Currently, the space launch sector is pretty much a vertical affair. The company that builds and operates the rockets retains ownership of them and what is flown when is set by them. It's the way the business has been run since commercial payloads started launching in the 1960s, but that may soon change if Dawn Aerospace's plans are successful.

The current setup is rather as if Boeing and Airbus not only built airplanes but completely controlled all the freight and passenger traffic as well. That's somewhat similar to how railways have operated but rail companies work under what is called a natural monopoly. That is, having competing railways in an area is almost impossible because there are only so many routes to lay track on. However, if you look up at the sky, there aren't anything like tracks. It's like the oceans, the common property of humanity.

This commonality is why aircraft manufacturers sell their products to governments, private companies, and individuals to do with legally as they will. It's also the reason why it's possible to set up so many space launch companies. Outer space, subject to the law, belongs to everyone.

The thing is, the fledgling commercial space industry hasn't yet made the final, logical step: since rockets and spaceplanes are becoming reusable, why do the launching for customers? Why not be like aircraft manufacturers and shipyards that build the vehicles and sell them?

That seems to be the thinking behind Dawn Aerospace's announcement that it's soliciting orders for its uncrewed Aurora spaceplane.

Aurora isn't exactly a rival to SpaceX's Starship or Blue Origin's New Glenn giant rockets. It can only reach the edge of space at an altitude of 62 miles (100 km) and a top speed of Mach 3.5 while carrying a maximum payload of 22 lb (10 kg) thanks to its hybrid liquid/solid rocket motor. However, it can take off from a conventional runway, provide up to three minutes of weightlessness, and has a turnaround time between flights of only four hours as well as a maximum ground range of 70 nautical miles (81 miles, 130 km).

The company plans to sell Aurora directly to customers with a price estimated to be somewhere in the vicinity of US$30 million a unit, with deliveries to begin in 2027. The buyer can then fly Aurora on any desired mission with any desired payload from any compatible location, with capability of multiple flights per day. This could include defense applications, signals intelligence, surveillance, hypersonics, maritime patrol, atmospheric research, and research in a wide variety of other fields from biology to semiconductor testing.

Aside from the obvious business advantages of being the first to enter such a market, Dawn Aerospace also has the potential to go further with the commercial airplane model, where the manufacturers combine sales with service contracts for their vehicles that are often worth more than the sale price.

In addition, the implications of shifting control of spaceplanes and other launch vehicles could result in reductions in the cost of getting into space while allowing smaller companies and institutions to enter the field. It's early days, but it may prove analogous to when computers shifted from mainframes to personal computers in the 1970s, which led to a boom in the field.