Category Archives: Space Travel

The private space industry is booming with companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic all designing spacecraft to transport people into the cosmos. Elon Musk is the closest to launching a space faring program, with near-term plans to send humans to the Moon and Mars. In October 2020, Musk, a genius billionaire, quietly declared the independence of a new country on Mars. Musk claimed he will have humans on Mars to start building the new free city-state by 2026. He also declared the new country will not recognize the laws of Earth.

All three tech billionaires currently face few obstacles to implement their plans. However, one obstacle for all of them will be navigating international law. Musk already appears to be exploiting many soft spots in international politics, which are no competitor to a ruthless tech titan. Musks plans are an urgent international problem that requires a new multi-national solution.

Musks Declarations About Mars

For decades, Musk has spoken about his desire for humans to become interplanetary. Musk founded SpaceX in 2001 with his PayPal fortune and the goal to put humans on Mars. After Russia rejected his offer of $20 million to buy several intercontinental ballistic missiles, Musk began manufacturing and launching his own rockets. Musk plans to start sending humans to Mars by 2026 and then shuttling thousands of people between Earth and Mars before 2030. Muskplans to create a city on Mars by 2050 and then a completely self-sufficient city of a million people on Mars by the end of the century.

Musk is an eccentric guy and not everything he says should be taken seriously. However, it is clear Musk is serious about bringing humans to Mars. In 2017 and 2018, he published detailed plans for settling Mars. In October 2020, Musk published a terms of service agreement for beta customers of his new Starlink wireless internet service. The agreement included a very specific note about the governance of Mars. In Starlinks Pre-Order Agreement, under Governing Law, the contract states,

For Services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities. Accordingly, Disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement.

Further, in December 2020Musk began selling off all of his possessions to help fund the city on Mars. A SpaceX attorney even stated he is actively drafting a Martian constitution. There is every reason to think Musk will follow through.

Common Heritage of Mankind

Ultimately, a city on Mars would simply be an extension of Earth, though separated by a different kind of sea. National jurisdiction and sovereignty are always limited in several areas: outer space, international airspace, international waters, international sea beds. All these areas are considered the common heritage of mankind (CHM). These are areas where activities are expected to be carried out in the collective interests of all states and benefits are expected to be shared equitably. Space exploration is a priority for many nations, as well as for the scientific community. There is zealous global interest in space travel, studying celestial objects, and even operating scientific laboratories in space and on planets.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST) explained in Article II that outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means. This provision is referred to as the non-appropriation principle. The policy rationale is to dis-incentivize states from reenacting terrestrial land rushes and taking boundary disputes into space. Scholars argue that the outer space non-appropriation principle has passed into customary international law.

In this sense, Mars is equivalent to the high seas. According to the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention, international waters belong to everyone and no one. There is a history of rogue actors declaring new nations in domestic and international waters; a phenomenon often referred to as seasteading. None of these nations have ever been recognized as legitimate. The U.K. rejected a British mans declaration that a WWII platform was now the Principality of Sealand. Italy rejected the Republic of Rose Island off its coast and eventually destroyed the nation with dynamite. U.S. courts have rejected seasteading as well, deciding that artificial islands on the coast of Florida were under U.S. jurisdiction.

Private Property Rights in Space

International law is clear about private property rights in space there are none. Private property rights can only be created by a state on the property over which the state has sovereignty. The 110 countries that have ratified the OST are not allowed to create private property rights. The OST is ratified by all states with space programs and reflects the consensus of resolutions of the U.N. General Assembly on the topic.

Under the OST, states are also liable for the activities of non-state actors, whether they are private corporations or international organizations. States must ensure private activities conform to the obligations of the OST. It is up to each party state to create their own domestic legislation to effectuate this. The U.S. created the ability of private citizens to go into space with proper government authorization and supervision through several pieces of domestic legislation. However, while the OST requires continuing supervision by nations of private actors while in space, U.S. laws omit regulating activities in space, instead focusing on launches and reentry.

In the early 2000s, the U.S. adjudicated one case of private property rights. In 2003, Gregory Nemitz registered a claim of real property rights for the entirety of an asteroid. After NASA landed a spacecraft on the asteroid, Nemitz submitted an invoice to NASA for parking and storage fees. NASAs general counsel denied Nemitz claim and Nemitz appealed in court. The court found there are no private property rights in space; thus, there was no basis for compensation.

