Government No Longer Considered Sole Lifeline to Commercial Space

The commercial space industry is no longer solely dependent on government, Quilty Analytics President Chris Quilty said Tuesday during the Space Foundation's annual "state of space" seminar. He said it's benefiting from "some of the best fundamentals we've seen in decades," with a favorable regulatory environment, good tech trends in launch and phased array antennas, and small-satellite development. He also cited "dramatic improvement" in funding opportunities, particularly from venture capital. He said satellite demand is shifting "dramatically" from geostationary to non-geostationary orbit. China is now "unambiguously" the U.S.' chief space rival, surpassing Russia, he said. Quilty said this could be "the year of the first launch" with numerous launch vehicles due to take maiden flights, and also should be the year SpaceX's Starlink broadband constellation goes to wide commercial availability. Hurdles facing the space industry include a workforce shortage and skills deficit, said Tom Zelibor, Space Foundation CEO. Former NOAA Administrator Kathryn Sullivan said commercial earth observation is facing a "best of times/worst of times set of tensions." She mentioned numerous new companies and technologies and questions about ensuring the ongoing existence of data streams that are important for climate outlooks and weather forecasting but don't necessarily have commercial value.