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Timely and critical insights on the NewSpace sector
On June 21, 2004 I stood alongside thousands in the Mojave desert waiting in the early hours for the historic first powered launch of Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne (SS1). WhiteKnightOne, the carrier vehicle for SS1, circled above our heads for what felt like hours but was actually less than ...
Over the last month, big news shook NewSpace and advanced the narrative of the industry. The stories’ main characters are not NewSpace companies with climactic reveals of technological breakthroughs. Instead, the protagonists are investors who support their investments and embrace new ones. With ...
NewSpace is no stranger to challenge, whether above the clouds or in legislation. One particularly ornery obstacle is the US International Traffic and Arms Regulation, commonly known as ITAR. (Please see “Public Policy” in the March 2012 issue of Thruster.) Space technologies are in many cases ...
Imagine a continuum of an industry’s present and potential customers, ordered by expected revenue per customer. Costs determine the extent the industry can meet the demand, and, in turn the revenue from this market continuum. Nascent industries like NewSpace possess high costs that may limit ...
NewSpace SmallCaps often face challenges: tight budgets, game-changing competition, lengthy development schedules and cash flow crunches. To reduce some of this pain, NewSpace companies have found significant advantages in tapping universities for talent, but more importantly, they have redefined ...
When true paradigm shifts occur, as with Cloud Computing and NewSpace, there is no buzz phrase that is more appropriate, stigmatized as it may be. When examining existing and emerging NewSpace Market opportunities, the 2nd of the "NSG 4-Screens," the ever-recurring interplay of the two innovation ...
Like many investors, NSG Analysts know that the management team is the most important criterion or “screen” to use when evaluating a company in NewSpace, and the stakes are high for the LargeCap NewSpace management teams. More than any product, market opportunity, or level of capitalization, smart ...
Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon is a real spaceship. Han can take off at a moment’s notice and escape from pursuers into space. And when he reaches his destination he simply flies right down through the planet’s atmosphere and can land on almost any patch of ground. After a quick refueling he can do ...
A dollar doesn’t equal a dollar; a rover doesn’t equal a rover. What does that mean? Well, let’s just put it this way: While NASA has done an exceptional job of placing a rover on the fourth rock from the sun, I, for one, cannot be muzzled any longer. Most people celebrate the technological ...
The recent berthing of SpaceX’s (NSG 100: SET; #1) Dragon capsule at the International Space Station (ISS) changed history by becoming the first commercial spacecraft to successfully berth with the ISS. NSG analysts have extensively written in Thruster that the event will catalyze the growth of the ...
With state and local governments still suffering from a persistent deficit of tax revenues due to the moribund economic recovery, smart politicians are looking ahead and lobbying for spaceport development in their constituencies. Spaceport America in Southern New Mexico has been the most ...