Kate Benic

ASEN 1969
4/15/2021

Privatization of the Space Industry

Government agencies have historically been at the forefront of space exploration, but private
companies in the United States are starting to outshine NASA. The privatization of the space
industry may be the solution to increase interest in the space industry and for the allocation of
funds for these missions. However, this privativation is something that has only been seriously
in question for a few years. As a result, there is still a large amount of research to be done on
ethical consequences of capitalist ventures as well as private companies taking over scientific
development.

In 2002, Elon Musk created SpaceX, with the vision of further developing the space industry. In
2012, SpaceX became the first private company to dock a spacecraft to the International Space
Station [9]. SpaceX is now on the forefront of the space industry, innovating at a rate that NASA
can no longer compare to. The Falcon 9 rocket booster is one of these innovations. It is
recyclable which saves millions of dollars with every launch. In addition, they provide thrust for
the first spacecraft system to launch from the US since 2011. In the absence of the space shuttle
program, the US was buying space on Russian launches to continue the research that is
fundamental to NASA’s mission. This was incredibly costly for the agency and while there were
other rocket models being developed in the US, they were constantly set back by budget cuts
and lack of resources. NASA constantly has to delay and cancel projects due to the uncertain
status of its budget with its close relation to politics [9]. In this situation, a private company was
the only way to get this development underway at a quick pace with fewer drawbacks [9].
Private companies often have the ability to more efficiently cut through red tape that
government agencies are burdened with.

There is also the issue of public support for space missions. When missions are funded by the
government, public support is necessary as taxpayer dollars are funding them. It is estimated
that only 60% of Americans believe NASA is doing a good job and that only 33% of people
believe that the money that went toward the Apollo program was well spent [7].

While space exploration has currently been limited to scientific exploration and development,
there are also opportunities for capitalistic development. There are many areas in outer space
that have resources that are scarce on Earth. For example, some near-earth asteroids have high
concentrations of elements that are necessary for the assembly of computers and technology.
These elements will soon run out on Earth, especially at the rate that our dependence on
technology is increasing. As these elements become more rare on Earth, it is possible that it will
become more economically viable to mine them from these near-earth asteroids [7]. In fact,
there are already companies that have set out to do this. Planetary Resources is one of those
companies, founded by Google executives, it aims to robotically mine near-earth asteroids. A
similar company, Moon Express, sets out to mine the moon for elements rare on earth [8].

There is, however, still a great amount of research to be done on the ethics of mining in outer
space. Mining causes a large amount of damage where it is conducted, and especially in outer
space, it is extremely difficult to contain debris. Debris is regularly dumped in unethical ways on
earth, and without a large presence of gravity, it would be difficult and costly for companies to
contain debris in space [4].

Another capitalist interest is the prospect of space tourism. Virgin galactic is one company that
has begun development to offer suborbital flights to customers. If a reliable system can be
designed to allow paying ticket holders to catch a glimpse of the earth from space, there is
plenty of revenue to be gained. Virgin Galactic already has hundreds of tickets reserved for its
spaceflights. This is despite the fact that they had a failure in 2014 and are still in the relatively
early stages of spacecraft development [6]. This provides great promise for the potential profits
of the space tourism industry.

There are also many drawbacks to the privatization of the space industry. There is the risk of
simply rewarding the wealthy and making the industry inaccessible for those without exorbitant
amounts of money. There is a fine line between commercialization to fund research and
commercialization for personal gain. Elon Musk is constantly one to tread on that line. While
SpaceX has been incredibly innovative, there are also practices in the company that are
ethically questionable.

There are many known issues with the working conditions of SpaceX. In 2014, there were
several lawsuits filed against SpaceX by former employees claiming unfair compensation.
Workers were underpaid and shifts at the company were carefully designed to avoid allowing
the minimum amount of breaks required by California law [8]. The mistreatment of workers is a
huge risk when the space industry is outsourced to completely private companies. Private
companies have full control of how their workers are compensated, unlike the US government
where worker’s salaries and benefits are far more regulated. This can result in minimal
compensation for the people putting these missions together, while upper level management
reaps the profits.

There is also the issue of property rights in space. There is not a well defined system for
defining who has the right to what in space under international law. There is some precedent,
as the US and the Soviet Union have exchanged extraterrestrial samples for items of value, but
there is nothing in international law. This poses a huge issue for companies like Planetary
Resources, an asteroid mining company. Without clearly defined property rights to a given
piece of land, it is incredibly difficult to monetize any product gained from said land [8]. Before
companies like this can continue with monetizing items from space, there needs to be
international law written defining how property in space can be claimed [7]. Without these
laws, companies are open to far too many legal disputes and fights over claimed land [8].

While the privatization of space exploration has the opportunity to revitalize the industry, there
are quite a few drawbacks to be considered. There is opportunity for greed and the worker
maltreatment due to lessened regulation. There also is the issue that the ability to capitalize off
of outer space may only be for the super wealthy due to extremely high start up costs. In
addition, due to the cost of the space tourism industry, it may be possible that only the super
wealthy get to experience outer space [3]. It is difficult to become an astronaut, but becoming
an astronaut now has to do with personal merit and training as opposed to wealth. Privatizing
space may lead to more scientific advancements but it is important to remember that if
companies are mainly interested in generating revenue, they may overlook ethics.
Bibliography:

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