The commercial Space age is already here and rapidly expanding. More and more companies are entering the space market and private industries are starting to flourish. According to Morgan Stanley Research forecast, space exploration is the next trillion-dollar industry. Over the 21 years of continuous human presence in the Space, NASA has been one of the core players in the Low-Earth orbit along with other international government organizations, however, trends now are changing and the International Space Station (ISS), which NASA is using as a platform for scientific research and technology demonstration is now shifting towards commercial use, enabling private astronaut missions and research.

Low-Earth orbit (LEO) economy is the future getaway into deep space exploration and better innovations on Earth and Space. It will also help the planet create sustainable supply chains and support the development of various economies on Earth.

NASA has announced its plan to de-orbit ISS from LEO in 2031; NASA’s goal is to be one of many customers in a robust commercial marketplace in LEO, where cargo and crew transportation, as well as the destinations, are available as services to the agency. This will allow NASA to buy the services it needs from commercial companies for microgravity research and technology demonstrations while the agency explores the Moon and Mars. Hence, we have asked ourselves the question: What is the new LEO economy, and what is NASA’s role within it?

Studio Instructor

Mark Kroeckel

Designers

Zainab Akhtar
Noopur Ambre
Jasleen Kaur Arora
Simone Chen
Nikita Deshpande
Saumya Ghai
Natia Gogotidze
Anamika Gopi
Ria Jain
Jyoti Sondagar
Priyum Macwana
Shambhavi Mehrotra
Sebastian Munoz Awad
Madhura Redij
Elis Shin
Shruthi Thyagarajan
Lara Volpato