{"id":47755,"date":"2023-10-20T15:54:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:54:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/fly-me-to-the-moon-why-the-world-should-be-wary-of-elon-musks-space-race-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:54:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:54:58","slug":"fly-me-to-the-moon-why-the-world-should-be-wary-of-elon-musks-space-race-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/fly-me-to-the-moon-why-the-world-should-be-wary-of-elon-musks-space-race-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Fly me to the Moon? Why the world should be wary of Elon Musk’s space race – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Moon,<\/div>\n

Want to fly to the moon? Well, now you won\u2019t have to bother with all those years of rigorous astronaut training \u2013 all you need is a huge wad of cash.<\/p>\n

Elon Musk, technopreneur, has built a small spaceship called Dragon and if you slap down enough money \u2013 maybe a hundred million dollars or so \u2013 he\u2019ll fly you to the Moon.<\/p>\n

The first flight is set for 2018, a target so ambitious it verges on the incredible.<\/p>\n

Musk\u2019s moonshot plan has been greeted enthusiastically by most space fans but some are a little doubtful. Other commentators remain totally uninspired, ridiculing the idea as a gigantic waste of money.<\/p>\n

This ambivalence isn\u2019t surprising really, since history shows that soon after the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, people switched their televisions to more down-to-earth events while wondering why NASA kept going back to the Moon again and again with Apollo 12, then Apollo 13, then Apollo 14 \u2013 all the way up to Apollo 17.<\/p>\n

Natural process, or a social one?<\/h3>\n

Musk would tell you he\u2019s not using taxpayer funds for his moonshot and that his SpaceX venture is a private commercial business. But SpaceX\u2019s only significant customer so far has been NASA \u2013 a taxpayer-funded agency that pays it to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.<\/p>\n

And even before SpaceX had delivered anything, NASA made a massive investment in the firm to get it up and running. Any claim that SpaceX is purely a commercial business, then, is also incredible.<\/p>\n

Like many space fans, Musk will tell you that this moonshot is the first step in the \u201cnatural process\u201d of human space expansion. The next steps involve the colonisation of the Moon and then Mars.<\/p>\n

But space travel is not a natural process; it\u2019s a social process involving domestic politics, international competition, the marketing of patriotic heroism, and the divvying up of state funds.<\/p>\n

Harkening back to the dark past<\/h3>\n

The \u201ccolonisation\u201d theme of space expansion is also problematic since it signifies a potential re-emergence of the social injustices and environmental disasters wrought by past colonial ventures. Being a fan of \u201cspace colonisation\u201d, then, can be likened to rejoicing in the displacement of native peoples and celebrating the destruction of wilderness.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, too often space expansion has utilised historic conquests to map out the future; witness Star Trek\u2019s Space: the Final Frontier theme, or Musk\u2019s own idea to colonise Mars.<\/p>\n

Calling for a new \u201cage of exploration\u201d in space recalls past voyages of discovery ignores how Chritopher Columbus decimated native tribes with smallpox and how Spanish conquistadors ransacked Meso-America\u2019s temples to loot gold.<\/p>\n

Space fans might argue that there are no people in space to be colonised, that the Moon and Mars are uninhabited lands. But the plan to settle Mars, for example, and then to set about extracting valuable resources without working out if some alien species is living there \u2013 even if those life forms are microbial \u2013 seems reckless.<\/p>\n

It also smacks of anthropocentrism since humans will doubtless carry to Mars the attitude that microbes are lower lifeforms and that it\u2019s OK to stomp all over their planet spreading pollution and mucking up their environment.<\/p>\n

Even if they are lifeless, we should consider that the Moon and Mars belong to all of us; they are the common heritage of humankind. And those who first to get to the Moon or to Mars shouldn\u2019t be permitted to plunder these worlds just for the sake of their own adventure or profit.<\/p>\n

An alliance of interests<\/h3>\n

One prominent fan of American space expansion is US President Donald Trump. \u201cSpace is terrific,\u201d he said in Florida last year. Trump also called for more space exploration in his recent speech to Congress.<\/p>\n

Many scientists are wary of Trump\u2019s attitude to science but, in a surprising willingness to embrace both science and the wider universe beyond America, the president wants NASA to \u201cexplore the mysteries of deep space\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the process, Trump is also working out how to rid NASA of the those pesky climate scientists who, he claims, are peddling \u201cpoliticised\u201d science.<\/p>\n

Trump met Elon Musk within days of assuming the presidency and, with their shared love of capitalism and penchant for self-promotion, they seem to be entering a working relationship, described by some as cronyism.<\/p>\n

Trump seems willing to support Musk if the entrepreneur can help Make America Great Again by shooting Americans off to the Moon before China gets there. Musk may seem confident about his 2018 plans because he believes he has presidential blessing.<\/p>\n

A note of caution<\/h3>\n

But perhaps it\u2019s too soon to worry about Moon grabs or Martian colonialism.<\/p>\n

First, both Trump and Musk are notorious \u201cbig talkers\u201d and they may be playing with the macho spectacle of space travel. If their space plans gurgle into an economic sinkhole, they\u2019ll probably quietly abandon them.<\/p>\n

And the 2018 moonshot is not going to actually land on the Moon; it\u2019s merely going to shoot around it and then head back to Earth. Nobody will get the chance to plant a flag.<\/p>\n

Space tourism, moon bases and Martian colonies have all been predicted for decades and nothing has ever come of them. Wernher von Braun, the Apollo rocket hero (and ex-Nazi) showcased such prospective space endeavours on a television show with Walt Disney in the 1950s (using whizzing Disney graphics).<\/p>\n

But 70 years later, a space colony is nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n

An outright Moon grab would also be illegal, since the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty forbids such acts. The US has re-interpreted this treaty to suggest that it permits resource extraction from the Moon and the planets in the Solar System, but not all nations accept this view.<\/p>\n

Not what we all want<\/h3>\n

If Musk does get his rich clients to circle the Moon next year, and then manages to set up bases and colonies on the lunar surface and then Mars, it won\u2019t be because he\u2019s made a business success out of space expansion. And it won\u2019t be due to the scientific merit of moon bases.<\/p>\n

Rather, it will be because he has managed to dupe the American taxpayer with expensive technological fantasies and because he\u2019s broken the ideal of the common heritage of mankind enshrined in international law. Humanity and the Earth will be diminished in the process.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible the cosmos will be diminished and despoiled too with mining firms digging up the moonscape, rocket fuel spilled all over the Martian surface, and neon lights flashing in shiny space casinos.<\/p>\n

Of course, some space fans believe the only way they\u2019ll realise their space fantasies is to ride behind the glory of \u201cvisionaries\u201d such as Musk \u2013 and the unknown mega-rich space passengers set to shoot off around the Moon next year.<\/p>\n

But the Earth abounds with those willing to poke fun at such showy space adventures, which is good \u2013 Musk needs to know that not everybody is on board.<\/p>\n

Alan Marshall is a Lecturer in Environmental Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Mahidol University. <\/em><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to fly to the moon? Well, now you won\u2019t have to bother with all those years of rigorous astronaut<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,27,11,20,17,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}