The privatisation of space

Vaibhav Sharma

When the race to the moon was at its greatest, the general public’s interest in space exploration was at its peak. While the interest among the masses was high the world over, it was especially boosted by feelings of national pride in the USA and the USSR, with both super powers trying to outdo each other. Then in 1969 man set foot on the moon, and the rest, as they say, is history. With that monumental achievement in the bag, people’s interest began to turn away from aspirational curiosities to real world problems of education, hunger and disease.

The governments responded by tightening the belts for agencies such as NASA. The argument was loud and clear — we have enough problems here on Earth, why go looking for more elsewhere. Another hurdle was the fact that the next milestone in Mars was a much bigger challenge than even the moon, and the costs astronomical.

Space exploration is not just about exploring the far reaches of the solar system, it also entails launching new satellites, maintaining the ones in orbit, restocking and sustaining the International Space Station. These are all avenues that private players like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic have entered into. Everyone wants a satellite these days — universities want them for research, governments for spying, weather mapping and positioning, private companies for communication and so on. For example, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) called NAVIC is being setup by the government to cover the Indian mainland as well as an area of 1,500 kms around it. So far we have relied upon GPS data pulled from the USA’s satellites, but given its requirement in sensitive military operations as well, a government cannot always trust another. The satellites are being launched using ISRO’s highly cost effective PSLV program, which also has a number of other clients. ISRO’s global clientele includes EADS Astrium, Intelsat, Avanti Group, WorldSpace, Inmarsat, World Sat, DLR, KARI, Eutelsat and several other space institutions across Europe, West Asia and South-East Asia. ISRO’s advantage so far has been its cost and reliability, but private companies are gunning for a piece of this multi-million dollar pie.

A satellite launch with Arianespace’s Ariane-5 rocket costs about $140 million and, after subsidies, the cost comes down to about $100 million, whereas the cost aboard the Falcon-9 rocket of SpaceX falls to about $60 million. But the real coup is the price aboard ISRO’s PSLV rocket which is no more than a third of Falcon-9’s. India also put a satellite into orbit around Mars, the Mangalyaan mission, in 2014 for just $74 million. In June 2016, ISRO also launched 20 satellites in one go, one of which belonging to a Google-owned company. Google itself is an investor in SpaceX. But India’s growth story is not without challenges.

India’s PSLV (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) can launch satellites up to a weight of only 1,800 kg. The operational MK-II version of GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) can handle payloads weighing 2,500 kg, but for anything heavier ISRO doesn’t have a solution yet. The GSLV MK-III, is still under development and will be capable carrying satellites weighing 5,000 kgs. But all these solutions do not come with re-usable rockets, and that is something that both SpaceX and Blue Origin are pioneering. SpaceX has developed a technology of soft-landing its rocket’s first stage at either land or sea after a satellite launch. This allows a re-utilisation of the rocket, and all that is needed is to reassemble it with another second-stage unit, refuelling it and sending the assembled rocket on a second-launch mission into space with a minuscule turnaround time. Once the company can perfect this technology, space launches will cost a small fraction and even ISRO will struggle to compete at those price points.

The idea of letting private entities take the lead is tempting, primarily, because it saves taxpayer’s money. This money could be spent elsewhere, and bring far greater tangible benefits to society. However, it is also important for us as a species to realise that we do not necessarily have a hunger problem, nor are we really running out of resources in a manner that threatens humanity. While it is true that we have our set of challenges, but more than any, we have a distribution problem. Unequal distribution of wealth, of power, and sadly of food as well. Too many have too little. We are careless and we are wasteful, but we’re also explorers. History is replete with stories of men doing the unthinkable, going out to the edges of the oceans when they thought that the Earth was flat, risking everything in the pursuit of the next frontier. That spirit is alive and well, and we all must go all in.