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Financing the New Space Industry

Breaking Free of Gravity and Government Support

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Howard E. McCurdy

    1. American University, Washington, DC, USA

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  • Compares new space investment strategies to earlier ambitious projects from the history of transportation
  • Examines the challenges of attracting financial support from an appropriate mix of traditional investors, government agencies, and motivated individuals
  • Appeals to scholars, students, and practitioners interested in space exploration, the history of science and technology, entrepreneurship and innovation, astronautics, finance, and public-private partnerships

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. Introduction: The View from the Mezzanine in Kent, Washington

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 1-7

  3. The Dream of Commercial Space Flight

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 9-12

  4. Financing Privately Developed Transportation Schemes: Precedents from the First Transcontinental Railroad

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 13-26

  5. How Corporate Executives Approach Business Decisions: Financial Planning for the Boeing 707 Jetliner

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 27-32

  6. Five Case Studies

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 33-36

  7. Boeing: Pairing Commercial Work with Government Contracts to Reduce Risk

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 37-44

  8. SpaceX: Leveraging Government Support to Raise Private Capital

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 45-55

  9. Blue Origin: The Entrepreneur as Philanthropist

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 57-72

  10. Virgin Galactic: Promoters and Prizes

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 73-83

  11. Orbital Sciences: The Challenge of Breaking Away from Government Contracts as a Source of Revenue Flow

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 85-96

  12. Other Methods of Government Support

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 97-106

  13. Reflections and Summary

    • Howard E. McCurdy
    Pages 107-116

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 117-122
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Keywords

About this book

This Palgrave Pivot investigates the efforts of five aerospace companies—SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Orbital Sciences, and the Boeing Company—to launch their entry into the field of commercial space transportation. Can private sector firms raise enough capital to end the usual dependence on government funding? What can historical examples of other large-scale transportation initiatives, such as the first transcontinental railway and the first commercial jetliner, teach us about the prospects of commercial space flight? As Howard E. McCurdy shows, commercializing space is a great experiment, the outcome of which will depend on whether new space entrepreneurs can attract support from a variety of traditional and nontraditional sources.

Authors and Affiliations

  • American University, Washington, DC, USA

    Howard E. McCurdy

About the author

Howard E. McCurdy is Professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C.

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