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ventures are pursuing both human and cargo launch capability.In itself, the development of models for the space economy is a sign that rapid change is taking place in the uses of space and of its expanding potential to impact human activity. This paper proposes a general set of models for the first decades of space frontier development as the space economy expands beyond Earth orbit. These models were created by examining and extrapolating historical trends of world gross domestic product. Our models consider both the positive effects of increasing knowledge, productivity, transportation technology, and population, while incorporating the effects of decreasing availability of land and resources on Earth. Our long-range prediction is that overall, the rate of growth of space related economic activity is likely to be at least twice that of world GDP.The portion of economic growth beyond Earth orbit will reflect several factors, including OverviewThe space economy, the segment of human economic activity that relates to space, is a small, but growing portion of the overall world economy. As recently as a decade ago, commerce in space was essentially restricted to satellites orbiting within 26,000 miles of Earth's surface. Launch systems were government-run and heavily subsidized by public funds. Human access was restricted to a fortunate few selected to enter space on very expensive and limited, governmentally funded, space vehicles. Those initial systems, the Soyuz and the Shuttle, have been active since 1967 and 1981 respectively. 1 The last decade, however, has seen a rapid expansion in both the variety and nature of activities in space. Government space programs in Russia and the United States are developing new manned vehicles to replace their aging systems, and China has become an additional player in the manned spaceflight arena. As well, several private