STIA 4405: The New Space Economy

Almost single handedly, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have touched off a growing commercial space industry that NASA and the Pentagon increasingly rely on for services that for decades had been the exclusive domain of governments.

Private companies now fly cargo, supplies and people to the International Space Station; they are developing the habitats that will eventually replace the aging ISS, the spacecraft that will ferry astronauts to the surface of the moon, and the spacesuits astronauts will wear while there. In addition, private companies are working to build rovers and developing the technologies, from generating power to building habitats, that will sustain a lunar base. Similarly, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies now increasingly rely on the commercial space industry to launch its most sensitive satellites to space and to even build the spacecraft. This course will do a deep dive into the rise of SpaceX, Blue Origin, and the U.S. commercial space industry, including topics like NASA’s choice to outsource cargo delivery and how the Artemis program was born. Students will also consider what may come next for the commercial space sector.