Uproar over dominance of private companies in space exploration  

Musk to retrieve ISS station from space

 

By Basil Wegener, dpa I Wednesday, July 24, 2024

 

BERLIN – In the race for the future of space travel, German Labour Minister Hubertus Heil has warned of a potential dominance by commercial firms.

“There must be no dominance by individual companies,” Heil said in a dpa video interview at NASA in Houston.

During a visit to the US space agency, Heil explored the trends and risks involved, and his conclusion was that the industry needs rules – especially when it is “global or goes beyond the globe.”

Elon Musk to retrieve the ISS

“We are increasingly seeing large private tech firms venture into space travel – naturally, also to make a profit,” Heil said.

To reduce the high costs, state space agencies have been increasingly collaborating with private companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX for several years.

NASA has tasked SpaceX with retrieving the International Space Station (ISS) from space in 2030.

After more than 30 years, the space station is to cease operations. With the help of the tech billionaire, the ISS is to be brought back to Earth in a controlled manner.

Heil insists on cooperation

According to Heil, he has nothing against collaboration between the state and the industry in this area – and he even sees it as important.

However, the German labour minister asserts that only in international cooperation between states can there be the necessary balance of public and private interests.

“At NASA, you learn that the big questions of our time can only be solved through international cooperation.”

The ISS has been operated since 1998 by NASA and the space agencies of Europe, Canada, Japan and Russia.

NASA under pressure

At that time, space travel was primarily the domain of a small club of state agencies, NASA strategy director Douglas Terrier explained.

For decades, the United States and the Soviet Union were the only superpowers in space.

After the first human space traveller, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, orbited the Earth in 1961, US President John F Kennedy promised to send an American to the moon.

Space travel was part of the diplomatic toolbox, said Terrier. Today, however, it’s almost like the Wild West in this area – many actors, many companies want to or are already in space.

While public funds for space travel have remained roughly constant, private investments have grown rapidly, Terrier said.

It is less about sensational space tourism and more about communication satellites.

Musk has also set a goal for humans to colonize Mars.

Rules for space

“Of course, companies are also getting involved in this area in the long term to make money,” Heil said. But it is also clear: “There must be rules in place here.”

In general, states must ensure that progress “is not progress for a few but progress for many,” he said. Research and potential applications on Earth should benefit everyone, he added.

Heil gained relevant insights during his visit to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He repeatedly had to duck his head, for instance, while walking through modules of the International Space Station (ISS).

Astronauts train in the model of the ISS that stands in the NASA hall. In addition to seemingly endless control panels, monitors, and devices of all kinds, there were also plants, which grow in small boxes under yellowish light and are used for research.

It became particularly tight when Heil peered into a Soyuz space capsule. The German guest had to bend deeply to stick his head through a circular hatch.

Only after several moments of intense observation of the cramped space did Heil emerge again. He murmured, acknowledging the astronauts’ frugality: “That is both bathroom and kitchen and all.”