The epic story of the next space race happening before our eyes, led by competing nations and tech billionaires, all for the chance to explore the cosmos and rewrite the future of mankind.
For the first time in human history, the dream of settling life beyond Earth is within reach. As a new wave of private space programs emerges with the hopes of sending Americans back to the moon-including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin-China is already looking farther. The goal, however, is the same for everyone: the opportunity to chart human expansion across space and pioneer our interplanetary future.
More than 50 years after the United States and Soviet Union captivated the world with their launches, a host of governmental agencies and tech titans are working to fulfill the same dream. From a return to the moon to secretive deep space military stations, and from breakneck preparations for a human colony on Mars to explorations into the deeper reaches of our galaxy, the second great space race is upon us. But what will these missions look like and what are the stakes? Can an authoritarian surveillance state like China be trusted to lead us into this seminal chapter of human civilization, or are profit-driven Silicon Valley companies more deserving of our confidence?
In Open Space, David Ariosto examines the future of space exploration, the geopolitical consequences of nations competing with one another, and how it will all redefine our place in the cosmos. DAVID ARIOSTO has worked as a journalist in Russia, China, and the U.S. In his current role as Head of Editorial at Intelligence Squared, a debate series on National Public Radio and Bloomberg Media, he has regular access to the world's leading minds in physics, geopolitics, anthropology, finance, ethics, biology, and other relevant fields. He is the author of This is Cuba: An American Journalist Under Castro's Shadow.
