Space exploration and orbital operations remain an exciting investment sector, because if history and reputation are a guideline at all, space programs are the place where the market-changing technologies of tomorrow are designed, tested and proven. Not much has changed – not even Covid-19.
For example, you did not notice that there were 114 space launches in the past year. This is almost a 20-year high. You’ve probably noticed the recent flood of commercial players in the spatial launch and delivery. Sure, SpaceX and Blue Origin have taken up the most hits, but the space market is now actually a viable and responsive market.
However, this is not a new market. Some investors have been holding a private space interest for years. As an example, I had private support for OneSpace a few years ago. It is therefore not the space aspect that is new, but the accountable market potential.
The need for more things in space
Space is now a commercially competitive arena, which is why we have seen, for example, that the cost of moving materials from Earth to an orbit falls on a shocking cut. It used to cost an incredible $ 54,000 to get one kilogram of something aboard the spacecraft. Costs with private transport companies have now shrunk below $ 3000 per kilo and are likely to fall further.
With declining freight rates, it may seem counter-intuitive to be increasingly excited about investing in the space-adjacent 3D printing market.
The idea of 3D printing in space was in part always intended as a solution to the strange and unaffordable cost of making things spin. Why should you load heavy machinery, equipment or even fragile components and if you can just push it into space and save costs and hassles?
Falling launch costs seem to be undermining the premise. If launch costs are now just as cheap and accessible as sending something across the continent, why would you do 3D printing in space?
Why 3D printing is still needed in space
There are many reasons to believe that 3D printing is not only viable but will also be increasingly indispensable. The two most important reasons are availability and safety.
Although the cost of transferring an object to a job decreases, it is still not an easy task. More than ever before, launch vehicles and launch windows are still limited. Safety inspections and trials of space equipment are substantial and expensive, and it’s not worth risking an entire launch cargo over one small piece of everything that is not completely safe to fly.
Even if you get something in a job, it is also complicated to get it exactly where it needs to go. There is no DoorDash for space yet.
For example, if someone needs a part from the International Space Station, it’s much easier to get parts printed on the premises, rather than sending them off the ground.
Second, many of the parts and pieces needed in a track are not completely safe or easy to get started, at any cost. Lasers, heat shields, batteries, microprocessors, even off-the-shelf laptops are sensitive to the vibrations and obstructions that occur during launch. If you damage them, their use may be restricted or dangerous. It’s simple: why could you damage a lithium-ion battery pack or important machinery if you do not have to? Even if the risk is low, it is best to eliminate it when it comes to space.
That is, 3D printing in and for space is more likely to become more common and essential, even as the price of the orbit decreases and competition increases. The more space flights there are, the more satellites and reconnaissance and reconnaissance vehicles there are, the more parts and pieces they need. And in many of these cases, it will not be logistical or safe to start it.
From an investment standpoint, the good news is that dozens of companies are already financially and technologically deeply invested in 3D printing. Here is an independent list of 50 of them. Some of these businesses will do quite well as the demand for bypassing or supplementing the launch process increases. Although most of the listed companies are still privately owned, there are a handful that are already publicly traded, such as Airbus SE (OTC: EADSY), Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC), Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AJRD), Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT), Jacobs Engineering Group Ing (NYSE: J), and a company in which I am currently an investor, KULR Technology Group (OTCQB: KULR).
The even better news is that some of the space printing companies will have front seats for the growth and commercialization of technology on earth, which will definitely happen. It is the investment space that plays completely – to find things that work both in space and on earth. In my opinion, three-dimensional pressure is likely to do both.
Xia Zuoquan is a founding member and director of BYD Co Ltd, a manufacturer of electric buses and plugged in electric motors and batteries. Xia founded the investment company Zhengxuan Capital in 2004 with an estimated assets of $ 1.5 billion.
Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash
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