Space - The last frontier, for what exactly?
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As the cliché goes, space is the last frontier. So, countries, companies and even super-empowered individuals like Elon Musk, bored with the tiresome constraints of earth, with its environmental limitations and political competition, are looking at outer space as the opportunity to enhance their wealth and power. They tout the benefits of generating profit from satellite launches, space tourism, new energy sources, asteroid mining, and related ventures. Is this really where the world needs to allocate resources given other issues we are grappling with? Maybe it is. We’ll look into that.
Then there’s the military and political dimension. Trump launched “Space Force”, although American militarization of space has been going on for decades. Think of Reagan’s “Star Wars” program. Now, others are getting into the game The main military players are, as you would expect, China and Russia, but also the EU, India and Japan. Many others are also dipping their toes into the space “waters”.
In this course we’ll look at the economic exploitation of space as well as the politics behind it and the implications of space militarization. Is this just another way that the bigger, richer countries are going to dominate the rest of the world? Is there really an economic opportunity that will benefit global society or just another way for a few to get even richer, financed in large part by taxes paid by everyone else? Overall, are current space exploration initiatives of any bloody value?
Dates: Fridays April 23 to May 28 (6 weeks), 2-4 PM
Location: Online
Moderator: John Simke
Cost: $36
As the cliché goes, space is the last frontier. So, countries, companies and even super-empowered individuals like Elon Musk, bored with the tiresome constraints of earth, with its environmental limitations and political competition, are looking at outer space as the opportunity to enhance their wealth and power. They tout the benefits of generating profit from satellite launches, space tourism, new energy sources, asteroid mining, and related ventures. Is this really where the world needs to allocate resources given other issues we are grappling with? Maybe it is. We’ll look into that.
Then there’s the military and political dimension. Trump launched “Space Force”, although American militarization of space has been going on for decades. Think of Reagan’s “Star Wars” program. Now, others are getting into the game The main military players are, as you would expect, China and Russia, but also the EU, India and Japan. Many others are also dipping their toes into the space “waters”.
In this course we’ll look at the economic exploitation of space as well as the politics behind it and the implications of space militarization. Is this just another way that the bigger, richer countries are going to dominate the rest of the world? Is there really an economic opportunity that will benefit global society or just another way for a few to get even richer, financed in large part by taxes paid by everyone else? Overall, are current space exploration initiatives of any bloody value?
Dates: Fridays April 23 to May 28 (6 weeks), 2-4 PM
Location: Online
Moderator: John Simke
Cost: $36