Participants at this Aspen Junior Fellows Conference characterized the current era as a time of change for space exploration, with humanity’s presence off-planet directed at reaching new destinations and new ambitious goals. It was acknowledged, however, that there are various challenges to achieving these objectives, both in outer space and in terms of purely “Earth-based” decisions. The race for Mars has begun, creating a cultural and economic buzz at a global level. Italy, ranked as the sixth world power in the space sector, is in the running to become a key player in Europe in related scientific research and industrial development, having a strong track record in these areas and boasting a full gamut of firms that span the supply chain. The failure to more effectively convey the value and accomplishments of Italian research and industry in this field was viewed as a constraint that needs to be overcome in order to promote a wider awareness thereof and generate support for conducive policies.
It was seen as becoming increasingly clearer that those engaged in this new space race will not just be major national or supranational agencies, with the involvement of private operators – both in industry and the production of services – constantly growing. The possibility for private firms to plan a voyage in space either in orbit around the Earth or into deepest space represents a significant game-changer, giving rise to a new “space economy”, with revolutionary technological and social impacts. An example cited was that of commercial services that employ space infrastructure as a platform for data collection.
The participants observed that recent major scientific discoveries and technological innovations which have stemmed from the need to respond to issues in space are frequently having practical and economic ramifications in industry and business. Systems developed within the framework of space programs are being commercialized or represent an important resource for the development of everyday services. Indeed, it is also for this reason that the return on investment ratio of space exploration is particularly high. It was further deemed essential to promote the spread of rigorous scientific learning in Italy, including so as to counter the proliferation of notions that are purely in the realm of fantasy.
Lastly, it was conceded that beyond the various impacts on daily life “here on Earth”, the space race is not without a strong military element, which while on one hand is capable of driving the development of new technologies, on the other also poses an obstacle to full cooperation in this field between nations.
