Space Commodities Exchange Launches First Products

The Space Commodities Exchange is an emerging space start-up applying free market “supply and demand” fundamentals to space commodities.

The US-based Space Commodities Exchange Inc (SCX) has started designing the first products that would signify a new age of commerce in space: Tradable commodities. The SCX expects to sell the first units of propellant in Q4 of 2021.

The SCX is an emerging space start-up applying free market “supply and demand” fundamentals to space commodities. From supplying fuel to satellites, to trading resources to and from Lunar bases, the Space Commodities Exchange is ensuring these commodities can be traded using existing regulated exchanges, to diminish price volatility and ultimately make space a more stable business environment.

The first tradable commodities will be propellants that address the needs of a variety of satellites. While these early stage products are small in size (in the tens of kilograms), they establish a framework for larger volume trades. The SCX goal is to ultimately position propellant depots in strategic orbits serving multiple customers.

“The recent intersection of the new technology required to make zero-G transfers possible, a demand for in-space and on-orbit commodities, plus competing international Space policy initiatives to achieve the towering heights in space commerce, has kicked us out of stealth mode to make space commodities an actual trade,” said Simon Drake, CEO of the SCX. “We want you to buy, hold or sell commodities in space.”

Simon Drake, Managing Director of Space Ventures Investors Ltd (UK) and Lunar Resources Registry UG (Germany)

Brian Peterson, a top-25 market maker in oil and gas markets, also a designated market maker in new product launches on several global commodities exchanges.

The founders met in 2017, incorporated in 2019, and represent multiple skill sets building the emerging new space supply chain, from satellite-servicing, to investing, and regulated exchanges.