October 1957 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, USSR 3 … 2 … 1 …… Lift off of “Sputnik 1”, the first human made satellite to fly into space, that moment marked the beginning of the human space, we are all aware of the great achievements that followed this event, the first man to go into space, the first man on the moon, Voyager and the planets exploration, the human spaceflight, the space shuttle program and on and on, we grew up with these great achievements that make us proud to be humans … space is the ultimate limit, the gate where we stare to the deepest horizons of the universe, we all know that we are not alone in this universe, we all know that Earth has limited resources, and we all know there will come a day when we have to leave Earth and spread our genes in the universe .. the rockets on the launch pads today, are just like the ships in the Spanish harbors that carried Christopher Columbus and other adventurous people to the new world. As entrepreneurs we look for the new big thing, and space is in the heart of the entrepreneurship desire, However there is a problem with the space industry: it is God damn expensive. It has been a long time in which space exploration and exploitation is restricted only to governments, the military, and big companies. The good news is: things are changing today with private companies and startups entering this new field. In this presentation, we will address this topic. We will look at the main features of this not well known industry from the perspective of a startup with low budget, and how to penetrate it. We will also look at the success stories of other startups in this field and what are the main applications that are suitable for a startup to focus on. So buckle on and come join me on this trip to discover the commercial space entrepreneurship, a trip “ to infinity and beyond …”

1. COMMERCIAL SPACE
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Omar Qaise
19 Feb 2015, Luxembourg

2. History of Space Exploration
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
(1857-1935)
Dr. Robert H.
Goddard (1882-1945)
Dr. Wernher von
Braun (1912-1977)
Sergei Korolev (1907-1966)

3. Event #1
Oct. 4, 1957. The Soviet Union launches a satellite into space named Sputnik 1.
It was a very simple device that took measurements of the upper layer of the atmos-
sphere and sent information by radio signals down to the planet. It orbits every hour-
and-a-half before it re-entered the atmosphere and burned up 3 months after launch.

4. Event #2
November 3, 1957: Sputnik 2 is launched, and everyone is stunned to see that this
spacecraft has a ―pilot‖ on board—a dog named Laika (pronounced lye-ee-kuh).
The sad part was that Laika was never going to be recovered—there was no plan for the
dog to ever land safely on Earth. It was thought to be able to live 10 days in space, but
may not have lasted an hour when some of the life-support systems malfunctioned. 

5. Event #3
The Americans finally get in the act, on February 1, 1958. Explorer 1 is the USA’s first
launched satellite to orbit Earth. It transmitted valuable new information about the
protective magnetic field around Earth. It orbited for 12 years before crashing into the
Ocean.

6. Event #4
Wow, Russia has really been winning the ―space race‖ so far. This is a big blow to the
American scientists—Russia sends the first man into outer space…a guy named Yuri
Gregarin. On April 12, 1961, Vostok 1 blasts off and Yuri returns nearly 2 hours later
after completing one orbit and parachuting from a few miles off the ground. Dang!

7. Event #5
America strikes back, sending its first astronaut, Alan Shepard, into space. The
mission is called Mercury Freedom 7. It lasted only 16 minutes and didn’t actually go
in complete orbit around Earth.  Shepard was still hailed as a hero, and he later
became the 5th person to walk on the moon. It stung American scientists, though, that
they lost the race to send a person into space by less than one month. Boo.
Shepard on the navy ship that rescued
him after his ocean splashdown.

8. Event #6
Vostok 6 blasted off in Russia on June 16, 1963. On board was the first woman in
space, so the Russians beat us again. Her name was Valentia Tereshkova, and she
recorded data about the atmosphere for 3 days before returning safely to Earth.

9. Event #7
Here go the Russians again. Not happy with just going into space, on the mission
Voskhod 2, they actually let one of their cosmonauts leave the space ship! Alexei
Leonov left the spaceship (attached to it by a tether cord) and stayed out in space for
around 12 minutes. Cool. Except that his space suit inflated (due to outer space being
a vacuum) and he almost wasn’t able to make it back inside the ship. Brave Alexei.

10. Event #8
President Kennedy issued the challenge in 1962 that America NEEDED to go to the
moon because it would be so hard to do so. And less than a decade later, we did.
Nobody else has managed this feat. America just jumped way ahead of Russia in the
space race. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission lands on the moon, and Neil
Armstrong utters the famous words, ―one small step for a man, one giant leap for
mankind.‖ USA! USA! USA!
This is awesome.

