The final frontier

Space has been dramatized in books and movies for years. People are fascinated by “the final frontier” – a phrase made legendary in Star Trek – because it awakens our adventurous side.

Until recently, space exploration still seemed like a distant dream. In the last decade, technological advances and the success of commercial space projects have accelerated the pace of progress. NASA’s Artemis Plan now intends to “land the first women and the next man on the Moon by 2024 – four years earlier than originally planned” and “build a sustained presence on the lunar surface in preparation for human exploration to Mars.”

As momentum gathers to make lunar colonization a reality, the space sector is already adding value to life on earth, like for instance climate and weather monitoring, global positioning systems, telecommunications, and data collection. The need for innovative logistics solutions – especially for satellite transportation – both on Earth and in space in the near term is growing. Space logistics is real and represents a potential niche market within the logistics industry.

And that potential is enormous. NASA is already thinking about the supply and demand of a permanent presence on the moon, asking industry for innovative ways to transport cargo to and from a lunar outpost. Private investment in the space sector has now reached almost US$5 billion, about double the amount in 2017. And the number of active satellites in the next ten years is expected to jump 20 times to 50,000, with giants like Amazon, Facebook, Samsung, and SpaceX leading the charge.

Satellite logistics is one facet of space logistics that is quickly getting off the ground and harbors huge potential in the near term. In the next few years, we expect to see the launch of tens of thousands of low- and medium-Earth-orbit (LEO and MEO) satellites. Operators envision expansive constellations of hundreds to thousands of linked orbiters, providing services ranging from global internet services to data collection.

The big question is viability. Can orbital transport services make the satellite business more profitable and sustainable by reducing launch, operational, and decommissioning costs?

D-Orbit, an emerging leader in space logistics and orbital transport, thinks so. The Italian satellite launch and deployment company is targeting this demand with solutions that are not unlike those offered by logistics companies on Earth. They have designed and built the ION Satellite Carrier, the world’s first microsatellite cargo vehicle. The carrier can transport multiple satellites into space and release them into precise orbital slots. The service promises shorter deployment time, more rapid commissioning, and more efficient use of satellite lifecycles. D-Orbit estimates that it can reduce deployment costs by 40% and extend satellite life by up to five years.

The company also provides safe decommissioning services for end-of-life satellites to combat growing space debris. D-Orbit’s vision for the future includes in-space orbital transport services, such as operating satellite warehouses, moving existing satellites from one orbit to another, performing repairs, and refueling. Ultimately D-Orbit’s goal is to cover the entire life cycle of a space mission, thus optimizing resources and keeping space clean.

Seizing the opportunity to supply cargo in space

There are many aspects to consider for space logistics to be successful and sustainable in the future. Carefully transporting the many different types of goods – provisions, fuel, equipment, and other materials – into space (upmass) and, in some cases, back down to Earth (downmass), such as waste and decommissioned equipment, will present diverse challenges.

Furthermore, limited space and weight capacity on rockets and shuttles will make it difficult to apply economies of scale to space transportation. Despite these constraints, rewards at this early stage can be significant. Since NASA awarded the space cargo delivery contracts in preparation for lunar colonization, several companies have proposed bigger outer space transport vehicles to hold more passengers and cargo.

We will have to push the boundaries of logistics to successfully and sustainably transport goods to places humanity has never gone before. Like space exploration itself, the development of satellite logistics and space transportation will be a journey into the unknown. Still, at its core, space logistics presents the same fundamental problems logistics providers solve here on Earth every day. It’s time for our industry to seize the opportunity to help the world establish a functioning outer space transport system to support sustained human presence on the Moon and set the stage for humankind to reach Mars and beyond.