For 2023 Nick is writing a series of articles on Frontier Technologies others call #DeepTech, his firm is co-investing in. Starting with the biggest frontier of them all — #SPACE.

Welcome to the new Space Race!

There is no doubt our imaginations were captured in the 1960s as ‘mankind’ sought to venture off-world and land on the moon. Driven by the ‘cold war’era space became a show of strength and a demonstration of capability that drove the US and USSR to compete. As with many wars innovation can leap forward and engineering time is compressed as all resources are focused on fewer things.

The era of Star Trek in the 60’s and 70’s further captured our spirit “to boldy go”, gave us a sneak peak of our future onboard the Enterprise, a world of tri-corders, communicators, holo-decks and lasers, all used everyday today. So here we are again, but this time the Space Race is driven by private enterprise, private capital that has to a lesser extent embarrassed government (NASA) and forced them to rekindled their enthusiasm to give space another try. Blue Origin, Space X and numerous other billionaire privateers have shown us a new way to the stars.

It is a big universe, a cold, vast and harsh environment, made up of primary elements the most abundant being hydrogen, that has the potential for humanity to get more energy out than is put in. Of course the reasons we strive to become an interplanetary species, a Type II civilisation is debatable. The acceleration of the destruction of planet earth, a lack of available key minerals and resources to be used in the next wave of technologies and of course human greed. There are seemingly big profits to made in space but what are the opportunities and risks

So let me break it down for you from space.

Access:

Access to space is difficult at best because of several factors, earth’s gravity is the biggest. Human evolution has developed over 4 billion years in an envelope of ‘gravity’ that defined in many ways how species evolved — including us; around which the Newtonian laws if physics, chemistry and biology are bound. Breaking free of earth’s gravity and how to isolate and stops the effects of gravity is one of the challenges of our generation. Rumours of anti-gravity devices from aliens crafted fill the conspiracy pages. Space X has proven the economic model of re-using craft and the use of AI in computation, design and telemetry has injected a viable business model into investing in space. And once in space exciting opportunities exist because the rules are very different.

AI:

Advancements in technology and the understanding of space has meant it is far safer than before, and the re-use model makes the economics more sensible. At the centre of the new Space Race is Artificial Intelligence, which is and has reframed the problem and the solutions. AI is helping re-define the engineering challenges — coming up with new approaches, materials and processes to make it much easier to get into, and exist in space.

AI has reframed the issues and opened up new solutions for fuels and propulsions systems, more durable materials (lighter, stronger and ones that can repair themselves).

AI lies at the centre of robotics, of human aids and helpers to minimise risk to human life and help us survive. New automations, new life support approaches, and of course the big one. Navigation, because in space there is no 5G, no compass, no Google maps.

Synthetic Biology:

Human biology is not fit for travelling in space, living in space or thriving in space. At the cellular level human biology doesn’t function well and entropy is accelerated, we are not suited to it. With the help of AI a new wave of synthetic biology is arriving, an area that has accelerated faster than Moores Law for decades. The adjustment of the human condition to be able to exist partially in a zero gravity world, of extremes of radiation, cold and extended time due to vast distances.

The subject of trans-humanism inevitably keeps reappearing, mostly due to the need for human augmentations, and adaptations to give humans a chance to survive without earth’s atmosphere, gravity and protection. Human adjustments ARE required that will make us partially cyborgs, biologically enhanced to break free of todays evolutionary traps.

The answer for human evolution, to progress to become a Type II civilisation lies in space and NOT on earth. The study of the human condition without the effects on gravity, of cells, the creation of life, the impact of trying to live in the harshest conditions will deliver the answers we need. We are at the threshold of entirely new biology as everything behaves differently in space, the tip of the iceberg will be how our bodies respond to nutrition, drugs, unseen sub atomic particles, germs and bacteria in zero gravity. New breakthroughs are already well documented and the possibilities are seemingly endless. New biology and chemistry is emerging from labs in space — revealing new things, treatments and ways to extend the human condition.

Alternate Fuels:

How do we power a craft for months and years, to sustain human life and keep going? It is possible to get more energy out than you put in- a process called nuclear fusion. In nuclear fusion, hydrogen atoms are fused together to form helium, releasing a large amount of energy in the process (gamma rays). This is the same process the sun uses, as we explore ultra dense hydrogen fuel cells which will re-invent humanities energy needs and concerns.

