Since the advent of the space age, a primary constraint on military, commercial, and civil space missions has been the cost of launch. Launching objects into space requires substantial investments in launch systems and infrastructure, which has restricted the market to only a handful of national governments and several large private companies. This study explores the possibility of a space industry significantly less constrained by the cost of access to space.

Todd Harrison is the director of Defense Budget Analysis and the director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.