We all dream of going out into space, and Hollywood has been fueling the dream for the past 60 or so years with movies like Star Wars, Star Trek, and many many more. Today with Virgin Galactic leading the way, it is now more affordable to get into space and it will only take time before space travel would be as routine as air travel. Space will be conquered, we will have space ports both on Earth and in space, space hotels and resorts, space research facilities and space production facilities. This is the future and we are getting there.

Spaceport America as envisioned by Virgin Galactic

With United States, Great Britain, the European Union, Japan, China and India leading the way in space exploration Filipinos may think that they won’t be playing in this new game but I disagree, Filipinos will play a large and vital part of this new industry/frontier/age with the onset of the Space Service Filipino Workers (SsFWs).

OFW Guardian (www.ofwguardian.com)

Currently there is an estimated 11,000,000 OFWs around the world both legal and illegal according to a study done by Population Reference Bureau. Bringing in almost $16 Billion in remittances in 2008. Filipino domestic helpers are the most sought after domestic helpers in the world. When I went to Lebanon last 2006, just after the Israeli-Hezbollah/Lebanon war, Filipinos were “forced” by the Philippine Government to evacuate the country however their employers (Lebanese) did not want them to go giving them higher pay just to stay of which many preferred to stay. Some homeowners even resorted into pirating domestic helpers from other households and hotels. In Japan, according to http://goodnewspilipinas.com,Filipino seamen comprises nearly 70% of the maritime workforce. There is always a Filipino sailing and navigating the seas, oceans and even rivers of the world.

Onset of the Space ferrying Pinoys

Once they build the spaceports, the space hotels, the space research facilities and space production facilities they have to be manned by people. People who will clean the space toilets, assist the scientist in finding his balance, serving guests and doing small but very important jobs.  So far no nation is focusing on this large and lucrative market and with the Philippines as a world class human resource service provider , the Philippines is poised to control and dominate this market with or without government help. It isn’t an impossibility that in 2020 70% of all space dwellers/ workers  are Filipinos as cooks, engineers, cleaners, care-takers, assistance and many more.

Opportunities

There is now a large opportunity to start a space service academy, where cooks, engineers, assistants, seamen are trained to work in space. Once Virgin Galactic opens its space hotel, it would rather hire trained and space ready service workers than train them. With Filipinos able to speak in English, we  have another big advantage over China and India the other human resource powerhouses.

There is big money to be made here, for both the agencies that will train space-ready service workers and the space ready workers themselves. Filipinos and the Philippines can be the pioneer in space training for service workers such as cooks and cleaners and people of all nationalities who dream to go to space will flock to the Philippines in droves. And companies who will own, operate and manage space facilities will rely on Space ready workforce provided by the Space service academies in the Philippines.

The future of space is more than open to the Filipino people in fact, it is most likely be dominated by Filipinos. Welcome to the age of Space service Filipino Workers (SsFWs) opening brand new industries and businesses. It is time to innovate and go to space !