The Consequential Frontier
Challenging the Privatization of Space
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
"A lucid, bright and essential work of reporting, analysis and genuine care. Peter Ward has given us a new way to think about private endeavors in space. Superb."—Rivka Galchen, author of Little Labors
This in-depth work of reportage dares to ask what’s at stake in privatizing outer space
Earth is in trouble—so dramatically that we’re now scrambling to explore space for valuable resources and a home for permanent colonization. With the era of NASA’s dominance now behind us, the private sector is winning this new space race. But if humans and their private wealth have made such a mess of Earth, who can say we won’t do the same in space?
In The Consequential Frontier, business and technology journalist Peter Ward is raising this vital question before it’s too late. Interviewing tech CEOs, inventors, scientists, lobbyists, politicians, and future civilian astronauts, Ward sheds light on a whole industry beyond headline-grabbing rocket billionaires like Bezos and Musk, and introduces the new generation of activists trying to keep it from rushing recklessly into the cosmos.
With optimism for what humans might accomplish in space if we could leave our tendency toward deregulation, inequality, and environmental destruction behind, Ward shows just how much cooperation it will take to protect our universal resource and how beneficial it could be for all of us.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Technology journalist Ward's fascinating exploration of the possibilities of privatizing interplanetary activities comes at the perfect moment, with the once wholly government-led, taxpayer-funded space race seemingly on the cusp of major transformation. Setting the stage, he reveals that the end of NASA's Space Shuttle program in 2011 left the U.S. for the first time with no way, beyond hitching a ride on a Russian spacecraft, to reach the International Space Station. NASA thus turned to commercial launch partners, ultimately choosing Elon Musk's SpaceX over Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin and inaugurating a new era of commercial involvement in space travel. Currently, Ward explains, the main impediment to a "cosmic gold rush" is the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which, in order to prevent conflict, bars countries from claiming sovereignty in space. However, Ward writes, it may become a historical footnote, with the current White House intent on privatizing and militarizing American space exploration. Ward considers these and many other issues, including orbital manufacturing, moon mining, and space tourism. Though an idealist, hoping for developments that serve humanity rather than corporate bottom lines, Ward is also a realist, acknowledging that "money is driving this race." This savvy work gives readers valuable insight into the ramifications, good and bad, of allowing business into space.
