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The launch of ventures like Blue Origin and SpaceX more than 20 years ago set off a wave of innovation in the space industry and drove down costs. Today, private companies dominate space launches and tourism, but entrepreneurs across the world are working on technology to make space exploration cheaper, more sustainable, and more efficient.
Companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin now work closely with federal agencies, who are more focused on performance than cost, Phil McAlister, the then director of NASA’s commercial space division, said in 2022. Obsessive focus on cost and business opportunities will be needed for the industry’s continued growth, he added.
On campuses and in classrooms everywhere, students are working on ideas that could seed a new generation of startups.
That includes students CNN met for this season’s Tech for Good, like those at ETH Zurich in Switzerland who are developing a three-legged hopping robot for exploring microgravity environments, and an algorithm-controlled parachute for returning reusable rockets to Earth, which could save fuel.
In Japan, 40 students from two universities have built a lightweight rover with a robotic arm. They hope one day it will be used on Mars to repair spacecraft or conduct surveys. And in Canada, academics at Polytechnique Montréal are testing backpacks that can be mounted on robots to enable them to work as an efficient terrain-mapping swarm.
Innovation like this could be crucial to continue the revolution that’s gripped the space industry in recent decades. There are plenty of opportunities, according to McAlister.
“We need a Starship competitor, maybe two. We need a cost-effective space suit, we need a cost-effective docking adapted, we need a quick and easy way to get stuff back down to Earth, and we need a better toilet!” he said. “They’re just waiting for a disrupter to come and disrupt the heck (out) of them.”