However, the U.S. pivoted its non-appropriation policy in 2015 with the SPACE Act, where U.S. Congress created private property rights for resources in space. Backers of the SPACE Act compared it to the Homestead Act of 1862 (which the idea of seasteading is based on). In 2017, the U.S. National Space Council proclaimed that outer space is not the common heritage of mankind. Then in 2020, NASA announced the Artemis Accords: new principles for the use of outer space including further solidifying private property rights in space. Nine other countries have signed on. Finally, in 2020 President Trump discussed space settlements during the State of the Union, saying, now we must embrace the next frontier: Americas Manifest Destiny in the stars.Following this trajectory (homesteading, Manifest Destiny, etc.), it seems possible the U.S. might actually support some of Musks plans for Mars if his actions bring more imperialistic value to the U.S. government than logistical headache. However, it seems unlikely the U.S. would support Musk creating a separate nation.

Some commenters have pondered why Musk provided the Starlink/Mars clause so early (well before any of his employees or customers have traveled to Mars). The prohibition of private property ownership in space appears to have already become customary international law or is at least on the cusp of crystallizing. Musk will want to say that from his countrys original declaration of independence, he has always been a persistent objector to the prohibition of private property rights on Mars. This strategy would make financial sense, as Martian private property rights would reassure Earth-based investors.

Deconstructing Musks Plans for Mars

Musk elaborated in 2020 that he plans for his government to be a direct democracy. Commentators have questioned why Musk would choose that form of government, which may be terribly ineffective in response to resource scarcity and constant danger. Further, Musk has become well known as a CEO who will happily violate labor laws, health codes, and pollution regulations back on Earth in furtherance of his companys financial bottom line. That does not sound like someone who will actually enact or uphold direct democracy.

So, what exactly is Musk up to? It is not occupation because Mars is not populated and Musk is not a state. It is not discovery because Mars is not terra nullius (available land that no one has claimed yet)and again Musk is a private actor. It is not filibustering (a private individual waging private wars against existing countries, i.e., William Walker: another deranged San Francisco Bay Area-based entrepreneur) because even though Musk is a private actor, he is not conquering. Musks actions are similar to seasteading (the concept of establishing new countries in international waters); however, as discussed, seasteading has never resulted in a recognized claim to a new country. The closest comparison to what he is doing is probably secession.

It is possible for new states to be created through secession from existing states. Today, the international community disfavors unilateral secession. Under international law, secession is more likely to be accepted if it is in pursuance of self-determination, democratic governance, and has the support of the people of the would-be state.

Musk could argue he is pursuing democratic goals and has the consent of his people (his Starlink customers: over 700,000 of whom already agreed to the contract). Musk can say he should be allowed to secede from the United States because his state will be even more democratic (direct democracy instead of representative democracy). He may even be able to posture himself as escaping human rights violations in the U.S., citing the recent international outcry about systemic racial injustices in the U.S.

However, Musk will have a harder time navigating domestic law as a citizen of the United States. The U.S. is a perpetual union that not allow unilateral secession. Musk will not be allowed to secede per domestic laws. When a secession attempt fails, there are other options. Musk, like other actors with the capacity to go into space, will be bound by the laws of the state to which he is a citizen. This means there is a risk that international commercial enterprises like SpaceX will engage in jurisdiction shopping for countries with lenient outer space regulations and perhaps even states who never signed the OST. These companies will search for administrations whose licensing and supervisory requirements may be deficient, defective, or intentionally inadequate.

As a final contingency, Musk is saddling up with a U.S. state with its own notorious rebellious streak. Musk is building a rocket production plant and the first fully commercial launch facility capable of launching spacecraft for long-term space travel in Boca Chica, Texas. It is obvious why Musk chose Texas. First, it is close to the equator for launch logistics. Second, it is still in the U.S. for the purposes of trades and permits. Finally, Texas has an adversarial relationship with the federal government and already attempted to secede from the U.S. (and secession is still a popular talking point). If any state would support a U.S.-state based secession attempt to support Musk, it is Texas.

In March 2021, Musk announced he is creating the city of Starbase, Texas on currently unincorporated land in Boca Chica, located in southern Texas near the Mexican border. The top county official protested Musks declaration, saying, Sending a Tweet doesnt make it so If SpaceX andElon Muskwould like to pursue down this path, they must abide by all state incorporation statutes. The county is also already anticipating litigation against SpaceX for violating agreements with the county around permits and security.

Many commentors are asking why Musk so desperately wants this specific village. Musks new city is not simply near the Mexican Border, it is on it. Boca Chica borders the Gulf of Mexico to the east, Brownsville Ship Channel to the north, and the Rio Grande River and Mexico to the south. If Musk felt he needed a free city-state on Earth, to support his free city-state on Mars, it seems within the realm of possibilities he could attempt to secede Starbase from the U.S. and create his own country (which barely shares a land boundary with the U.S.). He already unilaterally and illegally declared a new city there.

