Space Travel has been the realm of fiction for most of human history with plays, books, radio shows and movies written about the possibility of space travel.  In the late 1950’s science fiction became science reality with the first humans going into space.  Countries like the USSR and the United States became involved in a space race to see which country could reach the moon first.  The driving force behind this was the desire of the nations to demonstrate technological superiority and engender national pride.  In the early 2000’s several companies were created to commercial space travel – now decades on we have a new space race – between private industries.  This competition will benefit humanity much like the space race of the 1960’s did.

In 1903, French film maker named Georges Melies created the film “A Voyage to the Moon” where several people go to the moon in what was probably one of the first science fiction films (Méliès, 1903).  Sixty-six years later that early science fiction film was turned into reality with the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20^th, 1969.  The moon landing was the result of a space race between the geopolitical foes – USSR and America – that sought to demonstrate technological superiority. While governments in the 1950’s accelerated space technology with massive amounts of funding private research had been ongoing in the decades before the 1950’s.  As early as the 1927 rocket enthusiasts such as Werhner von Braun was a member of the “Society of Spaceship Travel” with many innovations from the society being incorporated into the Apollo program he lead decades later (Evans, 2016). 

The space race began in earnest in 1957 with the Soviet launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into space at sufficient speed and altitude to remain in orbit (Komerath, 2012).  In 1958 the United States created a new department that was tasked with advancing America’s space program in direct response to the USSR apparent technological superiority – this new department was called NASA.  In next several years the USSR continued to demonstrate more advanced technology in space with the launch of the first man into the space and a soft landing on the moon which left America lagging three years after NASA’s founding.  In 1961 President Kennedy challenged America to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960’s.  This was an ambitious and bold plan that would require many new technologies to be invented and refined to achieve this goal (Komerath, 2012).  The USSR also had a similar goal to put man on the moon before the Americans; the key driver of such ambitious goals for both nations was a desire to demonstrate technological innovation and engender nationalistic pride by doing something no other nation had done before.

The space programs in both USSR and America were the brain child of two men; in America Werhner von Braun and in the USSR it was Sergei Korolev.  Despite the fact both were competing against each other they had the same vision of humanity becoming an Intersolar system species.  Both men were born at a time when rocket science and aerospace engineering were considered largely theoretical subjects that were best debated in university lectures halls.  They believed that the future was amongst the stars and committed most of their lives to making space travel a reality.  Korolev did not live to see the moon landing and von Braun died a few years after the moon landing.  If they were alive today both would be disappointed in the trajectory that humanity has taken in terms of space technology.

By 1972 American interest in the moon landing had faded and new projects were the focus of NASA that would attempt to make space travel cheaper and more accessible.  The USSR continued to try to reach the moon but with American success in 1969 the will of its political leaders to achieve second place waned resulting in the program being officially shut down in 1974.  For the next 30 years the Russians and Americans were satisfied with low earth orbits as our only option for space travel.  In 2011 the Americans ended the space shuttle program which meant America could no longer send people into space.  This put America back into the same position it found itself in the late 1950’s because only the Russians could send men into space. 

The space race of the 1960’s petered out by the 1970’s because the political will had vanished, but the benefits continued to be reaped for the next several decades.  The space race of the 60’s directly led to advancements in solar power, water purification, miniaturization of medical devices and the global position systems.  The global position system (GPS) has initially developed by the American military to facilitate land navigation but it was also licensed for commercial application.  The in the decades since the European and Russian space agencies have added their own satellites to the GPS system so now there is a global network that covers the entire Earth.  Without this system autonomous driving vehicles, weather forecasting, and early warnings of hazardous weather would not be possible (Komerath, 2012).

.  The space race of the 1960’s was also an inspiration for many to enter into STEM fields in hope of contributing in some small part to the space race.  A study done by NASA found that students achieving technical degrees peaked in 1968 due to the Apollo programs high visibility and dramatic achievements.  Years later another study in 2009 found that one in two scientists publishing in the journal Nature were inspired by the Apollo program 40 years earlier to study science (NASA, 2013).   NASA continues to advocate for space exploration because it will continue to be an essential driver for opening new domains of science and technology (NASA, 2013).

Budgeting constraints in the decades since the 1960’s have forced government organizations to rely on low cost missions such as sending robots to explore distant planets.  Ongoing exploration has resulted in some new scientific such as the discovery of water ice on multiple planets, discovery of exo planets and robotic missions to many planets lacked the inspiration of seeing a human figure walking on the lunar surface.  With such inspirations being gone there has been a noticeable decline in technology education achievement in America over the last forty years.  Since the 1970’s the technology of the humanities ability to explore space has been on a downward trend with less and less ability every few years.  

There is hope with a new generation of space pioneers like Korolev and Braun from the 1960’s that seek to challenge the status quo in the 2000’s.  The most prominent of these visionaries is the Elon Musk and his company SpaceX which has the stated goal of creating the first human settlement on Mars.  To achieve this goal SpaceX has sought to commercialize space travel with by reducing the cost of launching rockets into space with profits from these endeavors invested back into the company for future technology development.  Musk is targeting the 44-billion-dollar orbital launch business which has been booming with the demand of cellular and TV satellites (Bonk, 2016).  Other successful businessmen have noticed SpaceX’s success and have launched several of their own companies to attempt to enter into this new market (Kashyap, 2019).  The other two most prominent companies are Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic founded by Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson respectively.

