trends of advanced development

Continuing the topic raised in the previous article, I decided to conduct a study of the development of the space industry, based on the concept of a “new space economy”.

The new space economy is a global trend based on a number of technological innovations and a specific business model. According to data Morgan Stanleythis industry can already be valued at $350 billion, and by 2040 it could reach $1 trillion. This opens up new opportunities for the automotive industry, tourism, energy, telecommunications, transport and other important industries – to increase their profitability or improve the structure of work on Earth or in space.

The main premises for my research were:

1. Active growth of companies and new technological solutions in the space industry;

2. Reducing the cost of transport to Earth orbit;

3. Increase in the number of spacecraft (hereinafter SC);

4. The explosive growth of the space economy and its interrelations with terrestrial industry and economy;

5. Application of innovations in industry and IT in the space industry;

6. Unpredictable revolutionary changes in economic models in the space-Earth link (black swans).

I also identified the most promising technologies for the “new space economy” and these are:

1. Serial production of spacecraft;

2. Serial production of ultra-light rockets for replenishment of groups and low-orbit launches;

3. Heavy and super-heavy rockets for launching payloads into high orbits and launches to the Moon;

4. Autonomous power supply systems of high power (up to 500 kW);

5. Laser communication and navigation systems for long-distance communications;

6. Autonomous spacecraft and rovers;

7. New types of engines, including those that do not require reactive mass or significantly reduce its consumption, allowing continuous operation both in low orbits and in space;

8. New materials for various systems (protective, heat-dissipating, etc.);

9. Electronic component base (including radiation-resistant) increasing the performance of computing in space (spacecraft, rovers, stations and, in the future, in orbital data centers);

10. New types of energy-efficient sensors and systems based on them;

11. Autonomous production technologies (robotics, additive technologies, AI, new materials processing technologies, etc.).

Based on this, we derive the main trends of advanced development:

1. Multifunctional autonomous heavy platforms and spacecraft with universal (standardized) connectors and data exchange protocols. Unified standards for all spacecraft and bases for compatibility of various units and designs. Development of principles of modular construction of spacecraft (spacecraft) and stations (automated and inhabited) for outer space and satellite surfaces. This will provide unification of technical solutions and the possibility of building complex technical systems without being tied to a country or manufacturer.

2. A unified network of communications, navigation and space traffic management based on AI. Creation of a unified space traffic dispatching system in the Earth-Moon space with the integration of all participants in space exploration programs. ExtraNet is a unified network for collecting, storing and transmitting data in space. Extraterritorial principle of access to information, acceleration of data processing for use in space. Verified settlement system using blockchain technologies.

3. Extraterritoriality of space law, new regulations and legislation. Freedom of data exchange and calculations in space. Development of the ideology of humanity as a single nation. New principles of governance and cohabitation.

4. Creation of a new space economy based on goods and services produced in space and their consumption in space. Multiple growth of interaction between the earthly industry and economy with the space one.

5. New energy-efficient technologies and solutions adapted for use on Earth. Biotechnology, new pharmaceuticals, biomaterial printing, photonic processors, superconductivity, magnetic levitation, automatic factories and robotic mining systems, robotic shipyards using additive technologies (3D printing of structures and spacecraft in microgravity conditions), autonomous rovers and harvesters.

6. Achieving self-sufficiency of space systems. Extraction of minerals and necessary resources for life support systems. Waste processing technologies and self-sustaining closed ecosystems of bases and stations.

7. Creation of new logistics chains: Low orbits-high orbits-geostationary orbits-Lagrange points-Moon using autonomous spacecraft (tugs) with a long service life to reduce transportation costs. Creation of a network of automatic dispatching and traffic control stations to reduce accidents (prevention of the Kessler effect) using AI.

8. New materials: protection from radiation and cosmic rays, new alloys (produced in microgravity conditions). Discovery of new chemical elements and compounds, creation of materials using them.

9. International Space University: Working with the “Big Challenges”, implementing the “Megascience” idea by taking science and research beyond jurisdictions, hosting on a platform with space infrastructure allows for the development of trends in interdisciplinarity, openness and digitalization. Using an extraterritorial payment system will allow for funding research outside national institutions. Creating new systems for training specialists and scientists for the industry through constantly updated digital training programs and practice with real cases.

10. A synergetic revolutionary change in business models of the earthly economy with the participation of the space economy (for example, industrial mining of platinum on asteroids will allow the creation of an economically viable industry of hydrogen transport and hydrogen fuel cells for independent energy supply, which will eliminate electric transport and wind and solar energy, the extraction of hydrocarbons on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn will increase the Earth's economy by 1000 times).

11. And most importantly: the expansion of humanity in the solar system and the expansion of the habitable zone.

All this will allow us to create completely new technical systems and production areas, as well as significantly expand the capabilities of existing industries.

Let's consider possible directions of development:

1. Creation of infrastructure for access to energy supply anywhere in the solar system. This project will use all existing energy generation systems, which will complement each other, giving impetus to the technological development of autonomous energy supply systems (solar panels, nuclear technologies, energy storage systems). New solutions for wireless energy transmission in a vacuum.

2. Automated transport networksincluding: Orbital and space tugs using new types of plasma and ion engines. Development and application of new types of fuel. Automatic refueling, repair and modernization stations (GateWay's). Traffic dispatching in near-Earth, near-Moon and outer space using AI based on orbital and space data centers. New chains and principles of logistics in high Earth orbit, in near-Moon space, on the Moon and in the Solar System (separation of transport services by orbits and the Earth-Moon route).

3. Long-distance communication and navigation networks: Laser communication systems and high-precision positioning systems. Stations for determining the position in space in a 3-dimensional coordinate system (space and lunar navigation). Remote control of drones-SC by operators from Earth to perform complex tasks.

4. Space industry: Automated stations with a customizable production cycle and standardized modules for equipment placement. Inclusion of production capacities in new logistics chains. 3D printing of space structures and spacecraft in microgravity conditions using automatic drones. Alloys and materials produced only in microgravity conditions. Technologies for creating self-sustaining ecosystems (waste disposal, water and air purification, food and medicine production). Growing highly pure and coordinated crystals.

5. Mining: Automatic geological probes/automated and robotic mining systems/base station with power core, data center and long-distance communication node + robotic drones for mining and primary processing of resources.

6. Standard modules for automated and manned stations in space and on the surface of the Moon, and then on the surfaces of satellites and asteroids. Rapid development of all planets and asteroids, with the construction of international settlements.

7. Space medicine: Creation of digital automated diagnostic systems based on a historical dataset on changes in the human condition in space, diagnostic techniques, and preventive methods using AI. Development of treatment programs in microgravity conditions. Growing biomaterials in microgravity conditions/bioprinting, operations in microgravity conditions (automated robotic operating systems, remote control of medical systems).

8. Unified network for collecting, storing and transmitting data outside the Earth: Orbital data centers, data centers on the Moon and space stations. Radiation-resistant electronic components. Photonic processors.

Recent events show that it is time for humanity to enter the Solar System and develop it in full. Even existing technologies are sufficient for the united expansion of humanity into space. The development of asteroids can significantly improve life on Earth (for example, obtaining platinum at the price of aluminum will revolutionize the entire transport industry, replacing gasoline and diesel with hydrogen) and increase the size of the economy by thousands of times. The creation of full-fledged settlements on other planets and satellites will expand the human habitat. The creation of new materials, the development of medicine and pharmaceuticals, the development of new technologies in space will allow us to go further into other star systems.