Musk is already in violation of federal laws. SpaceX was denied a safety waiver by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in December 2020 due to Boca Chica-based launch plans that exceeded maximum public safety risk, but following the permit denial, Musk proceeded anyway and the launch ended in a fireball explosion. The FAA delayed the next test planned for January 2021 until an investigation could be completed. A former FAA official noted the lack of FAA enforcement against Musk was puzzling. Even after mysteriously avoiding any penalties, Musk, upset about the delay, claimed the FAA was a fundamentally broken regulatory structure.

Musk already bought out most Boca Chica residents and has allegedly been bullying the remaining few with property damage, trespassing, offers of over triple the value of their property, and threats of vague other measures if they do not accept. Once the last residents are forced out, a secession attempt then would only involve resistance by the local and federal governments. Is Musk capable of violent measures? Apparently, Musk and SpaceX employees have been spending time at a nearby shooting range. Further, neighbors have grown accustom to sirens warning them when Musk and company are about to do something that could (and sometimes does) cause imminent physical harm, and then evacuating or taking cover. Not to mention the fireball incident. Violence seems within the realm of possibilities.

Musk will likely offer financial incentives for Texas to tolerate his activities. He has already promised$30 million to local governments. Musk has also entwined himself with the federal government to the point of mutually assured destruction. SpaceX secured a $2.9 billion contract with NASA for the upcoming Moon missions (though currently contested by Jeff Bezos) and is already heavily involved with other NASA projects. NASA has become very dependent on SpaceX and Musk.

With all of this in play and no intervention, the compromise will likely be Texas and the U.S. tolerating Musks Starbase as a semi-autonomous region. Then, Musks Starbase succeeds as a semi-autonomous region and extends its territory to Mars as a non-member of the OST. This results in the politics of Musks presence on Mars having no precedent, no established legal standards, and no established political principles for analysis.

Conclusion

Soon, the largest obstacle to reign in Musk will be the distance to Mars. Will it really be worth launching a billion-dollar interplanetary mission to make an arrest? Mars is several months away at its closest. It will be prohibitively expensive to reign Musk in after the fact. In 2019, a space law conference discussed governance of commercial activities in outer space and found the world is at an inflection point and needs to establish global standards of accountability for private actors. The keynote speaker stressed the importance of governance, not simply governments. She looked to the success of the International Space Station as inspiration.

Considering this, a multi-national consortium should be created to regulate all activities on Mars. The consortium should be established in such a way that even the resources required for long-term interstellar travel are regulated in order to prevent rogue actors from working outside the system to control space access and resources, which are instead intended to be shared with all of humanity. At this point, a security council resolution on the topic may also be prudent.

Musks plans are just the beginning. There are two other ultra-wealthy titans of industry behind him and plenty more to come. Musk is just the first and most reckless. The international community must act now. The future of space may be speculative, but the issues are urgent. Space is for everyone. We all must partner together to ensure it remains that way.

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Stronger together: Moving from space exploration to nuclear utilities - Modern Diplomacy

Since Neil Armstrong and Edwin Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, space exploration has been strong part of Americas cultural history.

In more recent times, its joined the investing lexicon. Space is a compelling but still nascent segment, one rife with potential and potential pitfalls. Thats where the actively managedARK Space Exploration ETF (ARKX)comes in.

By some estimates, space will be a $1 trillion global industry by 2040.

The investment implications for a more accessible, less expensive reach into outer space could be significant, with potential opportunities in fields such as satellite broadband, high-speed product delivery and perhaps even human space travel, according to Morgan Stanley research.

As Morgan Stanley notes, space investing is a diverse concept. To date, many retail investors think of space through the exploration and tourism lenses, but governments primarily dominate the former while the latter isnt yet profitable.

ARKX, which debuted in late March, delivers the diversity investors should be looking for in the final frontier. The rookie ETF offers access to multiple industries with space exposure, including aerospace beneficiaries, orbital and suborbital purveyors, and providers of enabling technologies. Research confirms a diverse approach that spans beyond space tourism could pay off for long-term investors.

See also:ETF Edge: Looking Inside Ark Invests Space ETF, ARKX

Morgan Stanley estimates that satellite broadband will represent 50% of the projected growth of the global space economy by 2040and as much as 70% in the most bullish scenario, notes the bank. Launching satellites that offer broadband Internet service will help to drive down the cost of data, just as demand for that data explodes.

Not surprisingly, ARKX offers elements of disruptive growth the investing style ARK Investment Management is a leader in. For example, ARKXs enabling technologies sleeve includes exposure to companies in the artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and robotics industries, among others. Several ARK ETFs already focus on those niches, cementing the notion that the issuer could be primed for space investing success.