My favourite candidate is anti-matter what uses antiparticles, which have the same mass but the opposite charge as particles of regular matter. Anti-matter reactors produce energy through a process known as annihilation releasing a significant quantity of energy. This is likely to be the preferred fuel for deep space exploration.

Time & Ageing:

We’ll be dead by the time we arrive! The nearest star is Proxima Centauri, which is around 4.22 light years away from Earth, is the closest star to it. The distance that light travels in a year, or 5.88 trillion miles, is measured as a light year (9.46 trillion kilometers). Captains Log: star-date: 29023

“I’ll be long, long, long dead”.

If we could travel the speed of light — apparently a fixed law, we are finding isn’t fixed, reaching Proxima Centauri would take around 4.22 years. The fastest man-made object ever launched is the Parker Solar Probe, which is traveling at a speed of about 430,000 miles per hour (700,000 kilometers per hour), and it will take about 27,000 years to reach Proxima Centauri. So we have to find a way to extend life, survive longer or collapse space and time? Live longer?

It is clear that cryogenic stasis is also not an option for putting humans in a state that slows their ageing, unfortunately lowering human temperatures will result in extensive cell damage. However hyper sleep or induced hibernation has been proposed as a way to sustain human life during long-duration space travel, reducing the need for food, water, and other resources. Which is another issue as who is awake to feed the sleepers, do we trust AI, and how do we protect the water and food sources from the vast radiation in space. The answer of course lies in tinkering with biology, and space is far away from regulation and scrutiny and no doubt new experimentation will try to solve this issue.

A Galactic Investment Opportunity:

Despite several bigger picture issues with exploring deep space, in the near term there is money to be made, an opportunity to advance humanity and have some fun. There is no doubt Space is a great investment opportunity. The question remains when and what to invest?

Space is more accessible than ever before, more frequency, better space crafts and more payload options. Our understanding is thousands of times more than when we put a man on the moon and the available computational and processing power is millions of times more powerful. It should be straight forward right to colonise the moon first?

A few notable investment areas include:

1. Space Tourism — is the obvious one, with a long list if people already buying tickets to leave earth and take a trip of the lifetime. Indeed Captain Kirk did just that. To see earth from above, to experience weightlessness, to get a glimpse of vastness and vulnerability, the fulfil a ‘bucket list’ wish is now in reach of those with capital to deploy. The promise of entering space has one again captured the imagination of human engineering with hyper-sonics and a new breed to aircraft/space craft that dip into and out of space to shorten our journeys to minutes not hours.
2. Minerals and Mining — in the film Armageddon a team landed on an asteroid, suffered issues drilling into new metals and materials. Today the Moon has revealed a range of new minerals (Helium 3) that will be needed in the next generation of propulsion systems, designed, built and manufactured in space, under space conditions. New deposits of valuable materials, scarce on Earth will drive new industries that will source, mine and produce new capabilities and possibilities in space, on the moon and elsewhere. All of a sudden mining in space is becoming economically viable and attractive to visionary investors.
3. Communications — The Hubble telescope showed the world how little we knew about space. Today new and improved telescopes, satellites and ultra sensitive and efficient scientific equipment is being deployed. Opportunities to move away from archaic GPS telecoms systems that are expensive, slow and discriminatory — such as Star-link, will completely change commercial economics and commerce. Deemed Mobility solutions dynamically increase connectivity, is cheaper and greater bandwidth will accelerate all aspects of human evolution, completely change commerce and for the first time link everyone on the planet.
4. Space Launch and Support Services — supporting new infrastructure for a new service industry. Supporting Space travellers in getting there safely, rescuing those in trouble and exploiting the cargo potential of moving materials back and forth. Of course Space Docks, Star Ship bases and Space Traveller Stations, akin to the revolution in alternate travel systems — hyper-loop, drones and space lifts. And launching new satellites has never been easier.

Buckle up, strap in, get ready for launch, all systems are go, green lights on all boards. Its a GO to invest!

Author: Nick Ayton is Futurist, Technologist, Speaker and Writer.