Sixteen of the world’s 500 richest people have investments in space enterprises, a new data analysis has found.
Technology tycoons dominate the list, including Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos, founder of space travel firm Blue Origin.
The list also includes hotel and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who has invested in a mission to the moon, and Ricardo Salinas, a Mexican banking and retail billionaire who’s backing private satellite network OneWeb.
Sixteen of the world’s 500 richest people (pictured) have investments in space enterprises, a new data analysis has found
Other big names on the list, compiled by Bloomberg and Virginia-based consulting firm Bryce Space & Technology, include Bill Gates, who has invested in satellite company Kymeta, and Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson.
Branson’s space travel firm has already spent more than £465 million ($600 million) to help get commercial flights into suborbital space by the end of 2018.
Google co-founder Larry Page, who has backed asteroid mining company Planetary Resources, also features on the list, as does Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg led a £39 million ($50 million) investment last year into the SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research Centre, which is looking for alien life on distant planet proxima b.
The investment was made alongside Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and British physicist Stephen Hawking.
Space Angels, a network for space investors, calculates that more than 225 private space ventures have now received equity funding, up from 33 in 2009. Pictured is a graph showing the recent rise in the total number of private space ventures
The list includes hotel and casino mogul Sheldon Adelson (left), who has invested in a mission to the moon, and Ricardo Salinas (right), a Mexican banking and retail billionaire who’s backing private satellite network OneWeb
The last ten years has seen a boom in private space firms, triggered in part by the recent success of Musk’s SpaceX.
The company launched its first commercial flight in 2009, providing a window to space for firms previously hindered by the high costs of getting into orbit.
Space Angels, a network for space investors, calculates that more than 225 private space ventures have now received equity funding, up from 33 in 2009.
Around £2.4 billion ($3.1 billion) was invested in these companies in 2016, a sharp jump from the £318 million ($409 million) invested in 2011.
Last month, it was revealed that SpaceX is now worth more than $21 billion (£16 billion) after it raised $350 million (£268 million) in new financing.
Sixteen of the world’s 500 richest people have investments in space enterprises, a new data analysis has found. Technology tycoons dominate the list – including Elon Musk (left), CEO of SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos (right), founder of Blue Origin
Other big names on the list, compiled by Bloomberg and Virginia-based consulting firm Bryce Space & Technology, include Bill Gates (left), who has invested in satellite company Kymeta, and Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson (right)
The firm joined an elite group of venture-backed companies – including Uber and Airbnb – that are valued at more than $20 billion (£15 billion).
Its new value also makes it the fourth most valuable private technology company in the US.
SpaceX, which is based in Hawthorne, California, is known for its ambitious plans to establish humanity’s first colony on Mars, as well as putting satellites into space.
The company, which was valued at $14.6 billion (£11.2 billion) last year, is also vying to become a major government contractor.
Google co-founder Larry Page (left), who has backed asteroid mining company Planetary Resources, also features on the list, as does Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (right) thanks to his investment in the SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research Centre
Entrepreneur Yuri Milner (left), Mark Zuckerberg and physicist Stephen Hawking have jointly invested £39 million ($50 million) into SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence). Google co-founder Sergey Brin (pictured right with wife Anne) has invested in SpaceX
The SpaceX billionaire has said the only way of attracting enough people to build a settlement on the red planet would be to cut the cost of a one-way ticket.
The entrepreneur aims to get the price down of the ticket down to the cost of an average house in the US – or around $200,000 (£157,000).
‘I want to make Mars seem possible – make it seem as though it is something that we can do in our lifetime,’ Musk said.
‘There really is a way that anyone could go if they wanted to.’