Initiatives by large public and private firms suggest that space is an area where we will see significant development, potentially enhancing U.S. technological leadership and addressing opportunities and vulnerabilities in surveillance, mission deployment, cyber, and artificial intelligence, concludes Morgan Stanley.

For more on disruptive technologies, visit our Disruptive Technology Channel.

The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.

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The ARKX ETF: Investing in the Final Frontier - ETF Trends

Earths Moon is tiny compared to our planet itself, but its big enough that our efforts to explore it have really only scratched the surface. Once thought to be little more than a pale, dusty, crater-covered rock, researchers have gradually revealed that the Moon is actually a pretty special place. Water, which isnt something we ever associated with the Moon, may actually be abundant, though its likely locked away as ice in the lunar soil called regolith. Now, as part of NASAs Artemis program which will see humans return to the Moon in the years to come, the space agency is planning on launching its VIPER mission by late 2023.

VIPER, which stands for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, is a robot that will be sent to the South Pole of the Moon to hunt for resources that could be used for future missions. The idea is simple: If the Moon has resources that deep-space missions can use, stopping at the Moon to collect those resources before heading deeper into the solar system makes a lot of sense. Also, if we ever hope to set up shop on the Moon on a permanent or temporary basis, were going to need resources that the Moon itself may be able to provide.

The mission is important to the future of human space travel, as it could change the way NASA plans for trips deeper into space, but in the short term, it will reveal what resources are available for Artemis astronauts when they eventually make it to the Moon.

The data received from VIPER has the potential to aid our scientists in determining precise locations and concentrations of ice on the Moon and will help us evaluate the environment and potential resources at the lunar south pole in preparation for Artemis astronauts, Lori Glaze of NASAs Planetary Science Division said in a statement. This is yet another example of how robotic science missions and human exploration go hand in hand, and why both are necessary as we prepare to establish a sustainable presence on the Moon.

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The rover will be equipped with specialized drills for sampling the lunar surface, instruments for studying the material and discovering volatiles that could be useful, and for the first time ever headlights.

VIPERs design calls for using the first headlights on a lunar rover to aid in exploring the permanently shadowed regions of the Moon, NASA writes. These areas havent seen sunlight in billions of years and are some of the coldest spots in the solar system. Running on solar power, VIPER will need to quickly maneuver around the extreme swings in light and dark at the lunar South Pole.

At present, NASA wants to launch the mission by late 2023. The space agencys plans include sending humans to the Moon by 2024, but that date has always seemed a bit unrealistic. Going forward, its wise to expect that date to change, but at least well get to watch a rover cruise around on the Moon in the meantime.

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Heres how NASA will search for water on the Moon - Yahoo Entertainment

A remote-controlled Chinese motorised rover drove down the ramp of its landing capsule on Saturday and onto the surface of Mars, making China the first nation to orbit, land and deploy a land vehicle on its inaugural mission to the Red Planet.

Zhurong, named after a mythical Chinese god of fire, drove down to the surface of Mars at 10:40 a.m. Beijing time (0240 GMT), according to the rover's official Chinese social media account.

China this month joined the United States as the only nations to deploy land vehicles on Mars. The former Soviet Union landed a craft in 1971, but it lost communication seconds later.

The 240-kg (530-pound) Zhurong, which has six scientific instruments including a high-resolution topography camera, will study the planet's surface soil and atmosphere.

Powered by solar energy, Zhurong will also look for signs of ancient life, including any subsurface water and ice, using a ground-penetrating radar during its 90-day exploration of the Martian surface.

Zhurong will move and stop in slow intervals, with each interval estimated to be just 10 metres (33 feet) over three days, according to the official China Space News.

"The slow progress of the rover was due to the limited understanding of the Martian environment, so a relatively conservative working mode was specially designed," Jia Yang, an engineer involved in the mission, told China Space News.

Jia said he would not rule out a faster pace in the later stage of the rover's mission, depending on its operational state at the time.

Jia said the rover was designed to be highly autonomous because the distance to Mars, at 320 million km (200 million miles), means a signal takes 40 minutes to travel both ways, posing a hurdle for real-time control of the rover.

Martian temperatures are also a problem, he said: a nighttime drop to minus 130 degrees Celsius (minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit)freezes carbon dioxide, covering the uneven ground with a layer of dry ice - a terrain risk for the rover.

Zhurong has an automated suspension system that can lift and lower its chassis by 60 centimetres (2 feet), the only rover with such a capability, according to China Space News.

The rover is covered by nano-aerogel plates to protect its body from the cold.

Dust storms could also affect the rover's ability to generate power through its solar panels, Jia said. To overcome this, the panel surface is made with a material that cannot be easily stained by dust and can easily shake dust off by vibration, he said.

