The New Space Race Rising Today: Its Possible Future

The New Space Race is at a rise today and is growing at a slow yet progressing process both nations and billion dollar companies are playing a part in. These nations such as the United States using NASA, China as CNSA, are the biggest players by federal power, and these billion-dollar companies consist of SpaceX and Blue Origin being the largest in funding, planning, and executing their goals. This next race has been a hot topic with the question of who will be leading it, how much it is worth, what is in return, is it worth the flight, what we will learn, and how it will progress mankind with different factors of advancing technology and our knowledge, and possibly fail. While these underlying factors are important, it exposes that the Space Race will provide a beneficial future with humankind and a plethora of opportunities such as finding resources and testing advancements to pursue further goals.

This new Space Race will promise a prosperous future in providing benefits by both superpowers and private companies with the movement of technology only going forward in this race. Specifically, this technology would provide the people back down on Earth to live, grow, and even rise when it is needed. Utilizing space around us will allow to create different forms of technology based on helping our environment and the people as well. China has had plans since 2018 to possibly create and launch a satellite that is “capable of reflecting sunlight onto its streets at night” and even be able to “entirely replace street lights”. China was going to use this in the Southwestern region of Sichuan, and it would the region to be illuminated by the reflecting light rays, covering over 50 square miles in total for the province. While this may seem like only in a movie of sorts, it shows how the use of technology back at home by providing an abundant amount of radiant energy all year around, agricultural groups able to be enriched with energy to harvest and farm, and possibly cut down on electricity funding in the region by the millions. Archer clarified and concluded that this Chinese project will not be cause disturb the wildlife or disrupt any forms of other technology that could be affected at night by this satellite. Therefore, the funding of bigger projects could provide capabilities of living easier and smarter on our home planet.

Establishing goals that are a call to action for big groups such as SpaceX and Blue Origin have allowed these companies to be the most active in seeking new ways of recycling and uncovering new techniques in the making of their projects. SpaceX is has been active for over the past 4 years in landing their first-stage rocket piece back down by a duo of programming and calculations for land and/or sea. With their specific rocket, known as Falcon Heavy, SpaceX has revealed that its “intended to be reusable” and possibly “carry dozens of people to destinations far beyond Earth Orbit”. While this at first can be seen as a task too difficult to handle, SpaceX has proven their capabilities in not only carrying over 60 metric tons in orbit for supply to space stations, or even seats like an airliner. This calls for trips such as from the United States to Hong Kong changed from 15-20 hours, to a matter of 30-70 minutes. Not only does this promise faster time in travel, but the ability to reuse such rockets will form projects of carrying more satellites for the United States or other supplies that can be broadened the connection of Earth’s orbit. Foust told how primarily how SpaceX is taking on their goals head-on and the ambitions with spaceflight in travel and opening the ability to stay connected just above Earth’s atmosphere.

Along with companies attempting their own strategic moves towards using space as a benefit for the advancement and travel for the United States and nations alike, nations themselves have been attempting to revive and re-live to the original space race. China in January 3rd, 2019, China was able to successfully land a rover on the dark side of the moon that have allowed us to understand the “extreme temperatures” and see the “lunar crust may reveal more readily the range of minerals and resources” based on each phase and where it is located. As for the specific advancement in technology, the Chinese rover, the Yutu-2, is able to survive the harsh temperatures as well as the rough and rocky moon terrain. O’Keefe was able to describe both the technical and overreaching message to what this will spark, based on the high tech rover, what we will learn as people, and what resources can be taken and used for Earth. China has proved and is possibly leading this race with their far-reaching goals that have proven to be successful so far, and the United States should follow along by attempting the same moves and advancements because it opens jobs for finding resources, creating new projects, and creating new objectives to achieve in our very own nation and planet.

While this New Space Race has already shown significance in changing the way we can travel or cut down costs of usage on energy, there are issues based on weak confidence and capabilities from both countries and companies in pursuing/taking action on the goals they hope to surpass, and possibly only cause more issues for trying to thrive off of space. In 2007, China launched a missile at their own weather satellite, but left a “cloud of orbital debris that continues to threaten other satellites”, as well as billion-dollar companies like Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, initially believing, “we should have lunar bases by now” in 2017, but has yet to specify how or what he will do to reach this goal. With the possible threat of very expensive properties that can cause relations to be tense and plans that dissipate into many headlines, there still is a way to boost and bring more upfront rather than saturate in the side effects. Although such tasks have led to catastrophic measures or voided goals, many of these groups have matured and understood the limitations they have faced during this time of discovery the capabilities and power. The US government has “taken a light touch to regulating the private space industry”, and even had “US government payload SpaceX launched into orbit”. With the ease of governments controlling the business of space, the United States government has taken advantage of the minimal loss of projects from SpaceX based on fair pricing, and load size off each ship. Furthermore, this can involve and bring together both sides in this space race with the technology they need, and properly fund how each satellite or supply when and what will go up without creating high and thin layers of trust based on paperwork.

In the end, the space will have its ups and down no matter who takes part and who will lead it. Issues like space junk, trust among the superpowers and billion dollar companies, and even the improper usage of such rockets. Some believe this to be not important or unnecessary use of money-both from the nation and business level, and will witness a clash and trust issues based on who and what has the authority over space. People who follow this space race will understand not only the use of these rockets for time away from Earth, but the abilities like travel and solar have proven to be making lives easier and a more connected world.

Work Cited

• Archer, Joseph. “China to Launch Artificial 'Moon' into Orbit to Light up City .” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 17 Oct. 2018, www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/10/17/china-launch-artificial-moon-orbit-light-city/.
• Cobb, Wendy Whitman. “Will China's Moon Landing Launch a New Space Race?” The Conversation, The Conversation US, 28 Feb. 2019, theconversation.com/will-chinas-moon-landing-launch-a-new-space-race-109359.
• Foust, Jeff. “Musk vs. Bezos: The Battle of the Space Billionaires Heats Up.” IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News, IEEE Spectrum, 1 Jan. 2019, spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/space-flight/musk-vs-bezos-the-battle-of-the-space-billionaires-heats-up.
• O’Keefe, Sean, et al. “Dawn of a New Space Race?” TheHill, The Hill, 16 Jan. 2019, thehill.com/opinion/international/425565-dawn-of-a-new-space-race.
• Yuhas, Alan. “The New Space Race: How Billionaires Launched the next Era of Exploration.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 9 Feb. 2018, www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/09/new-space-race-billionaires-elon-musk-jeff-bezos.