How Space Will Shape Humanity For Better Or Worse

Description:

Here, we explore the power of commercial space to both enrich and devastate our collective humanity. As companies push deeper into space, they invent tools to improve life and encounter opportunities for greed, surveillance and exploitation. This industry could rewrite humanity to a greater extent than any other tech revolution.

Industry leaders say space tourism could heighten eco-mindfulness through the overview effect, a cognitive shift astronauts report in flight. Surveillance could hasten aid to humanitarian crises. Moon missions might expand resource exploration. But outsiders worry about privacy, land grabs and the human toll of catastrophes such as rocket explosions.