There is a new space race underway, very different from the one the United States and the Soviet Union played out during the Cold War in the second half of the 20th century. If at that time the competition was resolved between two powers through their government agencies, in this second space race more than fifty countries are participating, a consequence of the geopolitical evolution towards a multipolar world. And it is mainly played by the private sector, no longer just public agencies, as a result of the development of space technologies that have created a new economic sector.
To explain how the space sector is transforming, what challenges it poses, what opportunities it opens up and what geopolitical, economic and social consequences it will have in the medium term future, Vanguardia Dossier dedicates issue 88, now on sale, to L’espai . The last frontier.
“In front of the old space dominated by NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, the so-called new space has emerged, a series of technological innovations and business models that reduce costs and give prominence to the private sector”, highlights Álex Rodríguez , director of Vanguardia Dossier, in the publishing house of this quarterly magazine on geopolitics of the Godó Group.
Between the first space race of the cold war and the second one taking place now there was a hiatus of almost three decades in which the dream of international cooperation in space was nurtured. The International Space Station, in which the United States and Russia have cooperated since the 1990s and have continued to cooperate even during the war in Ukraine, stands out as the largest exponent of this attempt at cooperation. But the new world order that has emerged in recent years has revived rivalries.
The dossier consists of thirteen articles written by specialists who offer a global view of the sector from complementary perspectives. It is completed with attractive infographics, as well as recommendations for literature, essays, cinema, travel and websites to delve deeper into issues related to space.
For Spain, “the space sector […] is a strategic area that generates opportunities and quality employment”, argues the engineer and businessman Miguel Belló, commissioner of the Perte Aerospacial, in his article “Spain in the space field. Opportunities and challenges”. The creation this year of the Spanish Space Agency will lead to better coordination between the different companies and institutions that operate in the sector and an improvement in efficiency in a context of growing international competition.
Remembering that “data is the new oil” and satellites are “the essential infrastructure to transmit them anywhere”, the president of Hispasat, Jordi Hereu, points out that “space has become the new battlefield, not only for the security of the territories, but also to make companies more competitive”. According to Hereu, “we are facing a crucial point for the future of the European aerospace sector [and] for our Spanish industry. We are not only playing to maintain our current position in the international arena, but to occupy a place in our own right in the future scheme”.
The same challenges arise in China, India, Japan, Iran or Israel, as well as in African and Latin American countries, territories whose new strategic priorities in space are explained in the Vanguard Dossier.
Beyond national interests, the new space race is driven by commercial interests. No company better symbolizes the business opportunities offered by space than Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the world leader in the satellite launch market and with the ambition to also lead satellite telecommunications with the Starlink network and the manned flights to the Moon with the Starship. In Spain, which competes in another league, this industry generates around 1,000 million euros a year and employs around 5,000 people.
As Simonetta di Pippo, director of the Spatial Economy Evolution Laboratory at the SDA Bocconi business school in Milan, writes in the introductory article of the dossier, “we expect many things to happen, immediately and in the near future , related to space. We will see the emergence of innovative and exciting space activities and products that will aspire to conquer the market. (…) The space economy, which is worth about 500 billion dollars today, will reach between 1 and 3 trillion over the next two decades”, with more than 100,000 space objects in orbit by 2040.
