T007 // Don’t Burn Bridges in Space

Few countries can afford to do space alone. Missions are expensive, risky and long. Sharing the work spreads the cost and the risk across partners. It also brings in more ideas. And it keeps a project alive when one government changes its priorities.

A short paper by Yangming Cao, of Dalian University of Finance and Economics, looks at how this works in practice. Titled “Analyzing SpaceX’s International Collaborations: Conflicts and Coordination Mechanisms with Space Partners”, it uses SpaceX’s partnerships as its case study. These include NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, cargo flights to the International Space Station, and launches for the European Space Agency and other national agencies.

Cao starts from a simple point: partnerships create friction as well as value. The paper names five sources:

• Commercial interests. Partners on one project can be competitors for the next contract.

• Intellectual property. When teams share designs and know-how, it can be unclear who owns what they build together.

• Technical standards. Systems built to different specifications do not always fit together. Adapting them takes time and money.

• Law and policy. Each country sets its own rules, so partners on the same project carry different obligations.

• Culture. Different working norms and expectations can lead to misunderstandings.

The legal point deserves a closer look. Under Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty, each state is responsible for the space activities of its companies and must supervise them. Cao notes that international space law says little else about private companies. In practice, commercial space activity is regulated country by country.

The paper then sets out the tools that keep partnerships on track:

• cross-functional teams that bring different skills to one problem

• detailed project plans, with schedules and milestones

• regular, open communication between partners

• sharing knowledge and technology where it helps both sides

• a mix of partners, each bringing its own expertise

• goals agreed together at the start

None of these tools belongs to one company. They apply to any organisation working across borders, from a start-up selling its first satellite service abroad to an agency joining a lunar mission. Cao’s conclusion is that shared goals, good communication and a willingness to adapt matter as much as the technology.

As orbit gets busier, the balance between competition and cooperation will matter more.

Read the full paper here.

A large part of my work has been market access: helping satellite operators get the licences they need to serve new countries. Cao looks at partnerships between agencies and companies. My work sits one step further along, where a satellite service meets a national regulator. The same lessons apply there.

Market access is a long game. A licence is not a one-off transaction. It starts a relationship with a regulator that can last decades, through renewals, spectrum decisions and new rules.

Every country is different. The Outer Space Treaty leaves licensing to each state, and each has built its own system. One country may cap foreign ownership. Another may require a gateway on its soil, or that some data stays in the country. An application that worked in one market rarely works unchanged in the next.

Engage early. Regulators prefer to hear about a new service before it launches. Early conversations give them time to raise concerns, and give you time to address them.

Local partners matter. A good local partner understands the rules, the institutions and the unwritten expectations. That knowledge is hard to build from the outside.

In my experience, the operators that do well across borders invest in these relationships early and keep investing in them.