by Lindsey Qian
In March, Elon Musk’s SpaceX took a critical step to lower space travel costs by relaunching a used rocket for the first time. This year, they have already had over 10 successful launches, each one increasing the company’s reputation–and its value. SpaceX’s funding is continuously growing: it is now valued at $21 billion and is one of seven venture-backed companies in the world to have such financing. However, as its reputation is carried through dinnertime chatter and magazine headlines, news of government space programs has faded into the background. Besides SpaceX, other private spaceflight companies are also prospering–several US-based programs have worked closely with NASA and the International Space Station in 2016 and 2017. Meanwhile, government programs must constantly battle bureaucracy, funding issues, and the changing tides of politics. Some agencies have had more success with this than others in the past few years. Only thirteen government space agencies worldwide have the capability for any liftoff at all, and just three out of those thirteen have ever been able to support human spaceflight: NASA, China’s CNSA, and Russia’s Roscosmos. Other countries are taking strides towards the expansion of their space programs as well; among their ranks are Nigeria and India. Nigeria is planning to send an astronaut to space in 2030, while India’s Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched a record-breaking 104 nanosatellites in a single launch this past February. NASA’s recent projects have included launching resupply missions to the ISS, sending out unmanned probes to capture stunning high-definition imagery of asteroids and planets as far out as Pluto, and hitching $81 million dollar rides on Russia’s Soyuz rockets. Though America’s storied and revered space program has a yearly funding of $19.1 billion, that number makes up less than 1% of government expenditures. That $19.1 billion, however, is an amount that is too little to keep an astronaut in orbit– a task that is astronomically expensive, hence why it is attempted by so few. Russia’s space program, Roscosmos, has been focusing on its Soyuz rockets and satellite launches in recent years. But its plans for the future are hazy at best. In a recent interview after the relaunch of SpaceX’s reusable Falcon rocket, director Igor Komarov stated that SpaceX presented a “serious threat” to the program, as its reusable rockets will be competing directly with Russia’s cheap launch systems. During the Cold War, space travel technology developed at a blistering pace, driven on by the pressure of the conflict. Since then, space technology has made progress, but it does not receive the same amount of media attention and funding as it did before; in the age of Apollo, each cosmic milestone was not only a matter of scientific achievement but also a symbol of national pride and a step towards security in the no-man’s-land of the galaxy. In the present day, the tone towards space programs has changed significantly; as conflict spreads within the US, people are turning their focus inwards to focus on problems within our atmosphere, not outside it. Recent silverscreen hits such as Gravity, Interstellar, and The Martian glorify space flight, while the daily civilian tasks of NASA fade into the background. Although President Trump raised NASA’s budget by over a billion for the year of 2018, it is far from the height of its financing during the Cold War, when it accounted for 4% of the government’s yearly spending. Globally, this downward trend in government-funded space agencies might not see a change in the next few years. Developing countries’ programs are tethered down by budget restrictions, public opposition, inferior technology, and lack of manpower. While space programs can boost economies by providing jobs, resources for research, and a defense from brain drain, the immediate effects of investing in a space agency, instead of infrastructure, education, or the military, can be harder to see. As with any government agency, ideas move slowly through the command structure and budget restrictions or fear of failure often make it difficult for riskier plans to be implemented. Meanwhile, SpaceX is not the only aspiring privatized aeronautical company quickly gaining traction in the spaceflight world. Its compatriots include Lockheed Martin and Boeing’s joint venture United Launch Alliance, Virgin Galactic, Vector Space System, and many more. These companies are already moving in on what was previously government-only territory, supplying rockets for resupply missions and doing their own groundbreaking independent research. If government space agencies do not increase the pace and ambition of their work, they may find themselves eclipsed by their faster-growing corporate counterparts.