Bezos Planning “Space Business Park”: Is This the Next Real Estate Investing Frontier?
Space may be the final frontier, but it’s also the last place you would think of for a commercial park. Unless you’re Jeff Bezos. Though it’s far from what could be imagined as a business park, Bezos’ Blue Origin teamed up with several aerospace companies to create the first commercial business park in space: Orbital Reef. They plan to have it operational by the late 2020s, just in time to replace the soon-to-be-decommissioned International Space Station (ISS).
As futuristic and far-fetched an industrial park in space may sound, Bezos’ team isn’t the only one determined to make the longest commute in the world. Lockheed Martin has teamed up with other space hopes to bring Blue Origins into space with their Starlab. Although Starlab is currently planned as a research station, it is still viewed as part of NASA’s commercial Low-Earth Orbit Destination project, which is helping develop private space stations and fuel the growth of a “space economy”.
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When will space stations become commercial businesses?
Strange as it is for me to write this – because my conception of real estate has literally always included things like earth and stones and, like … actually a completely obvious and overlooked extension of the commercial parks we all know (and sometimes love). They don’t look or feel like boring office space with industrial or commercial zones, but they have so many elements in common.
In the case of Orbital Reef, we already know that there are plans for long-term commercial users, each likely to have separate areas for research and other commercial activities (things like filmmaking and short-term rental have been launched so far). . The space station is designed in individual parts, like everything that goes into space. But unlike a lot of space “things”, Orbital Reef is meant to become a modular space toy, with the ability to accommodate many additional modules over time, allowing for virtually unlimited expansion as more companies find reasons to put in the To go to outer space.
This is not a new technology; In fact, it is already being used on a small scale on the ISS. But as the ISS ages and was never really developed with commercial potential in mind, NASA is pushing for more investment in promoting technologies that allow people to hang out in space.
“This is exciting for us because this project does not duplicate the immensely successful and permanent ISS, but rather goes a step further to occupy a unique position in low earth orbit, where it can serve a wide variety of companies and accommodate non-specialized crews. “John Mulholland, Boeing VP and Program Manager for the ISS, stated in a press release on the Blue Origin website. “It requires the same expertise with which we first designed and then built the International Space Station, and the same skills that we use every day to operate, maintain and maintain the ISS.”
The future of commercial real estate could be in space
As long as the earth remains habitable, there will be companies willing to rent commercial space on it, but opening up near-earth orbit (LEO) to commercial ventures is an entirely different matter. Not every type of company will or should rent a capsule at Bezos’ Space Mall, but there is a lot more than might immediately come to mind that could benefit immensely from the research and development space.
Everything from aerospace technology that supports space companies (a kind of self-sufficiency cycle, of course) to experimental food production, climate research, satellite support, and even medical applications could be facilitated with a LEO perspective. Not everything needs or even benefits from having a lot of extra gravity hanging around.
At the moment, the closest you come to investing in a space business park is to buy into NASA LEO Destinations Program players such as Orbital Reef partner Boeing or Starlab partner Lockheed Martin. As these (and possibly other) LEO space stations near launch, be on the lookout for opportunities to acquire stakes in space-related REITs or private investment opportunities to fund other profitable projects that will end there.
Earth is undeveloped, but the opportunity to invest in three dimensions will open all sorts of new opportunities for both investors and humanity in our quest for alien occupation.