Imagine using a space-launch vehicle to heft a payload halfway around the world in less than an hour. Now imagine that same payload stuck in traffic for three hours as it inches away from the spaceport toward its final destination.

It’s a scenario that demonstrates both the promise and the pitfalls of space technology. If space is going to become a successful business, then it must grapple with the mundane demands of earthly living.

I’ve spent the last six years as a trade reporter covering the transportation industry and the cargo business specifically. This means I’ve logged a lot of flight time talking to air, trucking, rail and ocean executives and their customers, and attending their industry conferences. Once in a while I wonder: Where are the space folks? After all, space isn’t just about pioneering a new frontier. It’s also about getting stuff from here to there -- fast -- and making money doing it. Or at least it can be.

Transportation doesn’t have the same glamorous ring as "spaceflight" but these two endeavors are essentially about the same enterprise: moving product and people. The main difference is that practitioners of conventional transportation have more experience doing it. The challenges facing space development and commercialization aren't that different from those facing other transportation modes.

The latter two are scouting for paying customers and working hard to lower operational costs while promoting good customer service. Not to mention dealing with all those regulatory and union matters. Space folks just may learn something from talking to their earthbound counterparts.

Transportation doesn't have the same glamorous ring as "spaceflight" butthese two endeavors are essentially about the same enterprise: moving product and people.
     

So why aren't they showing up at the local trucking show? Maybe it's just too wild for them. Although the space community loves to talk itself up as a pioneering, freethinking bunch, the truth is that it’s a remarkably insulated group. Attend a space conference and you are likely to see the same people year after year, drawn largely from space agencies, academia, creaky policy boards and aerospace companies with military contracts.

The result is that commercial space endeavors focus on a narrow range of payloads. Satellites are the menu staple, with the occasional burst of enthusiasm for space manufacturing or tourism to add spice. But why should these limited markets be the only games in town?

The fact is, the world is making more product right now than at any time in history. It's not staying at home, either. The process of making, assembling and selling a product, either high- or low-tech, can easily span two continents on a schedule that is only a matter of days. The global economy today is screaming for faster and more efficient transportation, and traditional modes are hard-pressed to keep up. Cargo containerships are doubling and even tripling in size to handle the output as demand for next-day air delivery continues to climb.

The idea of transporting this kind of cargo through space isn't that farfetched. Some commercial space companies are toying with the idea, and a 1994 aerospace industry report even quantified the critical mass for such a service. A price tag of $2,000 per kilogram would generate 100,000 to 300,000 kilograms of business, while a $200-per-kilogram price tag would generate between 2 million to 20 million kilograms of business. This kind of business would be more steady, and less expensive, than running a cosmic travel agency, and more feasible than space manufacturing.

But even the fastest, most economical technology will find itself stuck on the ground if it doesn't consider the total commercial picture. What good is lobbing cargo at supersonic speed if it's just going to wind up sitting on a freight dock, waiting for a truck to pick it up? Regardless of whether the payload is a satellite or a pair of tennis shoes, it must move through the existing transportation infrastructure on its way to and from the spaceport.

So, while the space community is busy looking for ways to lower payload costs and promoting the X-Prize, its members may want to take some time to consider what will happen once these goals are achieved. Establishing low-cost, reliable access to space is only half of the challenge. The other is ensuring that it fits with the reality of modern life. To do that, space supporters would do well to start thinking like traffic managers. They could even talk to a few of them.