This book offers the first systematic, multidisciplinary treatment aimed at providing the most rigorous and systematic analysis possible to help the reader understand what New Space really is and how it is the combination of six fundamental and interdependent elements. These are innovation in the area of product (what is built in New Space), in process (how it is built), in technology (how technological innovation is approached), in new business models, in financing (and how new financing models influence the design and architecture of new projects), and ultimately in the governance of stakeholders interested in the products and services developed by the New Space industry. This book also describes new mission concepts introduced by New Space, as well as the new skills needed to develop the industry, and the new challenges arising from technological innovation and a changing institutional and industrial landscape. This book is aimed at a broad audience that includes professionals from technical, business, and financial backgrounds (including, for example, investors interested in investing in the space sector) who are interested in deepening their understanding of New Space and how space can be an important driver of innovation for their business.

Alessandro Golkar is Full Professor and founder of the Chair of Spacecraft Systems at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). He also serves as Visiting Senior Instructor at MIT Professional Education, where he teaches the New Space Economy course to mid-career managers and executives from corporate, investment, and startup backgrounds.

He earned his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with a doctoral thesis on systems architecture applied to human spaceflight and robotic interplanetary exploration. He additionally holds an EMBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology, a Habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR) from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse, and an M.Sc. in Astronautical Engineering and a B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering, both from Università di Roma "La Sapienza".

Prior to joining TUM, Professor Golkar was among the founding faculty of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) in Moscow, joining in 2012 as part of the inaugural faculty cohort that established the university in partnership with MIT. Over the following decade he built and led the Strategic Innovation Research Group, and served as Director of the Skoltech Space Center (2016 to 2017), where he led the creation of the Center's strategy, M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs, and laboratory infrastructure. From 2017 to 2019 he was Vice President at the Airbus Corporate Technology Office in Toulouse, where he headed the group Concurrent Design Facility and directed technology roadmapping across the Airbus R&T portfolio, coordinating more than 120 studies involving over 1,200 engineers, researchers, and executives.

His current research at TUM covers autonomous spacecraft systems, event-based vision for space applications, and generative AI for mission design. He leads the EventSat CubeSat programme, which demonstrates neuromorphic event-driven perception in orbit, and directs work on multi-agent reinforcement learning for autonomous spacecraft operations. He has authored or co-authored more than 140 peer-reviewed publications on spacecraft design, systems architecture, and the economics of space infrastructure, and serves as Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal on Miniaturization for Air and Space Systems and of the INCOSE Systems Engineering journal. He regularly delivers executive education and keynote lectures on the space economy to corporate, governmental, and investor audiences across Europe, North America, and the Gulf.

Professor Golkar previously served as Co-PI of the FSSCAT mission, Overall Winner of Copernicus Masters 2017 and recipient of the 1 million euro ESA Sentinel Small Satellite Challenge prize. Since 2024 he has been listed in Stanford's Top 2% Scientists World Ranking (subfield: Aerospace & Aeronautics). He received the 2019 Innovators Under 35 Italia (TR 35) award from MIT Technology Review Italia, the 2014 Luigi G. Napolitano Award from the International Astronautical Federation, and the 2015 Best Paper of the Year Award from the INCOSE Systems Engineering journal. He is a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a Senior Member of the IEEE, and a Karman Fellow since 2021.

Beyond his academic and industrial roles, Professor Golkar is an active angel investor in the new space economy, with early-stage positions in space, AI, and other deep tech ventures. He advises institutional investors, family offices, and strategic corporates on capital allocation in the space sector, applying the Six Elements Framework as a structured methodology for evaluating opportunities across technology, market, team, capital, regulation, and geopolitics.