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Commercialization

Silicon Valley, NASA and Startups

By Marc Boucher
NASA Watch
July 30, 2013
Filed under

The Silicon Valley of space could be Silicon Valley, The Space Review
For nearly a decade, many have called the Mojave Air and Space Port the Silicon Valley of the entrepreneurial space, or NewSpace, industry, and understandably so. The spaceport is home to Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic’s The Spaceship Company, XCOR Aerospace, Masten Space Systems, Stratolaunch Systems, and others, filling the spaceport’s hangars and buildings to capacity. More recently, the Seattle area as tried to brand itself as a Silicon Valley for NewSpace, with a diverse set of companies ranging from Blue Origin to Planetary Resources.
…During that time, few considered Silicon Valley as an entrepreneurial space hub…
…What’s different this time around is that the space companies taking root in the region are looking less like the large, established aerospace companies–sometimes dubbed, at least somewhat pejoratively, as “OldSpace”–but more like the other entrepreneurial companies in the region…

Marc’s note: With a half-a-dozen and growing small “NewSpace” companies setting up in the Valley and surrounding area, a change is underway. While traditional companies still dominate, and will for some time, these small new companies and others in other regions are worthing noting. The economics are changing. Are we seeing the groundwork for a sustained, broader and larger industry emerging? If so, then the next phase in the space age may be upon us.

SpaceRef co-founder, entrepreneur, writer, podcaster, nature lover and deep thinker.