The International Space Station just got a bit bigger. Last week, a SpaceX rocket delivered an inflatable fabric habitat to the station, the first room added since 2011. A few days later, the firm behind it, Bigelow Aerospace, announced plans for its own orbiting platform by 2020.
Bigelow isn’t alone in eyeing up expansion into low Earth orbit. The next decade will see a realignment of space real estate, as China, Russia, the US and private firms all vie for position. As with any space flight endeavour, ambitions, timescales and cold hard cash don’t always sync up, meaning some plans may not come to pass, but it’s clear that the next space race will be about occupation, not exploration. Whoever wins will be light years ahead in pursuit of the ultimate goal: solar system dominance.
So what will this brave new world look like? Will there be just one dominant power up there or lots of mini stations all hoping to attract research and tourist cash?
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