But 2021 is expected to get even bigger for the fast-growing industry as reigning giants like SpaceX continue to pursue futuristic technologies – from Mars rockets to space-based internet services and alien tourism.
Here’s a look at what the private sector has planned in space next year.
SpaceX made history when its Crew Dragon spacecraft proved it can bring NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, marking the first time in SpaceX’s 18-year history that the company has put humans into space. It was also the culmination of a decade-long partnership with NASA to return human spaceflight capabilities to the United States.
SpaceX is expected to make those trips routine. Another group of astronauts are expected to fly aboard a Crew Dragon in the spring of 2021, and another Crew Dragon flight may start next fall.
The ability to fly its own astronauts after relying on Russian spacecraft for nearly a decade to place American astronauts in space is a big deal for NASA. The space agency says it will now be able to keep the space station fully manned, significantly increasing the amount of research astronauts can conduct aboard the ISS.
Next year, Boeing could also add another vehicle to the United States’ arsenal of humane spacecraft. The company plans to launch the first manned flight of its Starliner vehicle, which is being developed under the same NASA program as SpaceX’s Crew Dragon.
Boeing’s Starliner, which resembles SpaceX’s Crew Dragon, will first have to repeat a failed flight test the company tried to conduct a year ago. Boeing says it is targeting March 29 for a second attempt, and – if all goes well – Starliner’s first manned launch could begin a few months later.
Orbital tourism
Both Boeing’s spacecraft and SpaceX’s spacecraft are privately owned, under the terms of the development agreement they signed with NASA, meaning both companies have the option to sell seats onboard their spacecraft to anyone bearing the price tag of approximately $ 50 million per seat.
SpaceX has already signed a deal with Axiom, a startup founded by former NASA administrator Michael Suffredini, to bring a group of “private astronauts” to the ISS aboard a Crew Dragon in the second half of 2021.
Axiom has confirmed that two of the crew will be on that flight: Michael Lopez-Alegria, a former NASA astronaut and veteran of three Space Shuttle missions that will fly privately, and Eytan Stibbe, a former Israeli fighter pilot and wealthy investor who reportedly finances his own trip.
Suborbital pleasure rides
Two billionaire-backed companies – Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin – are developing small rocket-powered vehicles with the aim of sending wealthy thrill-seekers on short journeys to the upper atmosphere.
Virgin Galactic, which went public in a reverse merger in 2019, has moved to its luxurious new spaceport in New Mexico and is preparing to open its doors next year. Branson plans to be one of the first passengers aboard the supersonic spaceplane the company has built and tested over the past two decades. A recent test flight of that vehicle was cut short due to an engine problem, but Virgin Galactic is still hoping to complete its final tests within the next few months.
However, Blue Origin has not yet announced the price of tickets or when it plans to sell them.
Virgin Galactic, on the other hand, has sold more than 600 tickets priced between $ 200,000 and $ 250,000. And the company plans to reopen ticket sales soon, although executives have warned prices will rise.
ULA goes to the moon, Bezos’s orbital rocket takes flight
In the field of rocket launches, SpaceX may face tougher competition than ever next year. Two companies – United Launch Alliance, a Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture, and Blue Origin – plan to introduce two massive new launch vehicles that aim to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon rockets in launch power and price.
The colossal rockets from Blue Origin, ULA and SpaceX are expected to compete for lucrative government launch contracts in the coming years. For example, the US military recently chose SpaceX and ULA for nearly $ 1 billion in contracts. Blue Origin lost that round, but it is expected to continue to compete for future missions.
Small missiles
For years, a group of fledgling companies has hoped to develop small rockets – a fraction of the size of SpaceX’s Falcon rockets – that can regularly launch new satellites into space inexpensively. This could open up new business opportunities, say entrepreneurs and investors in Silicon Valley.
Rocket Lab is the only one of those companies that has actually put a rocket into space so far, and it has launched more than a dozen successful missions in recent years.
But 2021 could be the year when new players finally hit the scene.
Astra, based in Alameda, California, has already conducted two test launches and is aiming to launch its first rocket into orbit next year. Los Angeles-based Relativity, which is 3D printing its rockets, is aiming for the inaugural launch in the fall. And Texas-based Firefly could be attempting to place its 23-meter-high Alpha rocket on a launch pad within months.
Financing the future
It is not clear how many small missile launch vehicles the business community needs. But more than 100 startups are vying to join Rocket Lab – and there are certainly too many, Ann Kim, the director of cutting-edge technology at Silicon Valley Bank, told CNN Business.
2021 could be a year when many of those companies start to merge or go bankrupt.
According to Kim, venture capital funds still have to deploy tens of billions in 2021.
But investors are likely to put their money into more data and software-focused companies, rather than those hoping to break into the costly and risky hardware industry. Right now, the industry has picked out its front runners that investors believe will have viable rocket and satellite businesses, Kim said.
SpaceX: Starship and Starlink
SpaceX, the poster child of the commercial space age, has two major projects likely to hit full throttle in 2021: Starship – a massive rocket that CEO Elon Musk hopes will put humans on Mars – and Starlink, a swarm of low-orbit satellites. the Earth that SpaceX plans to use to beam the Internet from space to homes.
SpaceX has already deployed about 1,000 satellites to get its Starlink network up and running, and the company will continue to add more satellites as it completes a beta testing program. It could hit the market early next year.
The spaceship, the Mars rocket, is still in the very early stages of development. But SpaceX has managed to generate a lot of public interest in the development process. The company has built several large steel missile bodies and placed them on a launch pad to conduct increasingly higher test flights.
Musk, who founded SpaceX with the goal of colonizing Mars, promises to continue that move well into 2021.