Not satisfied with having vandalized the planet, human beings seem to be heading after the same goal in space.

Because more than anything else, the New Space revolution, known for having brought space exploration back into fashion after decades of obscurity, means new principles borrowed from the Far West and based on the motto, First Come, First Served. It means public authorities lagging behind and struggling to impose rules on unscrupulous entrepreneurs. It means low-orbit satellites deployed by the tens of thousands – despite the risks of saturation and of collisions between objects in space, or of deteriorating star-gazing conditions. It means glorifying space tourism, an absurd caprice in the context of the crises we are going through. It means an arms race on a whole other level – one that will do nothing to soothe tensions here on Earth. And lastly, it means fantasizing about exploiting resources from beyond our atmosphere, to no other avail than distracting us from the urgent necessity of taking care of our home planet.

Once seen as a noble enterprise, space exploration has become more accessible, making way for more blatantly greedy ambitions… the very ones that have caused so much damage to the surface of the Earth.

As the Space Race is starting up again – but this time between the private and public sectors – this book offers a thorough panorama of the issues related to space exploration today.