WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Non-space companies are banking on the development of commercial space.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced the launch of the Space Business Council on Tuesday, June 20, to help bring non-space-related companies into the fold with commercial space ventures.
"There are many challenges and uncertainties in commercial space development, but American businesses must continue to play the leading role in this vital area," said Chamber CEO Thomas Donahue.
The space industry is in the midst of a transformation as such sectors as satellite services become the benchmark for aerospace trends.
The internet is also changing the face of the industry’s infrastructure. Companies supporting broadband internet connections are finding investment funds easier to come by.
Reston, Virginia-based SpaceVest has said that global revenues of about $90 billion were generated in the space industry in 1998, of which 60 percent came from commercial ventures. For the year 2000, those revenues are expected to exceed $120 billion with almost 70 percent generated from commercial activities.
The Chamber hopes to help non-traditional space companies tap into that market. Those industries include TV broadcast services; credit card and ATM transaction processing; pharmaceuticals; oil and gas exploration; civil planning and mapping; disaster management; insurance and risk management; financing -- even travel and tourism.
So far the only non-space companies that have signed on are Banc of America Securities and L-3 Communications, which makes microwave components, flight recorders (black boxes) and other specialized communications equipment.
"We have been talking to some insurance companies, and financial and investment companies that have a strong interest" in joining the Space Enterprise Council," said the program’s director Dawn Sienicki.
Most of the interest has been generated by the U.S. Chamber’s conference last year called "Forum on the Future Development of Space," she said.
At the forum, there was also rumblings of interest from the travel and tourism sector, Sienicki said.
One of the conference’s speakers, Gloria Bohan of Fairfax, Virginia-based Omega World Travel, spoke of space travel being an important niche market.
Bohan’s agency owns Space Adventures, a privately held subsidiary founded by astronauts and adventure-travel professionals. In November, Space Adventures acquired Space Voyages, a division of a Seattle adventure-tourism company, Zegrahm Expeditions. Space Adventures and Space Voyages are the only two companies in the U.S. that have been selling trips to space.
Until space tourism is possible, Space Adventures offers space-related travel experiences. The trips range from airplane flights which produce a 30-second experience of weightlessness, a tour of ancient earthbound astronomical sites and a Black Sea solar-eclipse cruise.
Other companies that have weighed in with the Space Enterprise Council are Boeing, DynSpace, Lockheed Martin and Space Imaging.
advertisement