ANCIENT OCEAN

China's uncrewed Tianwen-1 spacecraft blasted off from the southern Chinese island of Hainan in July last year. After more than six months in transit, Tianwen-1 reached the Red Planet in February where it had been in orbit since.

On May 15, the landing capsule carrying the rover separated from Tianwen-1 and touched down on a vast plain known as Utopia Planitia, believed to be the site of an ancient ocean.

The first images taken by the rover were released by the Chinese space agency on Wednesday.

The coordinates of the landing site are 109.9 degrees east and 25.1 degrees north, China Space News said.

Tianwen-1 was one of three probes that reached Mars in February.

U.S. rover Perseverance touched down on Feb. 18 in a huge depression called Jezero Crater, more than 2,000 km (1,240 miles) from Utopia Planitia.

Hope - the third spacecraft to arrive in February - is not designed to land. Launched by the United Arab Emirates, it is orbiting above Mars, gathering data on its weather and atmosphere.

Perseverance and Zhurong are among three robotic rovers operating on Mars. The third is NASA's Curiosity, which landed in 2012.

NASAs InSight, which arrived on the surface of the planet in 2018 to study its interior, is a stationary module.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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China says Martian rover takes first drive on surface of Red Planet - Reuters

Landing on the red planet is perilous NASA engineers refer to it as seven minutes of terror when its rovers, most recently Perseverance, arrive.

Because Tianwen-1 was already in orbit around Mars, its incoming speed was not quite as fast as Perseverances. Thus, Chinas lander required a bit of extra terror nine minutes for the landing, Global Times, a newspaper controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, reported on Friday, citing experts. The probe was also operating on its own, as signals currently take 17 minutes 42 seconds to travel between Mars and Earth.

Spacecraft descend toward Mars at a high speed, and the thin atmosphere does not do enough to slow the trip to the ground. The shock waves of air compressed by the speeding capsule generate extreme heat that must be absorbed or dissipated. A number of Soviet, NASA and European missions have crashed.

Only NASA has reached the surface of Mars intact more than once. The landings of its largest rovers, Curiosity and Perseverance, have relied on parachutes to slow the spacecraft, shields to dissipate the heat from atmospheric friction and intricate systems called sky cranes. These were basically rocket-powered jetpacks, which carried the rovers beneath them and lowered them to the surface on cables before flying safely away from the landing zone.

For our countrys first Mars exploration mission, we didnt have firsthand data about the environment on Mars, especially the atmosphere, Chen Baichao, a senior designer for the mission, said in remarks reported by The Paper, a Shanghai-based news site. So it was tantamount to us entering a completely unknown environment, and you can imagine how difficult that is.

Global Times reported that the Tianwen-1 probe lowered its altitude from its parking orbit before its lander-rover combination separated with the orbiter at around 4 p.m. Friday, Eastern time. (In China, it was 4 a.m. Saturday.)

The orbiter then rose and returned to its parking orbit about half an hour after the separation, to provide relay communication for the landing craft combo, the Chinese space agency told Global Times. The lander-rover combination circled Mars for another three hours before entering the Mars atmosphere en route to landing.

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What We Know About Chinas Mars Rover Zhurong Landing - The New York Times

Cillian Murphy is hoping to be one of the first Irish people to travel in space but for now he is working on a simulated flight to the moon.

An aspiring Irish astronaut is currently on a simulated space mission aimed at recreating conditions on board a flight to the moon.

Dubliner Cillian Murphy is one of six international analog astronauts on the HECATE mission. Analog astronauts are used for technical tests and simulation in a bid to enhance space exploration.

HECATE, or Human Exploration in a Closed Analog Terrestrial Environment, is taking place at the LunAres Research Station in Poland. This is a special facility that simulates the conditions of space travel and research without the zero gravity.

During the two-week mission, the crew will study the impact of isolation on astronauts, investigate plant cultivation in space, and test tech to improve spacewalking. Murphy is medical officer for the mission and is responsible for physical and psychological experiments.

The Irishman has a masters degree in space and science technology from University College Dublin. In 2018, he received a special traineeship award from the Irish Research Council to work with the European Space Agency (ESA)

Curiosity about space has inspired us for hundreds of years, and the Irish Research Council is proud to have supported many excellent space researchers, said Peter Brown, director of the Irish Research Council.

The HECATE mission will provide rich data for researchers and inform future ESA space missions and partnerships. It is very encouraging to see Irish participants, such as Cillian, involved in European space activities and it is just one example of the kind of opportunities that open up with Irelands membership of ESA.

In addition to his work on the HECATE mission, Murphy has recently applied to the ESAs open call for astronauts. The space agency is currently looking to recruit new astronauts for the first time in more than a decade.

