Cooperation Between Government Agencies and Private Companies in Space: The Case of the United States

ABSTRACT Formerly a solely government sphere, space is now an attractive frontier for private companies. As research and production costs were unreachable for private actors in the past, only government agencies such as NASA, could afford the development of their space program, with participation from private companies through contracting for design and manufacturing. Today, companies, such as Blue Origin and SpaceX are privately developing different aspects of the space industry and making the topic of cooperation between government agencies and private companies for commercial services relevant. Despite the new programs that private companies are bringing to life, such as space tourism and space launch, a major part of their activity is related to cooperation with NASA. The structure of this article consists of several parts, beginning with a brief overview of the types of space companies. This is followed by a history of private space companies and the economic aspect of public-private cooperation, and finally the military-diplomatic effects of this cooperation. After decades of coexisting and collaborating, the new model whereby NASA only places orders and private companies provide commercial services is the one that is the most cost-effective.