address
Critical U.S. Space Logistics Needs. Technical report,
2004. https://www.aiaa.org/docs/default-source/
uploadedfiles/issues-and-advocacy/policypapers/information-papers/2004-informationpapers/sltc-paper.pdf?sfvrsn=3a3c716e_0.
[336] Jeff Foust.
FAA revises criteria for commercial astronaut wings.
SpaceNews, July 2021.
https://spacenews.com/faa-revises-criteriafor-commercial-astronaut-wings/.
[337] Samantha Falcucci. The Future of Commercial Astronauts. https://medium.com/predict/the-future-ofcommercial-astronauts-e55358f4ba45, January 2021.
[338] Sandra Erwin. Air Force: SSA is no more; it’s
’Space Domain Awareness’. SpaceNews, November
2019. https://spacenews.com/air-force-ssa-is-nomore-its-space-domain-awareness/.
[339] Surendra P. Sharma and Christopher Moore. Recommendations for In-Space Infrastructure Initiative:
Enabling In-Space Infrastructure to Provide Economic and Societal Benefits. Technical report, February 2020. https://www.ascend.events/wp-content/
uploads/2020/02/ASCEND-IN-Space-Paper.pdf.
[340] Eric Berger. Virgin Galactic has lost $1 billion during
the last two years. Ars Technica, February 2022.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/02/virgingalactic-has-lost-1-billion-during-the-lasttwo-years/.
[341] Elizabeth Howell. Northrop Grumman rocket launches
Cygnus cargo ship on 2-day trip to space station.

IAC-23-D3.3.10

Space.com, February 2022. https://www.space.com/
space-station-cygnus-ng-17-cargo-ship-launch.
[342] Amy Thompson.
The International Space Station is now home to the world’s 1st commercial airlock.
Space.com, December 2020.
https://www.space.com/nanoracks-bishop-airlockinstalled-space-station.
[343] ESA - European Space Agency.
Moonlight:
Bringing connectivity to the Moon.
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Videos/2021/
05/Moonlight_bringing_connectivity_to_the_Moon,
May 2021.
[344] Clare Skelly and Molly Porter. NASA Announces
Winners of Deep Space Food Challenge.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-announceswinners-of-deep-space-food-challenge/, October
2021.
[345] Mary Ann Azevedo. ICON raises $185M in Tiger-led
round to build more homes with its 3D printing tech,
now approaching $2B valuation. TechCrunch, February2022.
https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/18/iconraises-185m-in-tiger-global-led-round-at-a2b-valuation-to-build-more-homes-with-its-3dprinting-technology/.
[346] ICON Team. ICON Receives Funding From NASAand Launches “PROJECT OLYMPUS” to Reach for
the Stars with Off-world Construction System for theMoon.
https://www.iconbuild.com/updates/iconreceives-funding-from-nasa-and-launchesproject-olympus, October 2020.
[347] Gaby Moreno. Company aiming to build on Mars
starting in Brownsville.
ValleyCentral, February
2022. https://www.valleycentral.com/news/localnews/company-aiming-to-build-on-mars-startingin-brownsville/.
[348] FII Institute Invests in Interstellar Lab, Accelerating
Sustainable Farming on Earth and in Space. BusinessWire, September 2021. https://www.businesswire.
com/news/home/20210907005919/en/FII-InstituteInvests-in-Interstellar-Lab-AcceleratingSustainable-Farming-on-Earth-and-in-Space.
[349] Jeff Foust. Relativity and SpaceX bid on NASA commercial space station competition. SpaceNews, February 2022. https://spacenews.com/relativity-andspacex-bid-on-nasa-commercial-space-stationcompetition/.
[350] Caleb Henry. Kepler Communications: A Toronto
startup’s quest to connect all things, everywhere.
SpaceNews, February 2017. https://spacenews.com/
kepler-communications-a-toronto-startups-questto-connect-all-things-everywhere/.
[351] Jason Rainbow. Kepler plots relay network to serve
thousands of satellite terminals. SpaceNews, December 2021.
https://spacenews.com/kepler-plotsrelay-network-to-serve-thousands-of-satelliteterminals/.
[352] Debra Werner.
Outpost to return satellites andpayloads from orbit.
SpaceNews, November
2021.
https://spacenews.com/outpost-to-returnsatellites-and-payloads-from-orbit/.
[353] Sandra Erwin. Startup raises $10 million to develop‘return vehicle’ for space cargo. SpaceNews, November
2021.
https://spacenews.com/startup-raises-10million-to-develop-return-vehicle-for-spacecargo/.

