{"id":19582,"date":"2015-10-31T21:09:09","date_gmt":"2015-10-31T13:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/three-reasons-why-seattles-big-on-space-ventures-plus-three-frontiers-to-watch\/"},"modified":"2015-10-31T21:09:09","modified_gmt":"2015-10-31T13:09:09","slug":"three-reasons-why-seattles-big-on-space-ventures-plus-three-frontiers-to-watch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/three-reasons-why-seattles-big-on-space-ventures-plus-three-frontiers-to-watch\/","title":{"rendered":"Three reasons why Seattle\u2019s big on space ventures, plus three frontiers to watch"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bezos
Jeff Bezos shows off the concept for Blue Origin\u2019s launch system during a September news conference in Florida. Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture is headquartered in Kent, Wash. (Blue Origin photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is it about Seattle that\u2019s led some folks to call it the \u201cSilicon Valley of space,\u201d and how far can space entrepreneurs go in the next 20 years? One of the panels at Friday\u2019s Xconomy Seattle 2035 conference tackled those questions \u2013 and added a couple of shorter-term predictions as well.<\/p>\n

Jason Andrews, the CEO of Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc., listed three reasons why Seattle is up there with Southern California, Silicon Valley, Texas and Florida\u2019s Space Coast when it comes to commercial spaceflight.<\/p>\n

First, there\u2019s access to software developers<\/strong>: Space operations have become much more computerized, and that means space-minded entrepreneurs can draw upon the talent fostered by Microsoft, Amazon and other tech titans.<\/p>\n

That was a big factor behind SpaceX founder Elon Musk\u2019s decision to set up an engineering campus in Seattle. (\u201cA lot of you guys don\u2019t seem to want to move to L.A.,\u201d he told his Seattle prospects during a January visit.) It\u2019s also a factor behind the shift of Spaceflight\u2019s HQ from Tukwila to Seattle\u2019s Westlake Avenue. (Andrews joked that Musk \u201cwent a thousand miles \u2026 I went 15.\u201d)<\/p>\n

When it comes to engineering talent, the leading role that Boeing has played over the past 99 years has to count as a huge boost to Seattle\u2019s stature in aerospace.<\/p>\n

Second, there\u2019s access to the experts on big data<\/strong>. The next generation of small satellites, including the constellation due to be put into orbit by Andrews\u2019 BlackSky Global venture, will be sending down huge volumes of data. In BlackSky Global\u2019s case, that takes the form of real-time, on-demand Earth imagery. For SpaceX, that could be global broadband Internet traffic. Whatever the application, big data and cloud computing are part of the equation, and Seattle currently has the edge.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s access to capital<\/strong>. Seattle investors have set the pace, led by such heavyweights as Jeff Bezos (with Blue Origin), Paul Allen (with Vulcan Aerospace), Bill Gates (an investor in the Kymeta satellite antenna venture) and Charles Simonyi (who\u2019s been in orbit twice and has a stake in Redmond-based Planetary Resources).<\/p>\n

\"Xconomy
Moderator Kraig Baker of Davis Wright Tremaine discusses Seattle\u2019s role in space entrepreneurship with Spaceflight\u2019s Jason Andrews, Joe Landon of the Space Angels Network and Kymeta\u2019s Ryan Stevenson at the Xconomy Seattle 2035 conference on Friday. (Geekwire photo by Alan Boyle)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So what opportunities are opening up for space entrepreneurs? The panelists listed three big markets.<\/p>\n

Broader<\/strong>, faster communication:<\/strong> Satellite systems already play a big part in connecting people around the planet, but the next generation of satellites could extend broadband data services to the \u201cother 3 billion\u201d people in the world (or is that 4.4 billion?) who don\u2019t currently have such access. The satellites could be provided by SpaceX, or OneWeb, or some other global venture. Either way, Redmond-based Kymeta wants to furnish the antennas. \u201cYou\u2019re going to start to see a dramatic shift in people\u2019s view of how they use satellite communications,\u201d said Ryan Stevenson, Kymeta\u2019s vice president and chief scientist. He said Kymeta antennas could start hitting the market about 18 months from now.<\/p>\n

Real-time Earth imaging:<\/strong> Within 18 months, BlackSky Global aims to set up a system that will let anyone with a smartphone order up a real-time picture of any place on Earth and have it \u201cin 90 minutes for 90 dollars,\u201d Andrews said. But satellite imagery isn\u2019t just about snapping a picture of your backyard, or North Korea\u2019s secret launch pad. Advanced remote sensing promises to help urban planners, government agencies and venture capitalists identify where the world\u2019s next hot spots will be. \u201cThere a $100 billion market out there that\u2019s basically untapped,\u201d Andrews said.<\/p>\n

Humans in space:<\/strong> Right now, only millionaires or billionaires have been able to buy trips into outer space \u2013 but if companies such as Kent-based Blue Origin, California-based Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace are successful, the cost of space trips for tourists, researchers and entrepreneurs will drop to $250,000 or less within the next few years. By 2035, \u201cI do think there will be a lot more people who have been to space,\u201d said Joe Landon, chairman of the board for Space Angels Network.<\/p>\n

\"pluto\"
\nScience journalist Alan Boyle<\/strong> is the author of “The Case for Pluto: How a Little Planet Made A Big Difference.”<\/p>\n

Landon cautioned, however, that there are no guarantees. It\u2019s been exactly a year since the catastrophic breakup of Virgin Galactic\u2019s SpaceShipTwo led to the first in-flight fatality of the commercial space race. This month also marked the anniversary of the blast that destroyed an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket as it was carrying payloads to the International Space Station (including a Planetary Resources mini-satellite). This June\u2019s failure of a SpaceX station resupply mission only underlined the fact that lots can go wrong with rocketry.<\/p>\n

The same goes for Seattle\u2019s place on the space frontier. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a foregone conclusion that we\u2019ll continue to be a leader,\u201d Landon said. Unlike California or Florida, this region has no launch pads that can put payloads into space. And the recent workforce reductions at the Boeing Space Center in Kent illustrate how easily aerospace jobs can shift to different centers of gravity.<\/p>\n

For decades, Seattle\u2019s been known as \u201cJet City\u201d \u2013 but as the region\u2019s economy heads for new frontiers, there\u2019s a need for new nicknames as well. Will those nicknames include Space City? Rocket City? Satellite City? We won\u2019t have to wait until 2035 to find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeff Bezos shows off the concept for Blue Origin\u2019s launch system during a September news conference in Florida. Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture is headquartered in Kent, Wash. (Blue Origin photo) What is it about Seattle that\u2019s led some folks to call it the \u201cSilicon Valley of space,\u201d and how far can space entrepreneurs go […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2128,291,354,5614,4953,2340],"class_list":["post-19582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blacksky-global","tag-commercial-space","tag-kymeta","tag-seattle-2035","tag-space-angels-network","tag-spaceflight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}