What is space exploration for?

The space probes sent to the confines of the Solar System are a dream for many. But every time the subject is broached, some question the relevance of spending billions of dollars on space exploration. By publishing a report on the economic benefits of space missions, NASA is giving us the opportunity to examine the issue.

Salaries and contracts

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) generates three times more economic benefits than its budget, US76 billion compared to US25 billion, says the new report.

“This includes salaries and contracts,” explains the chief economist of the American federal agency, Alex MacDonald, in an interview.

The amount of benefits is higher than the budget because of the leverage effect: certain activities are only partly funded by NASA, but this contribution is essential to launch these projects.

“We have over a thousand partnerships with businesses and universities,” says MacDonald.

To explain this leverage effect, he points to the growth of the space industry, which attracts investments of more than US$10 billion per year in new American companies. This is 10 times more than in 2010.

This evaluation concerns the year 2023, during which the agency’s sector having generated the most significant benefits was that of Moon-Mars exploration, with 24 billion US dollars.

Since its creation in 1958, NASA has been the source of 2,600 patents and more than 2,000 technological products marketed by companies. Last year, the agency received 69 patents.

The next step in these biannual assessments is to study the impact of patents and new technologies encouraged by the federal agency. “Our assessment is currently very conservative,” emphasizes Mr. MacDonald. With half of economic growth tied to productivity improvements, we are likely to have an even greater impact on the U.S. economy. »

Mr. MacDonald did not want to quantify this indirect technological impact. But when we asked him if it was as big as the direct impact measured by his report, the economist acquiesced. “I would say it’s in those waters. »

Climate and plastic

NASA-funded Earth observation satellites are among the most successful. One of their main missions is to measure climate change. The American agency’s investments in technology and research on climate change generate US7.9 billion in economic benefits, for budgetary expenditures slightly above US1 billion.

Over the decades, NASA’s investments in Earth observation have enabled the establishment of the GPS positioning system, systems for measuring greenhouse gas emissions from different sectors (agriculture, gas pipelines, forest fires, etc.). ), and the identification of plastics floating on the surface of the oceans or washing up on beaches.

SpaceX’s Texas windfall…

NASA is no longer the only American space giant. In recent years, the company SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, has revolutionized satellite launches with prices 10 times lower than 20 years ago. And she promises to slash prices even further with her mammoth rocket Starshipwho is scheduled to take his sixth test on November 18.

SpaceX’s explosive growth has been hugely beneficial to Brownsville, a town of 190,000 located 19 miles from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas, spaceport.

“When I was growing up, people who went to college had to go somewhere else,” says Nathan Burkhart, vice president of innovation for the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation.

“I went to Austin myself. But in recent years, thanks to SpaceX, there are plenty of possibilities. »

Since 2019, the number of SpaceX employees has jumped to 2,500. “They are specialized workers, particularly in piping,” explains Mr. Burkhart. Before, they had to go and work in the oil industry. They would leave for three weeks and come home for a week. »

SpaceX also covered the costs of widening the connection between the Port of Brownsville and the nearby highway. “It needed capacity for its parts arriving at the port,” says Mr. Burkhart. The whole region benefited. Now there is an oil terminal under construction at the port, which will generate 5,000 jobs. »

…and that of Starlink

On the financial side, SpaceX’s crown jewel is Starlink, the constellation of 6,500 satellites that provide high-speed internet. Its revenues of US 6.6 billion, four times more than in 2022, have analysts salivating.

But the impact on the cows’ floor is also – if not more – important. Starlink has allowed Ukraine to benefit from very precise communications between its troops at the front. And rich countries, notably Canada, are using it to provide high-speed internet connection in the regions.

In recent years, around ten studies have found that Starlink is also a game-changer in developing countries, such as Thailand, Zimbabwe and Indonesia.

“Starlink internet access has transformed the development prospects of many rural residents in emerging countries,” concludes a Thai study published last year in the journal Research on Globalization.

The Moon, Mars and asteroids

Since 1999, the Colorado School of Mines has hosted the Space Resources Roundtable each spring. This year, more than 250 participants attended, twice as many as 10 years ago, including half a dozen companies aiming to establish lunar mines.

Space mines, just for asteroids, could generate profits of US$1.5 trillion by 2100, according to a 2022 report from Harvard University.

But the game is far from won. An American company aiming to establish mines on asteroids, Astroforge, has just obtained the first… space communications permit for its probe Odinplanned for 2025.

Even Elon Musk, who wants to colonize Mars with his Starship rockets, is cautious. Trade between Earth and Mars will not include physical goods produced on Mars and sent to Earth. Rather, it will be things invented on Mars that will be manufactured on Earth, according to Martian plans, he admitted during a conference at the University of Oxford.