Opinion: To Infinity and Beyond: Government or Private Sector Leadership in Space Exploration?

By Kriya Shah, Global High School Fellow (North Penn High School ‘24 — North Wales, Pennsylvania) In the era of globalization that we live in today, with global connections come global competition, and just like <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/space-race" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">the Space Race</a> of the Cold War era, we have seen aggressive efforts to innovate in space exploration from major world powers like the United States, China, Russia, and India, among others. But according to a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/27/space-economy-grew-at-fastest-rate-in-years-in-2021-report.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">2022 report from the Space Foundation</a>, a not-for-profit research organization, 90% of the more than 1,000 spacecraft that have taken off in the past few years have been from private sector companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin, to name a few. Because space is expected to be <a href="https://www.morganstanley.com/Themes/global-space-economy" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">generating over $1 trillion by 2040</a>, many are wondering if this could be the industry to save the world economy. In that case, should governments or private companies lead the space exploration movement? The private sector of space exploration has been incentivized to emerge due to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-09-04/commercialization-space-earth" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">sizable decreases in space travel</a> and the resources of top entrepreneurs like Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin), Sir Richard Branson (Blue Galactic), and most notably, Elon Musk (SpaceX). SpaceX accounts for nearly <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a27290/one-chart-spacex-dominate-rocket-launches/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">60% of all new commercial launches</a> and is often <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a27290/one-chart-spacex-dominate-rocket-launches/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">credited with bringing back the space market to the United States. </a>Private companies have more leeway to innovate because they are not subject to bureaucratic constraints, and have unrestricted access and relegation to funding. Based on this, a common argument to place control in the hands of the private sector is that it is better suited to pursue commercial opportunities like space tourism, space mining, and spacecraft launches so that the revenue from the industry isn’t tied up in red tape. <a href="https://medium.com/columbia-journal-of-science-tech-ethics-and-policy/opinion-to-infinity-and-beyond-government-or-private-sector-leadership-in-space-exploration-cdb4656eafe0">Read More</a>