Page 36 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

[354] Dan Taylor. To the moon and back with The Exploration Company as it raises ¿5.3 million. Tech.eu,
November 2021.
https://tech.eu/2021/11/18/tothe-moon-and-back-with-the-explorationcompany-as-it-raises-e5-3-million/.
[355] Kevin T. Dugan. Everything to know about Tuesday’s
Blue Origin space launch with Jeff Bezos. Fortune,
July 2021. https://fortune.com/2021/07/19/jeffbezos-space-launch-blue-origin-july-20-2021billionaires/.
[356] Michael Sheetz.
Relativity Space raises $650
million from Fidelity and others to build 3Dprinted SpaceX competitor.
CNBC, June 2021.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/08/relativityspace-raises-650-million-for-3d-printedspacex-competitor.html.
[357] Darrell Etherington. Astroscale raises $109M for its onorbit services technology. TechCrunch, November 2021.
https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/25/astroscaleraises-109m-for-its-on-orbit-servicestechnology/.
[358] Crunchbase. Momentus has raised a total of $143.8M infunding over 9 rounds. https://www.crunchbase.com/
organization/momentus-space/company_financials,
February 2022.
[359] Stephanie Schierholz and Gary Jordan.
NASA
Selects Companies to Develop Commercial Destinations in Space.
https://www.nasa.gov/pressrelease/nasa-selects-companies-to-developcommercial-destinations-in-space/,
December
2021.
[360] Crunchbase.
Moon Express has raised a total of $65.5M in funding over 6 rounds.
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/moonexpress-inc/company_financials, February 2022.
[361] Crunchbase. SpaceIL has raised a total of $91.9M
in funding over 6 rounds. https://www.crunchbase.
com/organization/spaceil/company_financials,
February 2022.
[362] Alisa Odenheimer. SpaceIL $70 Million Financing
Paves Way for Second Moon Mission. Bloomberg, July2021.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/
2021-07-11/spaceil-70-million-financing-pavesway-for-second-moon-mission.
[363] Crunchbase.
Astrobotic Technology.
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/astrobotictechnology, February 2022.
[364] Michael Sheetz. Firefly Aerospace becomes the latest
space unicorn after $75 million raise. CNBC, May
2021.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/04/fireflyaerospace-raises-75-million-to-become-a-spaceunicorn.html.
[365] Aria Alamalhodaei. Japanese startup ispace raises$46M to support planned moon missions. TechCrunch,
August 2021. https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/04/
japanese-startup-ispace-raises-46m-to-supportplanned-moon-missions/.
[366] Grey Hautaluoma, Jenny Knotts, and Rachel
Kraft.
NASA Awards Contract to Deliver Science, Tech to Moon Ahead of Human Missions.
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-awardscontract-to-deliver-science-tech-to-moonahead-of-human-missions/, April 2020.
[367] Michael Sheetz. Space infrastructure conglomerate
Redwire to go public via a SPAC. CNBC, March2021.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/25/redwire-

