Replication Data for: Commercializing Low Earth Orbit

The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory has been the chariot for scientific experimentation in Low Earth Orbit. Directed by NASA, many of them are conducted in collaboration with private companies. This paper analyzes the outcomes of these experiments using administrative data on scholarly publications and patents. Our descriptive statistics suggest a steadily increasing trend of private sector participation in space station research. Using measures based on citations, we show (1) ISS publications receive more citations than if they were developed on earth, (2) public-private collaboration does not attenuate the quality of science, and (3) it is, however, associated with the growing patent portfolios of space-investing companies.国际空间站（International Space Station, ISS）国家实验室一直是近地轨道开展科学实验的核心平台。该实验室由美国国家航空航天局（National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA）主管，其中多项实验与私营企业合作开展。本研究利用学术出版物与专利的管理数据，对上述实验的研究成果展开分析。我们的描述性统计结果显示，私营部门参与空间站科研的比例呈持续上升趋势。基于引用量的衡量指标，我们得出以下结论：1. 国际空间站相关学术出版物的引用量高于地面开展的同类研究；2. 公私合作并不会削弱科研成果的质量；3. 然而，公私合作与航天投资企业不断扩张的专利组合存在关联。