In the race for space, commercial high-tech companies have big plans. What are the risks? The German labor minister has a warning to NASA.
During a visit to the US space agency NASA, Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) warned of the possible dominance of individual companies in space travel in the future. “There must be no dominance of individual companies,” Heil said in a dpa video interview in Houston. “We are increasingly seeing that large private tech companies are also going into space travel – of course also to do business.”
Elon Musk to bring the ISS
The background to this is that the countries involved in space travel have been working more closely with private companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX for several years – also to reduce the high costs of space travel. NASA has commissioned SpaceX to bring the ISS space station out of space in 2030. After more than 30 years, the space station will then cease operations.
Heil insists on cooperation
From Heil’s point of view, cooperation between government and business is important in this area – but only through international cooperation between states can the necessary balance of public and private interests be achieved. “At NASA, we learn that the big questions of our time can only be solved through international cooperation.” The ISS has been operated by NASA and the space agencies of Europe, Canada, Japan and Russia since 1998.
“Not progress for the few”
The SPD politician does not fundamentally object to the fact that companies are involved in this area in order to make a profit. But Heil said: “One thing is also clear: there must be rules in this area.” In general, states must ensure “that the progress that is achieved, for example through space travel, through research, through new technologies, is not progress for the few, but progress for the many.”
Source: Stern
