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The New Space Age in the making: Emergence of exo-mining, exo-burials and exo-marketing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2016

Klara Anna Capova
Klara Anna Capova*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Durham University, Dawson Building, South Road, DH1 3LE Durham, UK
*
e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

At the beginning of the 21st century we witness considerable global developments in space exploration and a new era has begun: the New Space Age. The principal symbols of that age are firstly internationalization of space activities, secondly commercial utilization of space technologies, and lastly emergence of outer space economy. This paper presents selected signposts of the New Space Age. Three cases of recent outer space enterprises: recovery of asteroid resources (exo-mining), post-cremation memorial spaceflight (exo-burials) and first extraterrestrial advert (exo-marketing), are introduced in order to emphasize the monetary and social dimension of commercial application of space technologies. To give an illustration of these trends, this paper provides a brief socioculturally minded account of three outer space undertakings that are interpreted as signposts of the new era.

Keywords

new space ageouter space economyasteroid miningextraterrestrial marketingmemorial spaceflights
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 15 , Special Issue 4: The history and philosophy of the Origin of Life , October 2016 , pp. 307 - 310
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

*

This paper is dedicated to the memory of my father Frantisek Augustyn Cap (1945–2016).

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