Starlink’s performance in Ukraine has ignited a new space race
Never mind the moon; look to low-Earth orbit
“IT’S A FACT: we’re in a space race.” So said Bill Nelson, the boss of NASA, on January 1st. If China managed to land on the Moon before America returned there, he warned, it could seize lunar resources for itself, and even tell America: “Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.”
Mr Nelson is right to foresee a space race, but wrong to focus on the Moon. It has symbolic value, but no useful resources that cannot be obtained much more easily back on Earth. The next space race has been triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It is happening closer to Earth. And it is one which America, thanks largely to a single company, is winning.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Internet from the sky”
Leaders January 7th 2023
From the January 7th 2023 edition
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