special wristwatches. Gasoline would be replaced by other energy sources derived
from materials collected on the Moon or Mars and transported to Earth inside
cargo spaceships of new corporations like Pan American Interstellar, the space
equivalent of what was at the time the largest airline in the world. People took for
granted the forthcoming creation of cosmic industries and the colonization of
other planets. They saw a future where space agencies might create an immense
rotating ring station between the Earth and the Moon with entire cities and countrysides within it, as described in a bestselling book published by Walt Disney
2
in
1982.
Ordinary people no longer considered such futures as entirely unattainable,
because NASA, the space agency that had conquered the Moon, advertised them
as possible feats. Video communication is one of the few things that has since
been partially achieved. Unfortunately, there is no Pan American Interstellar – in
fact, Pan American Airlines went bankrupt in 1991 and no longer exists. We do not
wear gaudily tight suits in our offices like the cast of the famous eighties TV show
Space 1999. To visit our relatives overseas, we still use airplanes designed in the
twentieth century. And of course routine trips to the Moon or Mars are still just
dreams. The website www.paleofuture.com provides the links to many documents
from those years, allowing you to relive that vintage future of space exploration,
with cosmic cities and nuclear-powered spaceships.
What of that future, predicted decades ago, was actually achieved? What economic model has space exploration created? And how does it contribute to modern
life and the development of a prosperous and sustainable economy?
Whenever ordinary people ask experts these questions, the latter respond that
space exploration has revolutionized scientific knowledge and has made a better
life on Earth, to the point that if satellites in orbit stopped functioning, the whole
world would ground to a halt. Every year, NASA
3
and ESA
4
publish glossy documents listing inventions made from the research conducted in space that have now
become part of our daily lives. ESA even publishes a book describing how many
science fiction ideas described in books or movies have become real, listing among
other things the orbiting space stations, solar sails and fireproof clothing. However,
it is hard to find one without which humankind would disappear from the Earth.
Space exploration has been decent economic driver on Earth over the last three
decades, to the point that the European Commission has calculated that 10% of the
total GDP of the continent – more than $1300 billion – is made possible thanks to
2
Beard, Richard R. 1982. Walt Disney’s Epcot Center: Creating the New World of Tomorrow.
Walt Disney Company Publishing.
3
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/.
4
ESA Publication BR-280. Down to Earth.
84 Space Economy: A Business On the Launch Pad
from materials collected on the Moon or Mars and transported to Earth inside
cargo spaceships of new corporations like Pan American Interstellar, the space
equivalent of what was at the time the largest airline in the world. People took for
granted the forthcoming creation of cosmic industries and the colonization of
other planets. They saw a future where space agencies might create an immense
rotating ring station between the Earth and the Moon with entire cities and countrysides within it, as described in a bestselling book published by Walt Disney
2
in
1982.
Ordinary people no longer considered such futures as entirely unattainable,
because NASA, the space agency that had conquered the Moon, advertised them
as possible feats. Video communication is one of the few things that has since
been partially achieved. Unfortunately, there is no Pan American Interstellar – in
fact, Pan American Airlines went bankrupt in 1991 and no longer exists. We do not
wear gaudily tight suits in our offices like the cast of the famous eighties TV show
Space 1999. To visit our relatives overseas, we still use airplanes designed in the
twentieth century. And of course routine trips to the Moon or Mars are still just
dreams. The website www.paleofuture.com provides the links to many documents
from those years, allowing you to relive that vintage future of space exploration,
with cosmic cities and nuclear-powered spaceships.
What of that future, predicted decades ago, was actually achieved? What economic model has space exploration created? And how does it contribute to modern
life and the development of a prosperous and sustainable economy?
Whenever ordinary people ask experts these questions, the latter respond that
space exploration has revolutionized scientific knowledge and has made a better
life on Earth, to the point that if satellites in orbit stopped functioning, the whole
world would ground to a halt. Every year, NASA
3
and ESA
4
publish glossy documents listing inventions made from the research conducted in space that have now
become part of our daily lives. ESA even publishes a book describing how many
science fiction ideas described in books or movies have become real, listing among
other things the orbiting space stations, solar sails and fireproof clothing. However,
it is hard to find one without which humankind would disappear from the Earth.
Space exploration has been decent economic driver on Earth over the last three
decades, to the point that the European Commission has calculated that 10% of the
total GDP of the continent – more than $1300 billion – is made possible thanks to
2
Beard, Richard R. 1982. Walt Disney’s Epcot Center: Creating the New World of Tomorrow.
Walt Disney Company Publishing.
3
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/.
4
ESA Publication BR-280. Down to Earth.
84 Space Economy: A Business On the Launch Pad