Murphy said that his ESA traineeship provided him with a life-changing opportunity to pursue his goal of becoming an astronaut.

The experience of working with the ESA confirmed for me that I want to dedicate my career to astronomical research and space exploration, he added.

I am delighted to be participating in the HECATE mission to gain a simulated insight into what space travel is actually like. Following this, I aim to become one of the first Irish people ever to travel in space.

Its a busy time for the European space industry. EU leaders recently signed off on a new 14.8bn space programme and launched a new space-related agency.

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An aspiring Irish astronaut is currently on a simulated moon mission - Siliconrepublic.com

By Robert Francis, Australian Managing Director of global multi-asset investment platform eToro

Since Elon Musk has indicated that an IPO for his side project SpaceX, which designs, manufactures, and launches spacecraft, may be on the cards once its program Starlink can correctly predict cash flow, investors appetite for space travel stocks have multiplied rapidly in recent years.

The hype is well and truly present for SpaceX, as it recently launched and successfully landed its futuristic Starship, finally nailing a test flight of the rocketship that Musk intends to use to land astronauts on the moon and send people to Mars.

But what about other key players currently shaping this space? Should investors keep watch of space stocks and listed companies leading the odyssey to outer space, or could it suck them into a black hole?

The astronomical trillion-dollar space industry

Welcome to the trillion-dollar space-age, and while it looks a little less like The Jetsons or Star Wars, its just as impressive all the same.

The market cap of publicly traded space is already worth $25 billion, up from nothing a few years ago, and this figure doesnt even include the un-listed latest wave of companies specialising in space exploration and tourism, including SpaceX, Rocket Lab with its growing string of rocket launches, Jeff Bezos Blue Origin, Momentus and Planet with its constellation satellites taking photos of Earth from orbit.

When looking at the companies that are currently vying for attention from investors, there are a few hot contenders.

Virgin Galactic

Founded by billionaire Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic is the worlds first commercial spaceline and vertically integrated aerospace company.

In March 2021, Virgin Galactic revealed the first Spaceship III in its growing fleet, VSS Imagine. The spaceship showcases Virgin Galactics innovation in design and astronaut experience and is expected to commence ground testing, with glide flights planned in the US summer from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The share price seems to have dropped quite significantly in May 2021, in part due to non-listed rival Blue Origin announcing it will begin running paid tourism flights to the edge of space and back on July 20, 2021.

The first flight is anticipated to only carry one paying passenger, with the ticket sold at auction and the proceeds donated to Blue Origins educational foundation. However, according to Reuters, Bezos said it will fly at least a few times more later this year, commercially, and presumably with full flights of passengers paying an estimated $200,000 or more per ticket.

Granted, Virgin Galactic has promised to resume flight testing this month and confirmed it will only need to get two more test flights done before its ready to fly passengers.

Blue Origins announcement means despite Virgin Galactic originally championing the idea of space tourism first, it might not be the first to implement it. In fact, analysts who follow the company believe Virgin Galactic might not begin commercial operations until next year.

Raytheon Technologies

Another company gaining momentum is aerospace and defense company Raytheon Technologies.

In May 2021, Raytheon Technologies released its Q1 earnings report, and it became abundantly clear that the recovery in the commercial aerospace market has been much slower than anticipated.

With two-thirds of Raytheon Technologies current revenue coming from its defense business, it seems that the market is significantly undervaluing its commercial aerospace businesses.

Space Exploration and Innovation ETF (ARKX)

However, investing in individual companies may feel alien to investors new to the space industry. Space ETFs are becoming popular for investors who see value in the industry as a collective, with names like ARK Invest, the investment firm led by Cathie Woods, which has seen over half of billion dollars flow into the Space Exploration and Innovation ETF (ARKX).

Launched on March 30 2021, ARKX is invested in purer space plays, as well as companies that will benefit from aerospace activities or technologies to support aerospace.

Some of the stocks included in the ETF include geolocation company Trimble, satellite stock Iridium Communications, Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, L3Harris Technologies, and JD.com. The ETF also owns shares of Netflix and Deere.

Risks involved with interstellar space stocks

As many of the leading companies in the space travel race are still relatively young, including Virgin Galactic, shares may continue to be volatile until business operations stabilise.

For investors looking to pre-invest in some of the biggest upcoming space travel IPOs and SPACs including SpaceX and Blue Origin that have ambitious plans to make space a viable destination, its likely that these stocks will also be extremely unstable due to a number of uncertainties in the market.

Another glaring issue is the risk factor associated with space exploration. As many of these companies are still in the testing phase, its likely that if a disaster occurs, such as a blown-up rocket or loss of life, stock value would likely plummet.

