Expensive tourism, Mars expeditions, even alien encounters could define space in 2051 — and the Earthly burdens of race could also follow humans to orbit and beyond.
The big picture: Black science fiction writers and artists known as Afrofuturists say the next 30 years of space exploration could address legacies of racial terror on Earth if people of color join ventures and help reimagine human life among the planets.
A growing constellation of satellites that can peer deep beneath the Earth's surface, track global sea level rise in unprecedented detail, and trace pollutants in the air will bolster climate science in the coming decades.
Why it matters: The next few decades are critical for determining the pace and severity of climate change, and efforts to deploy new technologies to cut emissions to net negative numbers will require new planetary monitoring capabilities.
Space is set to become more congested over the next decades as more countries and companies are able to access it and economies become more reliant on space-based technologies.
Why it matters: Though space is seemingly infinite, Earth's orbital capacity is not, and this surge in traffic around the planet may catalyze new competitions — and collaborations — between nations.
The past 50 years in space have been defined by governments, but the futurebelongs to private companies.
Why it matters: The space industry is growing, and what was once the purview of nations is increasingly being taken over by companies looking to profit from their work in space. That new dynamic will shape the coming decades in orbit and beyond.
New probes to study nearby worlds, advanced telescopes to peer at far away planets, and expanding ideas about the signs of life are fueling a renaissance in the search for life beyond Earth.
Why it matters: It's an age-old question — is life as we know it on Earth unique, or is the universe actually teeming with life?
A drastic reduction in launch costs is helping fuel a vision of space not just as a realm of exploration or science, but real industry.
The big picture: Over the short term, space will likely become a place to manufacture high-precision, high-value products that benefit from a microgravity environment. But in the future, as Jeff Bezos noted in July after returning from his space trip, there could be a push to move heavy, polluting industries to operate in space.
Welcome to our Axios AM Deep Dive looking at the future of space from the rise of private company exploration to the ongoing search for extraterrestrial life, led by Axios Space reporter Miriam Kramer (subscribefor her weekly newsletter) and managing editor Alison Snyder.
President Biden met with locals in Louisiana on Friday to offer federal assistance less than a week after Hurricane Ida tore through the Gulf Coast and destroyed millions of homes, AP reports.
Why it matters: Ida has killed at least 48 people in the Northeastern U.S. and 13 in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Over one million people were still without power in Louisiana as of Tuesday morning.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced Thursday that it will no longer require disaster survivors living on inherited land to prove homeownership before they can access federal assistance for rebuilding.
Why it matters: The policy disproportionately impacts Black families, whose land is often passed down informally rather than through legal deeds and wills, according to a Washington Post analysis published in July. The change comes on the heels of Hurricane Ida.
