Elon Musk successfully cultivates the image of a James Bond villain. The South African entrepreneur has named his youngest child X Æ A-12. He previously shot a cherry-red Tesla into space as a publicity stunt and with the hyperloop he devised a transport system that comes straight out of a science fiction film. Musk sees the successful launch of his Falcon 9 rocket this Saturday as an important step towards a city on Mars.
But don’t let the show element detract from the real importance of the successful launch.
It is the first time that a private company (in collaboration with NASA) has brought people into orbit around the Earth. It is also the first time in 17 years that a new kind of spaceship has ever been used to launch astronauts. Private companies have previously been involved in launches, but never before has a company had such a leading role as Musk’s SpaceX. In this sense it marks the definitive beginning of a new era that has often been predicted: that of private space travel.
Also read: First commercial manned capsule launched by SpaceX
SpaceX is far from alone. Blue Origin by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos aims to bring people to the moon in 2024. Earlier this year, China’s Galactic Energy also raised investments to launch a rocket, one of many Chinese space start-ups. In recent years, many companies have started up worldwide that focus on space: from launching “nanosatellites” around Earth to serious plans for mining asteroids.
In addition to imagination, these types of plans also stimulate lawyers and politicians. Rightly so. There are still many unanswered questions about how to manage any economic boom in space. How can escalation of the amount of space waste be prevented? Who are allowed to mine precious minerals on asteroids? What laws apply in a colony on Mars? Is it desirable at all to exhaust Earth first and then exploit other celestial bodies?
A power vacuum is also created outside the atmosphere. Donald Trump announced a “Space Force” for the United States military at the beginning of his presidency, which will officially commence in 2019. The Chinese military already has a special space division. Alien law has been pursued by the United Nations since the Cold War, but this has been due for a thorough overhaul.
Meanwhile, individual countries see an opportunity to take advantage of the relative lawlessness of space. For example, Luxembourg presents itself as a tax and low-regulation location for extraterrestrial mining companies. This calls for an international approach to avoid a race in injustice, such as the corporate tax system.
But before regulation can take place, innovation has to be done. Private space travel can reduce costs, accelerate innovations, and moreover, it has so far appeared to lead to fruitful collaborations with public space organizations.
In a sense, space is the new Wild West. And that attracts space cowboys, probably villains too. But above all, it forces us to look to the future and innovation. The first era of space travel brought a different view of the Earth, the Earth as a fragile planet. Who knows what this next wave of exploration will bring. The pioneering spirit of Elon Musk and his competitors can make excellent use of the world today.
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