The Billionaire Space Race: Humanity’s leap forward or back?

by Angie Liew

It’s the 21st century: the talk of rocket launches and space travel has gone from historical events for humankind to over a hundred rocket launches every single year. This “Billionaire Spare Race” generally refers to the largest three competitors: SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and Blue Origin. Sound familiar? Chances are you’ve heard these names mentioned across the news, but do you know who they’re run by and what they do?

SpaceX is an aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company founded by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla. Their mission is to develop and use reusable launch vehicles to carry humankind to Mars for colonization, making humanity “multi-planetary”. They would also offer commercial flights to and from Earth to the lunar orbit. A significant achievement of the company was its success in flying orbital-class rockets that could land back on spaceports to be relaunched (SpaceX, 2020).

Second on the list is Virgin Galactic by British founder Sir Richard Branson. His spaceflight company is focused on commercial space tourism, allowing high-paying customers a chance to view our home planet “from a new perspective” (Virgin Galactic, n.d.).

Lastly, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is another American aerospace manufacturer dedicated to decreasing the cost of space travel through reusable launch vehicles. The company believes that to sustain life on Earth, we must turn to space for its resources and energy (Blue Origin, n.d.).

Undoubtedly, these companies have incredible ambitions and achievements thus far; however, it is worth considering the implications of such businesses, and what threats they could pose to the future of regular citizens like you and me. 

To begin, there are currently no laws that mandate any taxes for non-scientific space travel. Without these types of monetary considerations, private companies have the opportunity to launch as many rockets as they please, so long as they possess the resources to do so. While what happens to these rockets in space itself does not directly appear to affect us, there are many unnoticed consequences for the increasing number of rocket launches. 

Atmospheric scientist at the University of Colorado Darin Toohey says that modern rockets produce significantly less CO₂, but the large quantities of water vapor produced do have an impact on the mesosphere and ionosphere (two layers higher in the atmosphere). Moreover, Eloise Marais, an associate professor in physical geography at University College London says that the nitrogen-based oxidants used by Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity release nitrogen oxides that pollute the air we breathe (Batchelor, 2021). Other generally-released particles include carbon monoxide, chlorine, alumina, and sulfuric compounds, many of which are classified to be ozone-depleting substances (ODS) (Kordina & Law, 2020). For a more detailed breakdown of different rocket fuel emissions, visit this link. 

Now that we’ve mentioned the environmental concerns, let’s address some moral and ethical ones. For many, the space race is seen as yet another symbol of capitalism. After all, it will be the rich who profit the most from any beneficial outcomes of space tourism, exploration, or extraterrestrial resource mining. Even if these wealthy companies do succeed in their future goals to take advantage of assets in space, governments and everyday citizens would then be at the hands of private corporations in control of the technology. 

With already rising rates of inequality across the world, is this a path we are ready to risk following? 

Next are, of course, the questions about whether we as humans have the right to claim extraterrestrial resources in space. Suppose these space explorers do find resources suitable for sustaining life on Earth (or other planets). What if we encounter alien life dependent on those resources? If negotiations are off the table, to what extent might these companies go to lay claims on the newfound assets? Even now, these billionaire businessmen have, or still do practice worker exploitation, labor law violations, and anti-union measures (Gelderblom et al., 2021) (Lauer, 2021) (Leonard, 2021).

Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Sir Richard Branson have a combined net worth of over $387 Billion (approximately $189.2B, $184.5B, and $4.5B respectively). If Bezos’ and Musk’s real concerns were regarding the welfare of our home planet, they could easily improve low-wage worker factory conditions, switch to renewable energy alternatives, and invest in sustainable development right here and now. As enticing as the possibilities of new space discoveries are, it is still important to focus on the major trade-offs involved. 

So yes, while space holds the potential for so much greatness, prioritizing it over the very land and people that make up Earth represents hopelessness for so many more. How much are we willing to put on the line for the possibility of extraterrestrial salvation?

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