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New Space - The Next Economic Frontier

May 31, 2023

Billionaires are setting their sights on outer space. Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos are all sending rockets, people and technology to the stars.

https://p.dw.com/p/4RikO
Dokumentation Der neue Wettlauf ins All - Wie private Firmen den Weltraum erobern
Image: Autentic

Other entrepreneurs around the world also want to join this new contest. Who’ll win the race?

Dokumentation Der neue Wettlauf ins All - Wie private Firmen den Weltraum erobern
Image: Autentic

China is also jostling for dominance in space. And when NASA ended rocket launches for financial reasons in 2011, this cleared the way for private companies to compete over a huge future business sector that includes space tourism, satellite operations and raw material extraction.

Dokumentation Der neue Wettlauf ins All - Wie private Firmen den Weltraum erobern
Image: Autentic

 

 

 

Companies such as Space X, Blue Origin, Axiom Space and many more have already staked their claim to this highly lucrative space market.

Dokumentation Der neue Wettlauf ins All - Wie private Firmen den Weltraum erobern
Image: Autentic

 

More than 50 years after the moon landings, entrepreneurial spirit and scientific progress have rekindled humankind’s dream of conquering space. An extraterrestrial design hotel is already in the planning phase; space raw material mining trials are underway. But state-sponsored space exploration is still indispensable.

Dokumentation Der neue Wettlauf ins All - Wie private Firmen den Weltraum erobern
Image: Autentic

 

The science documentary "New Space Race" gained exclusive access to the German Aerospace Center’s Moon-analog mission "ARCHES" on Mount Etna in Sicily. Using the landscape here as a substitute for the Moon, research teams run trials for crewed missions to space using robots. It’s already clear that if humans are going to land on other planets one day, the success of scientific endeavors such as this one is crucial. Also clear: The new space race has begun.

 

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