IAC-23-D3.3.10

space-going-public-via-a-spac-after-year-ofacquisitions.html.
[368] Redwire Acquires Space Biotech Business Pioneer Techshot.
Aviation Week, November 2021.
https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/commercialspace/redwire-acquires-space-biotech-businesspioneer-techshot.
[369] Darrell Etherington.
More new space consolidation as Voyager Space Holdings acquires Pioneer Astronautics.
TechCrunch, July 2020.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/13/more-newspace-consolidation-as-voyager-space-holdingsacquires-pioneer-astronautics/.
[370] Tasmin Lockwood. Space Forge is building satellites
that make new materials in space then return toEarth. Check out the 6-slide pitch deck it used toraise $10.2 million. Business Insider, December 2021.
https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deckspace-forge-10-million-satellites-return-earth2021-12.
[371] Jeff Foust.
Relativity Space raises $500 million.
SpaceNews, November 2020. https://spacenews.com/
relativity-space-raises-500-million/.
[372] Agnieszka de Sousa. From Printing Steaks to Raising
Cash for Cultivated Beef Rollout. Bloomberg, July 2021.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/202107-07/from-printing-steaks-to-raising-cashfor-cultivated-beef-rollout.
[373] Rebecca Smithers. First meat grown in space lab
248 miles from Earth. The Guardian, October 2019.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/
oct/07/wheres-the-beef-248-miles-up-as-firstmeat-is-grown-in-a-space-lab.
[374] Darrell Etherington.
Space startup Gitai raises$17.1M to help build the robotic workforce ofcommercial space.
TechCrunch, February 2021.
https://techcrunch.com/2021/02/28/spacestartup-gitai-raises-17-1m-to-help-build-therobotic-workforce-of-commercial-space/.
[375] Debra Werner.
D-Orbit Satellite Carrier delivers Planet SuperDoves to desired orbits.
SpaceNews, October 2020.
https://spacenews.com/dorbit-demonstrates-ion/.
[376] Mathias Pikelj. Successful launch for Airbus’ Bartolomeo.
https://www.airbus.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2020-03-successful-launch-forairbus-bartolomeo, March 2020.
[377] Amelia Williamson Smith. Supercomputing in Space:
HPE’s Spaceborne Computer Returns After a Successful 1.5-Year Mission on the ISS National Lab. https://www.issnationallab.org/iss360/supercomputingin-space-hpes-spaceborne-computer-returns/, June
2019.
[378] Debra Werner.
Spaceborne Computer-2 shows
results on space station.
SpaceNews, August2021. https://spacenews.com/spaceborne-computer2-first-results/.
[379] Paul Brinkmann.
First lunar rovers in decades
may explore the moon in 2022.
UPI, January
2022. https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2022/01/
18/nasa-Astrobotic-Intuitive-Machines-lunarrovers/2971642192741/.
[380] Mihir Neal and Lee Kanayama.
Intuitive Machines adds third mission following first lunar
landings in 2022.
NASA Spaceflight, AugustPage 37 of 38

74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), Baku, Azerbaijan, 2-6 October 2023.
Copyright © 2023 by Mr. Erik Kulu. Published by the IAF, with permission and released to the IAF to publish in all forms.

2021.
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/08/
intuitive-machines-im-3/.
[381] Joey Roulette. Japanese Company Joins March Backto the Moon in 2022. The New York Times, January 2022.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/25/
science/japan-moon-ispace.html.
[382] James Devonshire. Manufacturing in space: SpaceForge’s incredible plans to make next-gen supermaterials beyond the Kármán line. The Manufacturer, February 2022. https://www.themanufacturer.
com/articles/manufacturing-in-space-spaceforges-incredible-plans-to-make-next-gensuper-materials-beyond-the-karman-line/.
[383] Jeff Foust.
Launcher buys additional SpaceX
rideshare missions.
SpaceNews, February 2022.
https://spacenews.com/launcher-buys-additionalspacex-rideshare-missions/.
[384] Momentus Announces Date of Fourth Quarter 2021
Financial Results and Conference Call. Business Wire,
February 2022. https://www.businesswire.com/news/
home/20220221005521/en/Momentus-Announces-Dateof-Fourth-Quarter-2021-Financial-Results-andConference-Call.
[385] Mike Brown. SpaceX Starship: Musk Claims The
Rocket Will Reach Orbit in 2022, Despite Setback.
Inverse, February 2022. https://www.inverse.com/
innovation/starship-2022-update.
[386] Eric Berger. Firefly completes design of Moon mission, aiming for 2023 launch. Ars Technica, October
2021.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/
10/firefly-completes-design-of-moon-missionaiming-for-2023-launch/.
[387] Jeff Foust. Masten delays first lunar lander mission. SpaceNews, June 2021. https://spacenews.com/
masten-delays-first-lunar-lander-mission/.
[388] Jeff Foust. Varda Space selects SpaceX for launch offirst space manufacturing satellite. SpaceNews, October
2021. https://spacenews.com/varda-space-selectsspacex-for-launch-of-first-space-manufacturingsatellite/.
[389] Doug Messier. ESA Announces Opportunity to Fly
Payloads on Reusable Space Rider Vehicle. Parabolic
Arc, October 2021. http://www.parabolicarc.com/
2021/10/28/esa-announces-opportunity-to-flypayloads-on-reusable-space-rider-spacecraft/.
[390] Jeff Foust. Quantum Space unveils plans for cislunar platforms.
SpaceNews, February 2022.
https://spacenews.com/quantum-space-unveilsplans-for-cislunar-platforms/.
[391] Chris Gebhardt.
Mike Suffredini talks Axiom
module additions to ISS, ensuring no gap in
LEO station access. NASA Spaceflight, November
2021.
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/11/
axiom-suff-interview/.
[392] Space Entertainment Enterprise. Space Entertainment
Enterprise (S.E.E.) Announces World’s First Entertainment Arena and Content Studios in Space, built by
Axiom Space. SpaceRef, January 2022. http://www.
spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=59223.
[393] Jeff Foust.
ESA to be anchor customer oncommercial lunar satellite.
SpaceNews, September 2021. https://spacenews.com/esa-to-be-anchorcustomer-on-commercial-lunar-satellite/.
[394] Keith W. Crane, Benjamin A. Corbin, Bhavya Lal,
Reina S. Buenconsejo, Danielle Piskorz, and Annalisa L. Weigel. Market Analysis of a Privately

