Space Activity at the Threshold of the 21st Century: A Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Perspective

After the Cold War the space programs of individual nations and world-wide space activity had to learn the rules and the laws of economics since this is the only reliable means of survival in conditions of a radical change in world economy and international relations. the principles and procedures of resource allocation for space activity have been drastically revised. There will be no “crash” space programs or the “Apollo” and “Star Wars” type in the foreseeable future. National and international space projects will have to prove their competitiveness across the board in real terms of economic efficiency. a perspective on economic benefits and economic incentives for space activity in conditions of the growing world market of space goods and services is put forward in this paper.