These three companies are the start of a new space race but instead of a race between countries for national pride and demonstrating technologic prowess they would compete for market share of the space launch business.  The space launch business would be servicing companies and governments with a need to launch satellites into orbit of earth.  It is expected that market forces would drive the cost of launches down significantly with costs being in the tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram in the 1980’s to about one thousand dollars per kilogram by 2011 (Bonk, 2016).  These reductions are most visible in the reusable rocket technology of SpaceX.  With reductions in cost of launches new opportunities arrive such as space mining, manufacturing, power generation and colonization of planets with the latter being the vision of SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

While Musk envisions a wave of settlers leaving Earth behind for the unknown on Mars, NASA has researched what could be possible with lower cost launch options.  In 1997 NASA research showed that a launch cost of four hundred dollars per kilogram would make an orbital solar powerplant viable.  They calculated that a circular solar array only a few kilometers across would produce five billion watts of power which is five times more than current power demand.  This power could be transferred anywhere on Earth via microwaves and would not be affected by weather as it would be outside the atmosphere (Bonk, 2016).

While some see this new market as a necessary next step in the evolution of humanity others see an opportunity to capitalize on the wistful dreams of others.  One such company was Mars One which sought to fund a Mar’s colony by selling the rights of a reality TV show about the Martian colony, if this plan came to fruition it would have resulted in largest reality TV experience ever mounted (Ingberman, 2019).  Mars One differed from companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin because they didn’t seek to develop the technology to make their vision of a Mars colony happen but instead sought to sell the idea of a Martian reality TV show.  Experts dismissed Mars One as a mere scam, but a study done by MIT showed many dangerous shortfalls in the planning of Mars One.  This study estimated the reality show contested would eventually suffocate if they grew their own food via plants after just 68 days (Chu, 2014).  The same study also showed that Mars One has underestimated the amount of supplies that would need to be launched by a factor of five (Chu, 2014).  In 2019 Mars One quietly declared bankruptcy with no measurable results beyond ideas on paper, twenty thousand dollars in cash and no future investments expected (Ingberman, 2019).

It is difficult to predict what will be successful in the future; much like predicating the impact of the GPS in the 1970’s would require envisioning the creation of whole new industries and markets that can apply such technology.  The applications of current technology have generated many interesting proposals by various technologist and entrepreneurs only the future will tell if one of them could be viable.  A proposal put forth by Elon Musk in 2017 would have rockets replace the modern airline industry with intra-planetary rocket travel.  The video put forth shows a rocket launch from New York covering the seven thousand miles to Shanghai in 39 minutes (O’Kane, 2017).  Others have envisioned commercialized mining of rare earth elements from other planetary bodies such a metals from asteroids or helium-3 from the lunar surface; such opportunities could enable humanity to end its reliance of fossil fuels (Kashyap, 2019).

The private space industry represents a forty-four-billion-dollar industry by providing private launch services to governments and other business.  This industry employees thousands of people throughout America (Komerath, 2012).  Short term benefits are easy to identify and measure, but the longer-term benefits are difficult to envision; we know from the space race of the 1960’s that entire new industries grew.  A new space race of the 2000’s will certainly result in new industries decades later in addition companies that challenge the limits of humanity and our technology will inspire a generation of students to study STEM fields.  History has shown us that the economic engine of the future will be new discoveries in science that might have their origins in a space race of the 2000’s.

References

Bonk, M. R. (2016). Space, Commercialization of. In E. Richmond, Space, Commercialization of (pp. 42-46). Farmington Hills: Cengage Learning.

Chu, J. (2014, Oct 14). Technical Feasiblilty of Mars One. Retrieved from MIT News Office: https://news.mit.edu/2014/technical-feasibility-mars-one-1014

Evans, K. M. (2016). Private Space Exploration. In K. M. Evans, Space Exploration (pp. 67-86). Farmington Hills: Cengage Learning.

Ingberman, D. (2019, Feb 14). Mars One and the Plan to Make a Reality show on Mars is Bankrupt. Retrieved from Universetoday: https://www.universetoday.com/141499/mars-one-the-plan-to-make-a-reality-show-on-mars-is-bankrupt/

Kashyap, V. (2019, Jan 30). What is the Future of Commercial Space Flight. Retrieved from InterestingEngineering: https://interestingengineering.com/what-is-the-future-of-commercial-space-flight

Komerath, N. M. (2012). Survey of American Industry and Careers. Space Exploration and Space Science Industry, 1741-1761.

LeRoy, J. (Producer), & Méliès, G. (Director). (1903). Voyage to the Mooon [Motion Picture]. Paris France. Retrieved from Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/89492

NASA, I. S. (2013, September). Benefits Stemming from Space Exploraion. Retrieved from NASA.GOV: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/Benefits-Stemming-from-Space-Exploration-2013-TAGGED.pdf

O’Kane, S. (2017, Sept 29). Elon Musk SpaceX Rocket Transport for Earth Travel. Retrieved from The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/29/16383048/elon-musk-spacex-rocket-transport-earth-travel