A strategic architecture for growing a space economy utilizing
foundational space weather
Abstract
We face unprecedented resource stresses in the 21st Century such as
global climate disruptions, freshwater scarcity, expanding energy
demands, and the threat of global pandemics. Historically, societies
have relieved resource stress by increasing trade, innovating
technologically, expanding territorially, regulating, redistributing,
making alliances, creating new economic models, training new skills, as
well as conducting war. Do we continue depleting our already strained
resources leading to more regulation, redistribution, alliances, new
economics, and war or do we grow our resources using innovation,
expansion, new economics, and new skills? We present the argument for
evolving space development using asteroid mining as the primary activity
for frontier expansion aided by Low Earth Orbit (LEO), Moon, and Mars
waystations. Forecast space weather is a necessary technology baseline
for developing this pathway. All activity off Earth will require a
fundamental knowledge of how the energetics of space will affect
technological progress. We discuss the critical elements this space
economy expansion, including technical feasibility and infrastructure
development, economic and geopolitical viability complete with the US
National Space Weather Program dialogue, ethical and legal
considerations, and risk management. This discussion helps us understand
how a space economy is feasible with the aggregation of many existing
and new technologies into more advanced systems’ engineering projects.