Date: Thursday, June 10, 2021
Location: US,
Thursday, June 10, 2021, 2:00PM – 3:15 PM EDT
Space is hard and expensive. The cost of the International Space Station has passed $150 billion. Returning to the moon under NASA’s Artemis program will exceed $30 billion just to land the first crew on the surface for the first time in 50 years. Yet the vision for space exploration and development far exceeds these modest endeavors. The kind of funding required far exceeds the resources of any government and private entity. NASA has made strides in the past decades on sharing costs with the private sector, and this trend certainly needs to continue. But the basic public/private partnerships may not be enough to fulfill the vision of establishing new branches of civilizations beyond Earth.
Discussing this immense funding centered challenge, Steve Wolfe, President and co-founder of the Beyond Earth Institute, asserted: “One of the biggest hurdles to expanding human civilization beyond Earth is arranging the necessary financing for such mega development projects. It’s no-bucks-no-buck-rogers on steroids. The time is now to begin to consider creative solutions to funding our new homes in space.”
To address this issue, Beyond Earth is initiating a review of advanced financing options to fund large scale space infrastructure and habitat projects. Beyond Earth has invited the authors of several well-considered advanced financing models to subject their work to a panel of experts for their reaction and evaluation based on a set of predetermined criteria.
To kick off this initiative, Beyond Earth will host a virtual event featuring financial experts who will help to set the tone for this project. They will discuss the complexity of macro scale space investment and the range of possible solutions to spread the investment risk among stakeholders. In general, they will comment on the several financing mechanisms, including a government-chartered private corporation, a financing through private markets, and a government-backed investment corporation, among others.
Meagan Crawford is one of the leading female voices in the space industry and an experienced space startup executive and founder. She is currently a managing partner of Space Fund, a venture capital firm investing in space startups. Meagan is also the host of the Mission Eve podcast that aims to increase the number of women in the space industry and is frequently featured as a thought leader on the industry’s development and investment potential. As a NewSpace industry pioneer, she is a strong believer in the power of free enterprise as the driving force that will lift humanity permanently off-world. She is also committed to several not-for-profit projects, such as serving as the Chair of the board of the Center for Space Commerce and Finance, of which she is also a co-founder, as well as sitting on the board of the Space Frontier Foundation, the Earthlight Foundation, and the Mars Initiative. Meagan, a 5th generation native Houstonian and scholar alumnus of the Texas Business Hall of Fame, is dedicated to projects focused on building a sustainable, profitable, successful space industry – for everyone.
Jeff Matthews is a specialist leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP with more than 15 years of private and public sector experience focused on finance, enterprise architecture transformation, technology commercialization, and market strategy. Currently, he is a leader in Deloitte’s Government & Public Sector Space Industry practice where he provides subject matter expertise on commercial space technology trends, industry strategies, and launch systems economics. Before joining Deloitte, Jeff served as the director of venture strategy and research for the Space Frontier Foundation where he was also a board member. His previous experience as an advisor in $600M+ of venture capital raises for early stage technology companies, commercializing government technologies, and deep insight into the commercial space market allows him to bring a unique perspective to government and commercial clients. Jeff has contributed expertise and analysis on the space industry to Reuters, Forbes, NBC News, Discovery News, The Wharton School, the Open Group, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Hoyt Davidson is the founder and Managing Partner of Near Earth LLC, an investment banking boutique focused on the satellite industry, commercial space, and the Internet of Things. Hoyt received a Physics degree from MIT and upon graduation spent six years in the Space Systems Division of Lockheed leaving as a Senior Research Engineer to return to MIT for an MBA, where he was awarded the Henry B. duPont III scholarship for academic excellence. Subsequently, Hoyt headed to Wall Street where he rose to the level of Managing Director at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and later at Credit Suisse. At DLJ, in the mid-1990s, he co-founded the Space Finance Group, the first corporate finance coverage group focused on
the commercial satellite industry and raised $15 billion for commercial satellite companies. Hoyt also currently serves on the board of XO Markets Holdings, the parent of NanoRacks LLC, and on the advisory boards of Lynk Global and Nexteon. His non-profit participations are numerous, including serving on the board of the Space Foundation and the National Space Society, along with a stint on the NASA Advisory Council for Commercial Space.
Grant Anderson co-founded Paragon Space Development Corp. in 1993, and until 2014 was the VP of Engineering and Chief Engineer of the company and was responsible for the design and implementation of not only many of Paragon’s technical achievements, but also its processes of engineering rigor in a stepped approach of requirements, design, build, test, and delivery. Coming from a diverse background, he has held a multitude of positions at Paragon. Grant has also led the systems and conceptual design of multiple spacecraft, holding multiple patents in a diverse range of disciplines. He has led development and qualification of experimental flight hardware for five shuttle flights, two Mir missions, a Russian Progress, and the first commercial payload on ISS. Additionally, Grant was the Chief Design Engineer for the International Space Station Solar Array Program–the largest solar arrays ever built. Prompted by his passion, Grant is dedicated to educational work outside of Paragon. He helped lead the financial growth of the Tucson Waldorf School from a small struggling school to a robust, diverse, and thriving institution. Grant also oversees a non-profit tuition scholarship organization and serves on the Industry Advisory Board for the College of Engineering at the University of Arizona.
Steve Wolfe is the President and co-founder of the Beyond Earth Institute. He is also Deputy Executive Director for Global Spaceport Alliance and partner at CWSP International. He serves as the Space and Board of Editors for the Journal of Space Philosophy. Steve served in Washington as the executive director of the Congressional Space Caucus and drafted the Space Settlement Act of 1988. The bill was signed into law as part of the NASA Authorization bill. Steve is the author of The Obligation: A Journey to Discover Human Purpose on Earth and in the Cosmos.
About the Beyond Earth Institute
The Beyond Earth Institute is a 501(c)(3) U.S. non-profit organization (application pending). It is at the heart of all related initiatives that impact the success of the space movement with respect to human expansion beyond Earth. Beyond Earth’s focus is on technology readiness, worldwide public support, and related public policy enactment, including recommendations for policy initiatives. Beyond Earth conducts primary and secondary research, then consolidates and publicizes reports to be delivered and presented widely throughout the space policy community both in the U.S. and internationally.
For more information, press only:
David Bullock
For more information on Beyond Earth Institute:
Web Site Address: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/beyondearthinstitute/527709
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