Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson declared the “dawn of a new space age” a year ago this week, after a brief suborbital hop that crested 53 miles above Earth, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos made his own jaunt nine days later that flew 10 miles higher to reach the Kármán line, which some consider the boundary between the Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. As early as next year, SpaceX plans to launch a Japanese fashion entrepreneur and eight guests on a much-touted swing around the moon.

One may be tempted to dismiss the surge of private space activity as much ado about billionaires’ bragging rights. But the new space era has more to do with big data than big egos.