Taking stock of space

thte — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 10:59:37 GMT

500 MILLION, not billion.

"Of course, these figures are based on 2005 activities, so they don't include the $500 billion NASA has set aside over the next four years for its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, or COTS, which many see as a relatively small but vital sparkplug for private-sector space travel."

Taking stock of space

Robert, Jupiter, FL — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 12:52:44 GMT

Alan, I really enjoy your coverage of entrepreneurial space activity. I noticed a small mistake in this article. The COTS funding is 500 million not billion.

Taking stock of space

Travis Wolgram, Pueblo, CO. — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 15:20:54 GMT

How do I invest in the future of the space tourism business? I'm thinking 'the next microsoft' is here and want to get on board early.

Taking stock of space

Alan Boyle — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 17:59:05 GMT

I wish I could say I wrote "billion" instead of "million" just to see how closely folks were reading, but it was a pure bonehead mistake - something that I suppose came about because we're throwing around a lot of billions here. Thanks to all for catching the error.

Taking stock of space

Lee Valentine — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 22:28:30 GMT

Travis, The companies offering equity are Masten, RocketplaneKistler, XCOR and Benson.Unfortunately,they can only legally sell to accredited investors; you still have to be fairly well off to invest in this emerging industry. As XCOR's CEO, Jeff Greason said, "The industry's growing exponentially." It will be a few years before everyone else notices, so be patient, there will be opportunities. The Colony Fund plans to offer shares in a mutual fund that invests in emerging space companies, that will allow smaller investors to place a broad bet on the industry.

Taking stock of space

Aaron Oesterle — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 23:07:49 GMT

Lee, you forget, there are 2 companies that could arguably be considered Newspace that are publicly traded - SpaceDev and Spacehab are both publicly traded (at least, I believe they are)

Taking stock of space

Michael Addicott, Silicon Valley, CA — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 02:47:07 GMT

Keep an eye on emerging developments involving a symbiosis of technologies. I suspect it will not all be launch vehicles. Keep an eye on Amazon, for example, with its new processing power initiative. Preparing and protecting the brain will also be important, as spaceflight disorients and can cause cognitive impairment due to fluid imbalance in the brain, in addition to the problem of cosmic rays degrading neurons once you move away from the earth's protecting magnetic influence.

Speaking of mashups, there is a cognitive test/your position in the world mash-up which you can possibly find if you click on my name, if you are curious.

Taking stock of space

Lee Valentine — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 03:58:21 GMT

Aaron, yes, they're publicly traded, but SpaceHab has nothing to do with space tourism. SpaceDev is primarily a satellite company.

Taking stock of space

Jim Benson — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 22:52:46 GMT

SpaceDev is much more than a "satellite" company.

We are a small, aggressive, revolutionary space technology company developeing very high tech, very low cost space technology for a variety of uses. We now have over 200 employees in three states (up from 1 in 1997 (me)), and have three specialties: microsatellites for science, commercial and military applications, safe, low cost rocket motors for human space flight and for small expendable launch vehicles, and we have provided over 2000 space mechanisms on over 200 space missions. In fact, we have most of the moving parts on Mars right now, and are on our way to Pluto. :-)

Benson Space is looking forward to the creation of the Colony Fund, and to a significant investment - when can we expect that to go from paper to reality??

Onward and upward,

Jim Benson
Benson Space Company