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• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The US has been the leading country in the space industry ever since its Apollo days. Yet in the ensuing years, there has not been a single human spaceflight taking place to any other celestial body from this space-faring nation. However in 2004, US President George W. Bush made his 'Vision of Space Exploration' speech in which he gave a new direction to re-emphasize the human spaceflight and space exploration to go to the Moon and beyond. From this 'Vision' emerged a new mode of business development - NASA to help a new space industry - by giving awards and prizes to startup companies. Gradually a new space community was born and the New Space Movement has been underway since, with myriad of companies working on various space projects toward deep space exploration. This thesis looks into the factors that resurrect the US space competitiveness and provides some clues about why the US entrepreneur-led companies are more effective in building the space industry than the rest of the world. One major factor that contribute to the vibrant activities of the US space sector is the significant funding support from the public-private partnership whereby the government space funding is supplemented by the strong private investment. From a much lower funding level, Europe on the other hand has no plan for human spaceflight currently to go beyond the International Space Station on its own. To encourage the Europe to reach the US level of ambition and competence, the author proposes a 'European Space Bond' to finance a massive space project to catch up with the US space leadership and to shoot for the Moon and beyond as well. For China to race ahead with their space development, the author suggests the government to encourage the formation of private space companies and space cultural institutions to complement what the government has been doing to achieve their ambitious space goals.