Some investors may also point to space stocks as another bubble in the broad market. Many companies are light years away from generating significant revenue. Profitability is even further out, perhaps not until the next decade.

With prices for many of the space stocks rearing on the exorbitant side, some investors may be deterred from investing in them, or until at least they start proving their worth.

Should investors invest in outer space?

For investors looking to enter the space race, buying into stocks like Virgin Galactic might be seen as a desirable option.

With SpaceX and Blue Origin building momentum and looking to publicly list in the not-too-distant future, investing early could be the answer for budding investors looking to make it big in outer space. Could a small step into space stocks become one big leap for your portfolio?

Nobody knows, so investors should consider approaching these investments as they would traditional stocks: taking care to diversify their portfolios, do their research, and only invest what they afford when buying into space travel stocks to minimise risks.

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To the moon...literally: Should you buy into the future of space travel? - Global Banking And Finance Review

Shares of space travel company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE: SPCE) are trading higher on Thursday on news out from the company for its planned timeline of taking passengers to space.

What Happened: The next rocket-powered test flight of SpaceShip Two Unity will be conducted on May 22. The flight from Virgin Galacticwill depend on the weather and technical checks.

The test flight announcement comes following the completion of the maintenance review of VMS Eve, the mothership jet aircraft that will carry the SpaceShip Two Unity to an altitude of 50,000 feet.

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The VSS Unity flight will have two pilots and also carry research payloads for the NASA Flight Opportunities Program.

The test will include looking at items like evaluating elements of the customer cabin, testing the live-stream capability and testing the horizontal stabilizers and flight controls during the boost phase of the flight.

Related Link: Virgin Galactic Stock Loses Altitude After Q1 Earnings: What Investors Need To Know

Why Its Important: In December, a flight from Virgin Galactic failed to reach the planned altitude. Virgin Galactic blamed a bad computer as the problem.

The failed flight pushed back the timeline for Virgin Galactics plan to take passengers to space.

In its first-quarter financial report, Virgin Galactic said the timeline of its test flights was being evaluated, wording that didnt sit well with investors who sent shares down.

Virgin Galactic said part of the new flight will test lower EMI Levels from the December flight.

The test flight from Virgin Galactic comes as Blue Origin, the space company from Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) Founder Jeff Bezos, is auctioning off a seat for its July 20 launch to space.

See also:How to Buy Virgin Galactic (SPCE) Stock

SPCE Price Action: Shares of Virgin Galactic are up 15% to $19.77 at publication time.

Disclosure: The author is long shares of SPCE.

2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Virgin Galactic Shares Rocket Higher: What Investors Should Know - Benzinga

Sometimes competition is healthy - but perhaps less so when you've unknowingly pitted yourself against your sibling for a chance to take part in a once-in-a lifetime opportunity.

Max and Charlie Denison-Pender are two brothers locked in rivalry for a place on Elon Musk's first civilian flight round the moon, which is slated for 2023. The trip is poised to last six days: three days to get to the moon and loop round the back of it, and three days to return to Earth.

He then announced an open competition for people to apply for the tickets. Originally, Maezawa said he would give the seats to artists but is now broadening the search.

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Eager to acquire a seat on the flight, both brothers entered the competition - separately.

For Charlie, though, entering the competition means more than just traveling on a historic flight round the moon. As a student of aerospace engineering at Brunel University, Charlie has ambitions to transform the future of travel beyond Earth.

"The reason why I'm interested in going on the flight is because one day I hope to start a space airliner," he said.

Meanwhile, Max, an artist, has been hard at work on his end-of-year exhibition. His interest in flying to the moon came as a complete shock to Charlie, given his creative background.

When asked how he'd feel if Max won the seat instead of him, Charlie answered: "I'd be secretly quite annoyed but also very happy for him at the same time."

But Charlie seems unbothered. "Generally, I'm pretty confident in Elon Musk and SpaceX, because he's been doing groundbreaking things for a long time and throughout the Starship prototypes and the testing, you can see the progress each time," he said.

As previously reported by Insider, Maezawa said the mission will include 10 to 12 people in total, including the eight civilians he will select.

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SpaceX's dearMoon mission has pitted two brothers against each other. One of the siblings said he was shocked - Business Insider India

Faster than light travel is the only way humans could ever get to other stars in a reasonable amount of time. Credit: NASA

The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri. It is about 4.25 light-years away, or about 25 trillion miles (40 trillion km). The fastest ever spacecraft, the now-in-space Parker Solar Probe will reach a top speed of 450,000 mph. It would take just 20 seconds to go from Los Angeles to New York City at that speed, but it would take the solar probe about 6,633 years to reach Earths nearest neighboring solar system.

