Let's Create a Space Agency!

2024.07.01.

As I was finishing my space policy consultancy course, I began thinking about the possibility of creating a communications agency specialized in the space industry. The agency would focus on analysis, strategy building, and executing industry-specific communication projects, allowing space companies to concentrate on what they do best—innovate.

The Space Industry's Growth

Over the past decade, the space industry has seen exponential growth, with new entrants constantly emerging and more funding becoming available for technological innovations. In 2022 alone, over 1 billion euros in investments were distributed among 112 startups within the European Union. This trend signals significant structural changes in the global space economy. The growing demand, increasing public interest, and the diversity of the industry, along with the intensifying competition among the numerous players, are generating significant noise in the media.

Given these market trends, developing and refining communication skills is becoming strategically crucial for space companies and government organizations. This is because clear and accessible communication of complex space activities is essential to ensure broad public support and legitimacy for the sector.

The Agency's Mission

We learn from stories—stories that resonate with us, touch our hearts, and feature heroes we aspire to be like. Our past, our origins, and the deeds of our brave ancestors are preserved in these enduring tales.

In this digitalized, technocratic, and noisy world, the mission of our agency’s team would be to create such stories about our clients that people can relate to, take pride in, and that make their hearts beat faster. Through these stories, people can feel a sense of belonging and togetherness.

The Agency's Objective

The goal of establishing this agency is to make the revolutionary era of space exploration understandable and beloved by everyone. We aim to achieve this by gaining a deep understanding of the global space industry’s operations, the goals of its economic players, its future vision, the motivational trends driving it, and the general public's attitude towards the space industry.

Through research and analysis, the agency would build a communication-focused knowledge base that could become an essential resource for current and future space enterprises in crafting and conveying their brand messages.

This knowledge base could be made accessible to the international market in various forms, with the agency’s space communication research and analysis team playing a key role. This would involve classic, but specifically space sector-focused, agency activities.

Operating Environment of the Agency

From the very early stages, the conquest of space has intertwined science, politics, and economics—technology, national power ambitions, and profit-making capacity. Over the decades, the emphasis on these elements, their interconnections, and their influence have continuously evolved. Understanding these shifts is essential for deeper insight into the opportunities and risks present in our current situation.

Advancements in modern technology, their understanding, and the reduction of costs have enabled private companies to develop more efficient and profitable solutions. This has led to more players trying their luck in the industry, making private sector entities significant players on the global stage.

This has expanded the commercial opportunities in the space industry, from the initial satellite communications to today’s space tourism. The industry has quietly become a part of our lives, through earth observation, geolocation, weather forecasting, and navigation systems, which have made the industry particularly attractive to the private sector.

Governments have recognized this trend. They increasingly rely on the private sector for space activities, with commercial companies playing a larger role in value chains.

Cooperation between governmental and market players has reached an unprecedented level, as highlighted at the 2022 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) and the World Satellite Business Week (WSBW) events (ESPI Yearbook 2022). The growing geopolitical competition, with space becoming the most prominent arena once again, is accelerating this process. In the space industry, global competition—especially China’s growing ambitions—is pushing Western governments to support the private sector. In the last two years, China and Russia’s combined space assets have grown by about 70%, and between 2015 and 2018, this growth was approximately 200% (C. Todd Lopez, DOD News, 2022).

The developments are extremely capital-intensive, leading to increased investments by both market and governmental players in the industry. Global space industry investments reached 8.8 billion euros in 2022, a 28% decrease from the previous year’s peak of 12.2 billion euros, but Europe was in a favorable position, as 2022 was a record year: space startup investments exceeded 1 billion euros, with a total of 112 investments made in that one year (ESPI Yearbook 2022).

The Agency’s Manifestation

At the beginning of the year, I had some time, so I put together a three-year strategic plan with specific steps and themes. I envisioned the team, talked with them, and a great group could have formed, but life took us in different directions. I let it go too...

Nearly six months passed. Then, out of nowhere, a call came to MarkCon (the marketing agency I co-own): there was a large space industry project looking for suppliers. One of the supplier candidates—the company’s client—wanted help communicating why they were suitable for the task.

WOW.

First of all, huge kudos to Eszter Öhlmüller. Eszter is the CEO of MarkCon and my co-owner in the company. Thanks to her, this opportunity came to the company, an opportunity where I had my first space industry consultancy. And which brought my January business idea back to mind.

Is this a sign? Should I go for it? Hmm. Maybe, but I don’t feel enough energy in it to start right now. Life will show if we also show life.

That’s why this article was born, and why I’m sharing it where I feel the idea could take root and grow into something. A business project. Whether I’m involved or not. If the project is viable, it will find its way. I’m curious to see :) In the meantime:

To infinity and beyond! Fortune favors the brave… :)

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The article was translated from Hungarian to English by ChatGPT. Thank you, ChatGPT, for being here.