"That Star Trek mantra still comes to mind whenever I hear the word “space” — it’s the final frontier. Except it’s not final – for many low- and middle-income countries, it could be the start of a profitable new venture, my colleague Catherine Cheney writes.

Many governments assume space exploration involves fancy rockets with little return on investment. But space can mean satellites that not only underpin daily life, from navigation to telecommunications, but that also help propel the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, from gathering data on vaccination campaigns to helping farmers make smarter decisions about planting their crops.

That’s why Rose Croshier, the author of a new handbook on space development, thinks every country should have some kind of space capability to pursue their national interests. “Sometimes as space enthusiasts, we shoot ourselves in the foot, roll out beautiful slides, glossy pictures of all the stuff space can do,” she says. “But it becomes overwhelming, or too unreal, or impossible to do without a major lift. We have to make it more normal, more grounded to local issues for success."