We are all Earthlings

by JMill. March 15, 2024 | Space for Earthlings 🌏🛰️

Captivating stories about space-faring species traveling the galaxy make for appetizing entertainment, but they belie the substantial capabilities of the Space industry. These capabilities are enabling for business leaders of traditional industries here on Earth. ‘Earthling’ industrial sectors face shared day-to-day challenges of running organizations, maintaining employees, sustaining supply chains, and a myriad of other executive priorities. 

This collection of articles focuses on what is important for senior business leaders outside of the space industry to be aware of, to evaluate, and to anticipate what new capabilities and price-points may be feasible in the coming years. Grounded with a plethora of illustrative case examples looking retrospectively and prospectively, readers will develop a better sense of notable areas of progress associated with the Space industry and its growing impact across multiple sectors. Furthermore, a practical guide is included for business leaders to self-assess relevance of various Space indicators to the upcoming needs of their organizations.

First, a synopsis of terminology specific to this collection of articles: “Earthling” and “the Space industry”.

The label “Earthling” is intended to refer specifically to someone who is focused on running their companies, institutions, and other organizations, and are overall prioritizing getting on with life right here at home.[1, 2]

What is ‘the Space industry’? It’s all of the economic activities and services associated with craft that are located sufficiently high above our planet’s surface, about 100 kilometers (60 miles), higher than the routes of all aircraft. The Space industry is broad, encompassing satellite communications, Earth observation, global navigation and positioning, launch services, and a variety of emerging areas. These include Space-based mining, tourism, war, cybersecurity, and manufacturing.   

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[1] For those individuals whose main focus is to look beyond our planet, they are still Earthlings, of course, but are more likely to already be Space-informed, and are thus not the primary audience for these articles.

[2] We are not currently delving into Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena and Non-Human Intelligence.