Like international waters, space is a commons usable by all but owned by none; but, unlike any earthly commons, space borders every country on the planet, and actual or metaphorical fallout from an incident there could spoil days — or destroy lives — anywhere on Earth.
So, who watches the spacemen? And what laws or treaties exist to protect us all? The answers might surprise you.
The Large Hadron Collider isn’t going to spawn one, and our own sun will never become one, but it’s fun to think about what might happen if a black hole lurked its way into our cosmic neighborhood. It’s the cosmological equivalent of a ghost story, pitting our bite-sized planet against the reality-bending might of the ultimate bogeyman.
So, what would happen? Let’s just say that, if you’ve ever wondered how taffy feels, you’re about to gain some insight. Still, you might be surprised at some of the crazy ways the scenario plays out—and at the mind-blowing experiences you would have if you could survive the trip.
While Russia struggles to make up ground following a dozen-plus 2011 launch problems and the American Space Launch System sinks in Capitol Hill quicksand, the commercial space sector is racing to fill the gap — and to open new markets in space taxis, trucks and tourism. Since you can’t tell the players without a program, here are the . . .
10 Major Players in the Private Sector Space Race
Quiz: Branson or Bezos: How well do you know the players in the new space race?
Who doesn’t love a story about the little guy who makes it big, or the underdog that overcomes? Take these five mighty mites. What they lack in geographical size they make up for in strong economies and supersized space aspirations. As the new space race heats up, and as the airless reaches cease to be the sole province of superpowers, who knows how far their ambitions will carry them?
On Aug. 6, 2012, a new rover will touch down on Mars — bigger, badder and bristling with more gear than a spelunker convention. Although rocking the same suspension system and basic design, Curiosity, aka the “monster truck of science,” is so much heftier than its predecessors that NASA and JPL had to invent an entirely new way to land it: one part HALO jump, one part rocket-hovering sky crane. Its mission: investigate if the right conditions exist, or ever have, to support microbial life.