🚀 The space edition

Vacation-ifying space… As space tourism companies work toward a future where spring breaks happen near Saturn, joy flights are already operational. The superrich are jetting off to the high stratosphere and completing astronaut training to visit the International Space Station. Space tourism’s next horizon? Full-on space vacays. One startup, Above: Space Development, is working on building two luxury space-station hotels (picture: huge floating rings), which it says could be completed within five years of securing $1B+ in funding. Meantime, Hilton Worldwide made a deal to operate a space hotel with a planned 2027 launch.

Billionaires in space… Unlike in other areas of the space biz (which you’ll read about in a sec), Elon Musk’s SpaceX is one of interstellar tourism’s smaller players. Just a handful of civilians have flown on its rocket to the ISS on a single trip that reportedly cost $55M per seat. Meanwhile, 32 folks have gone intergalactic on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rockets (one tourist paid $28M at a charity auction) and 55 have gone anti-gravity on up-to-$450K space-skimming rides with Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. Startups not owned by famous billionaires are also looking skyward, like Halo Space, which aims to offer stratospheric balloon rides for star-seekers on a budget (still $50K to $200K).

It’s gonna be a long, long time… until you use a moon emoji as your Slack away message. Some experts have predicted that global space tourism could hit $1.7B in 2027. But considering how expensive each jaunt toward Jupiter costs, it may not be a big industry — at least not until mid-century, when some predict space cos could make the Jetsons’ lifestyle more affordable.

Looks like a star... actually a Starlink. The satellite-launch industry — which puts machines into space to orbit planets including the Earth — is entering its startup era. For decades, satellite tech has been used for everything from gov’t surveillance and GPS to weather-pattern tracking and boosting TV signals. But uses are growing: SpaceX’s Starlink satellites aim to provide internet to rural areas and have been used to provide high-speed Wi-Fi on tens of thousands of flights for carriers like Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways. Last year, T-Mobile teamed up with SpaceX to launch the first “direct to cell” satellites designed to supercharge cell coverage from space. Space startup funding more than doubled in Q1 as rising geopolitical tensions drove governments to ramp up satellite surveillance (think: monitoring borders).

Players in this space… There are nearly 10K satellites estimated to be orbiting Earth, and NASA says private companies will play a growing role in launches. Musk’s Starlink is the biggest player by far, with 6K+ satellites orbiting 342 miles above Earth. SpaceX plans to launch 144 Falcon rocket missions this year, largely to deploy more internet-beaming satellites. Rivals are picking up speed too: Rocket Lab USA has launched 180+ satellites, providing internet access to remote locations for services like forest-fire detection. And Amazon’s Project Kuiper has been testing launches to reach its goal of connecting 3.2K satellites that offer space-based internet.

To infinity… As satellite demand grows, so have investments into tech that can cut launch costs (like: 3D printed rocket parts, smaller satellites). Now companies that used to pay hundreds of thousands per launch can pay a fraction of the price. Experts say satellite launches could reach 2.8K a year (or 8/day) by 2032. But some scientists fear that Starlink’s supersonic growth could interfere with universe observations and spaceflight safety. Last week, a SpaceX rocket malfunctioned, dropping 20 Starlink satellites into the wrong orbit.

The final frontier… In February, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander — carrying experiments for NASA — became the first US spacecraft to land on the moon since 1972 (and the first privately built spacecraft to do so). NASA paid the company $118M for the lift. The agency has big plans including a trip around the moon, a probe of Jupiter’s moon Europa, and a crewed lunar landing set for fall 2026. NASA is increasingly relying on partnerships with private companies to complete its missions, believing that US gov’t funding alone won’t be enough to get pricey jobs done.

NASA’s private redshirts… Last year, NASA paid out ~$15B to private contractors including Musk’s SpaceX (which earned about $2.3B from the agency), Boeing ($1.6B), Northrop Grumman ($1.3B), and Lockheed Martin ($1.2B). Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin received about $440M from the agency, though it also locked down a $3.4B NASA contract to build a spacecraft that will fly astronauts to and from the moon under the Artemis program. SpaceX, which won an $840M+ contract last month to decommission the ISS, received a similar moon landing contract in 2021. That’ll give the US more options for lunar-surface exploration.

Exploring the cosmos… ain’t cheap. Earlier this month, Congress proposed a NASA budget roughly $200M below the amount requested by the White House. But on the bright side for NASA and its private partners, the Artemis program (that’ll return astronauts to the moon) will still get its requested $7.6B.