Investment In Space Tech Reaches Massive New Milestone

At the end of 2021, investment in space technology reached $252.9 billion — over a quarter trillion dollars.

According to Space Capital’s Q4 2021 Space Investment Quarterly:

Over the last 10 years, there has been $252.9B of equity investment across 1,694 unique companies in the broader space economy, led by investment in the U.S. and China, which collectively account for 76% of the global total. Investors deployed another $14.7B in Q4 with Infrastructure investments focused on Manufacturing and Components ($1.9B) and Application investments focused on Location-based Services, with emphasis on Delivery. 

The United States significantly leads the rest of the world in many investment categories, including 67% of total infrastructure investment. However, American investment in applications only slightly leads Chinese investment — accounting for 40% and 36% of the international total, respectively. Overall, 2021 saw a $46.3 billion capital inflow to the space industry — a “record year for investment.”

Among American rocket companies, SpaceX — the venture founded by Elon Musk — made several strides in 2021. SpaceX is preparing to launch Starship — the vessel that will eventually carry astronauts to Mars — into orbit. Equipped with 29 Raptor engines and standing at 400 feet tall, Starship is able to carry over 220,000 pounds into space.

Earlier this month, Musk shared a video of a tower designed to catch Starship upon its return to the earth’s surface.

Starship launch & catch tower pic.twitter.com/5mLIQwwu0k

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2022

In December, Musk unveiled another stage of the Starship project — the modification of Pad 39A in Florida, which once served as the launch point for NASA’s Apollo missions. “Construction of Starship orbital launch pad at the Cape has begun,” Musk tweeted.

“39A is hallowed spaceflight ground — no place more deserving of a Starship launch pad!” he added. “Will have similar, but improved, ground systems & tower to Starbase.”

Other private space companies sent their first tourism flights into space. In July, Virgin Galactic carried a small crew of civilians — including Richard Branson, the company’s founder — 53 miles above the Earth on a rocket-powered plane. Days later, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin mission followed suit.

Beyond private ventures, world governments are competing with one another for supremacy in space.

In December 2020, China’s Chang’e-5 landed on earth after collecting 4.4 pounds of lunar rocks — continuing research started by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. China is now developing new launch vehicles and a new spacecraft that can send astronauts to the moon, with the intent to set foot on the lunar surface in less than ten years.

Russia and China are partnering to accomplish several joint missions — including a robotic voyage to an asteroid in 2024 and the creation of a research base on the lunar south pole by 2030. Russia’s own moon program, Luna — a callback to the Soviet program of the same name — was supposed to launch in 2021 but was pushed to May 2022 due to technical difficulties.

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