Business of spaceflight – The 7 biggest moments of the year

Business of spaceflight – The 7 biggest moments of the year

2019 was a good year for the space industry, with more than 5 billion dollars invested in various projects. There were many hits and misses with many vehicles successfully tested, while others either malfunctioned or exploded during testing.

Let us look at the 2019’s most significant moments for spaceflight:

1. Astronauts to be sent to Moon again: Mike Pence, the US Vice president, declared that NASA should aim to send astronauts to Moon in five years. NASA also seeks to send the first woman to the Moon as a part of its mission. It had previously set a deadline of 2028 for its next Moon landing but has had to reschedule the target. NASA is collaborating with Boeing to produce a rocket that will help it achieve the task.
2. SpaceX tests prototype: Elon Musk’s SpaceX made some progress towards its vision of creating a reusable interplanetary spacecraft named Starship. In 2019, it tested the first prototype, called Starhopper, at a site in South Texas. Some tests were made to see how the vehicle will land back after being launched. On August 27, Starhopper rose 150 meters and landed well on a ground pad. After that, SpaceX made a better and more powerful vehicle called Starship Mark 1 but which exploded during a pressure test. It is now working on its third vehicle after that.
3. Test flight of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule: As part of NASA’s commercial crew program, SpaceX and Boeing were working on spacecraft to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. The vehicles were SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Boeing’s Starliner. SpaceX launched a test flight without a crew in March 2019 successfully, which was able to dock with the space station. But unfortunately, the capsule exploded in a ground test soon after. Now SpaceX has rectified the problem and is prepared to test a new vehicle on January 11.
4. Starliner’s failed test flight: Boeing encountered a minor setback during the testing of its Starliner’s emergency abort system when just two of its parachutes opened in place of three. During the test flight of its uncrewed mission, Starliner suffered a glitch after launch when it failed to light its engines and changed its course, forcing NASA to land the vehicle in New Mexico’s desert.
5. SpaceX to provide cheap internet with Starlink: Starlink is a satellite constellation being made by SpaceX that will provide low cost and high-speed broadband connections. SpaceX made headway in its mission when it launched 60 satellites in 2019. The company plans to launch the service early in 2020.
6. Richard Branson’s ventures: Richard Branson’s space tourism company ‘Virgin Galactic’ went public in October 2019. This was a great moment for the space industry. It has been Branson’s dream to launch a rocket-powered space vehicle that will take passengers on a brief trip to space to experience weightlessness and fantastic views. In February 2019, Galactic was successfully tested and hopefully will carry passengers in 2020 to space.
7. Blue Origin’s space tourism plans: Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, also has ideas similar to Branson and plans to venture into the space tourism sector. On December 11, 2019, it completed the 12th test flight of its suborbital rocket successfully. It now has plans to launch operations in 2020.

It is evident that the space industry is growing at a swift pace, and innovations are taking place each day with private companies, such as SpaceX entering the field in a big way.