If humanity ever wants to travel easily between stars, people will need to go faster than light. But so far, faster-than-light travel is possible only in science fiction.

In Issac Asimovs Foundation series, humanity can travel from planet to planet, star to star or across the universe using jump drives. As a kid, I read as many of those stories as I could get my hands on. I am now a theoretical physicist and study nanotechnology, but I am still fascinated by the ways humanity could one day travel in space.

Some characters like the astronauts in the movies Interstellar and Thor use wormholes to travel between solar systems in seconds. Another approach familiar to Star Trek fans is warp drive technology. Warp drives are theoretically possible if still far-fetched technology. Two recent papers made headlines in March when researchers claimed to have overcome one of the many challenges that stand between the theory of warp drives and reality.

But how do these theoretical warp drives really work? And will humans be making the jump to warp speed anytime soon?

This 2-dimensional representation shows the flat, unwarped bubble of spacetime in the center where a warp drive would sit surrounded by compressed spacetime to the right (downward curve) and expanded spacetime to the left (upward curve). Credit: AllenMcC/Wikimedia Commons

Physicists current understanding of spacetime comes from Albert Einsteins theory of General Relativity. General Relativity states that space and time are fused and that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. General relativity also describes how mass and energy warp spacetime hefty objects like stars and black holes curve spacetime around them. This curvature is what you feel as gravity and why many spacefaring heroes worry about getting stuck in or falling into a gravity well. Early science fiction writers John Campbell and Asimov saw this warping as a way to skirt the speed limit.

What if a starship could compress space in front of it while expanding spacetime behind it? Star Trek took this idea and named it the warp drive.

In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre, a Mexican theoretical physicist, showed that compressing spacetime in front of the spaceship while expanding it behind was mathematically possible within the laws of General Relativity. So, what does that mean? Imagine the distance between two points is 10 meters (33 feet). If you are standing at point A and can travel one meter per second, it would take 10 seconds to get to point B. However, lets say you could somehow compress the space between you and point B so that the interval is now just one meter. Then, moving through spacetime at your maximum speed of one meter per second, you would be able to reach point B in about one second. In theory, this approach does not contradict the laws of relativity since you are not moving faster than light in the space around you. Alcubierre showed that the warp drive from Star Trek was in fact theoretically possible.

Proxima Centauri here we come, right? Unfortunately, Alcubierres method of compressing spacetime had one problem: it requires negative energy or negative mass.

This 2dimensional representation shows how positive mass curves spacetime (left side, blue earth) and negative mass curves spacetime in an opposite direction (right side, red earth). Credit: Tokamac/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Alcubierres warp drive would work by creating a bubble of flat spacetime around the spaceship and curving spacetime around that bubble to reduce distances. The warp drive would require either negative mass a theorized type of matter or a ring of negative energy density to work. Physicists have never observed negative mass, so that leaves negative energy as the only option.

To create negative energy, a warp drive would use a huge amount of mass to create an imbalance between particles and antiparticles. For example, if an electron and an antielectron appear near the warp drive, one of the particles would get trapped by the mass and this results in an imbalance. This imbalance results in negative energy density. Alcubierres warp drive would use this negative energy to create the spacetime bubble.

But for a warp drive to generate enough negative energy, you would need a lot of matter. Alcubierre estimated that a warp drive with a 100-meter bubble would require the mass of the entire visible universe.

In 1999, physicist Chris Van Den Broeck showed that expanding the volume inside the bubble but keeping the surface area constant would reduce the energy requirements significantly, to just about the mass of the sun. A significant improvement, but still far beyond all practical possibilities.

Two recent papers one by Alexey Bobrick and Gianni Martire and another by Erik Lentz provide solutions that seem to bring warp drives closer to reality.

Bobrick and Martire realized that by modifying spacetime within the bubble in a certain way, they could remove the need to use negative energy. This solution, though, does not produce a warp drive that can go faster than light.

Independently, Lentz also proposed a solution that does not require negative energy. He used a different geometric approach to solve the equations of General Relativity, and by doing so, he found that a warp drive wouldnt need to use negative energy. Lentzs solution would allow the bubble to travel faster than the speed of light.

It is essential to point out that these exciting developments are mathematical models. As a physicist, I wont fully trust models until we have experimental proof. Yet, the science of warp drives is coming into view. As a science fiction fan, I welcome all this innovative thinking. In the words of Captain Picard, things are only impossible until they are not.

Written by Mario Borunda, Associate Professor of Physics, Oklahoma State University.

Originally published on The Conversation.

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Warp Drives and Negative Energy: Physicists Give Chances of Faster-Than-Light Space Travel a Boost - SciTechDaily