Emerging Space Commerce and State Economic Development Strategies

Space is a location from which numerous private and government entities operate just as industries on earth do. When government policy changed in the late 1980s, commercial space industries began to spin off from the U.S. government space program and separately evolve. At the dawn of the 21st century, space commerce has stabilized into viable business operations. Motivated by profit, a distinct industrial location pattern and operation of space commerce are emerging from government space activities. Since 1989, states have implemented space commerce economic development strategies, and by 2004, more than a dozen states have funded such strategies. The Oklahoma strategy is presented to highlight current economic development strategies for space commerce.