IAC-23-D3.3.10

Owned and Operated Space Station. Technical report, IDA, March 2017.
https://www.ida.org//media/feature/publications/m/ma/marketanalysis-of-a-privately-owned-and-operatedspace-station/p-8247.ashx.
[395] Mikhail Kokorich.
Private Space Industrialization Is Here.
TechCrunch, August 2020.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/18/privatespace-industrialization-is-here/.
[396] Jeff Foust. From one, many: The race to develop
commercial space stations and the markets for them.
https://spacenews.com/from-one-many-the-raceto-develop-commercial-space-stations-and-themarkets-for-them/, June 2023.
[397] Space Tourism Market Size & Growth Report,
2023 - 2030. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/
industry-analysis/space-tourism-market-report.
[398] Alexandra Agrum. Race to the Moon: Will SpaceX be
Enough? https://www.nsr.com/race-to-the-moonwill-spacex-be-enough/, December 2022.
[399] Euroconsult. Growing flexibility and sustainability
requirements in space to drive space logistics revenues
to $4B over 2023 to 2032. Technical report, April2023.
https://www.euroconsult-ec.com/pressrelease/growing-flexibility-and-sustainabilityrequirements-in-space-to-drive-space-logisticsrevenues-to-4b-over-2023-to-2032/.
[400] Space Robotics Market Size, Trends, Share, Growth,
Analysis.
https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/
space-robotics-market-A07165.
[401] Satellite Servicing Becomes an Actual Market. https://interactive.satellitetoday.com/satelliteservicing-becomes-an-actual-market/.
[402] Space In-Orbit Refueling Market - A Global and Regional Analysis: Focus on Application, End User, Capability, and Country - Analysis and Forecast, 20222032.
https://bisresearch.com/industry-report/
space-in-orbit-refueling-market.html, 2022.
[403] NSR Predicts Significant Growth of In-Orbit Servicing Market Over Next Decade.
March 2019.
https://spacewatch.global/2019/03/nsr-predictssignificant-growth-of-in-orbit-servicingmarket-over-next-decade/.
[404] Kristen Grady. Last Mile Delivery in Space: A Strategic
Market. https://www.nsr.com/last-mile-deliveryin-space-a-strategic-market/, February 2023.
[405] Space Debris Monitoring and Removal Market Growth[2029]. https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/
space-debris-monitoring-and-removal-market104070.
[406] Jeff Foust. NASA study assesses costs and benefits oforbital debris removal. https://spacenews.com/nasastudy-assess-costs-and-benefits-of-orbitaldebris-removal/, March 2023.
[407] NSR. Lunar Markets, 3rd Edition. Technical report,
March 2023. https://www.nsr.com/?research=lunarmarkets-3rd-edition.
[408] NewSpace Global. Cislunar Market Opportunities.
Technical report, 2023. https://cislunar.report/
product/cislunar-market-opportunities/.
[409] Erik Kulu. Space Solar Power - 2023 Survey of Publicand Private Initiatives. In 74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023), October 2023.

Page 38 of 38