11. Event #9
NASA scientists had envisioned a permanent space station, and in 1973, Skylab began
a 12-year experiment to see how practical the idea was. Skylab used large solar
panels to provide electricity for itself, and allowed other spacecraft to float near it and
―dock.‖ This allowed crew members to enter Skylab and leave when they needed to.
Three such dockings occurred. The Skylab experiment ended, but provided valuable
information about the realism of life in space.
A docking pod, where crew from
another space flight could enter
Skylab.

12. Event #10
July 1975 – The final Apollo mission was a good one. After nearly 20 years of outdoing
each other, America and Russia agree to do a mission together. The Space Race is
pretty much done at this point—we can be friends now. Apollo 18 and the Soviet ship
Soyuz 19 fly into space and dock with each other—allowing the American and Russian
crew members to meet in space. Cool.

13. Event #11
It was just a matter of time (a few years later) when NASA would actually send one of
the new space shuttles into space for a real mission. In 1981, the Columbia blasted off
with the help of booster rockets, then landed on an Air Force base in California after 2
days in space.

14. Event #12
NASA had two MAJOR incidents that shook America’s confidence in the space program.
The explosions of Challenger and Columbia slowed down how often we went into space.
Fortunately, one of the big achievements that happened after the Columbia disaster was
the successful launching of the Hubble Space Telescope by the shuttle Discovery in
1990.This telescope has given us incredible images of events and objects far distant in
1991.the universe. Good job, Discovery.
One of the thousands of awesome images taken
by the H.S.T.

15. Event #13
Another crowning achievement for modern scientists is a project worked on mainly by
five nations—a space station appropriately named the International Space Station.
Construction began in 1998 and is scheduled to be finished sometime in 2011. Shuttles
fly crew and equipment to the space station frequently, where scientists stay for weeks
at a time doing experiments in outer space. The I.S.S. is big enough to see without a
telescope if you catch it at the right time of year at night. Pretty neat that it’s up there.
Cool.

16. Space Economy
The narrow definition:
• Governments, launch industry, commercial satellites;
entrepreneurial activities (about $100 billion per year)
A bit more expansive:
• Equipment: ground stations, receivers, satellite dishes, etc.
(about $80 billion per year)
Larger yet:
• Secondary products and services (value added weather and
remote sensing, spin-off industries and technologies, etc.)
• Space goods and services as a ―backbone‖ infrastructure that, if
we didn’t have it, many essential capabilities would not function.
2005
2006
2007
2008
Space Commercial Transportation Services
Infrastructure Support Industries
International Government Space Budgets
U.S. Gov't Space Budgets
Commercial Services and Infrastructure
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
$Billions
$257 Billion in
Space Activity
Globally in 2008

17. Governments Expenditure

18. So, if the space sector is so
small, why does space get
so much attention?
Exxon-Mobil, in comparison, had sales of nearly $400 billion in 2006

19. Commercial
space services
that did not exist
in 1980
Because of: IMPACT

20. Spinoff Examples

21. So, why it is difficult for
entrepreneurs to access
space? Why investors are
reluctant to invest in space

22. Challenges: Public Perception
• Astronauts
• Shuttle and launch vehicles that have mediocre performance
success
• Consumer products
– Knowledge that they are at least partially space-based
– When services are delivered, public really doesn’t care how they are
delivered--a phone call is a phone call
– Public is relatively ignorant of the cost and contributions of space R&D
and investments
• Cold War technology and mentality
• Same thinking often permeates government policy toward space
and commercial space

23. Challenges: Space is for Rocket
Scientists
• Too abstract, complex, and removed from perception of
everyday life
• Message is difficult to communicate
– In fact, NASA may be its own worst enemy
• Because of focus on human space flight
• What happens if we turn off all satellite services for 24 hours?
– A true measure of their importance

24. Challenges: Space is Expensive
and Risky
Huge entry barrier to entrepreneurs:
• Large investments required
• Long waiting time until Return-On-Investment
• Few players, mostly large corporates and the government
• Space assets are fragile: very vulnerable and no immediate
backups are available
• Specific knowledge and expertise are needed
• Risk: rockets may explode!

25. The Benefits
+ Low competition
+ High chance of public-private
partnerships
+ High profits
+ International cooperation and business
opportunities
+ Long term business and customer
relations

26. Emerging Space I
- Space disasters and cost
- NASA policy change
- Technology advancement
- Knowledge access
- New generation of Hi-tech entrepreneurs
- Easy funding (crowdfunding, emerging
space angels and VCs)

27. Emerging Space II
Propulsion Storage and
transfer
Laser comm Early stage
innovations
Flight
opportunities
programs
Small satellite
programs
Support Software and tools

28. Examples

29. THANK YOU