SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission was a record-setting success.
The mission, which launched on September 10, took humans further into space than anyone has gone since 1972, and the civilian crew also achieved the first private space-walk and took their female astronauts further into space than any woman has ever gone.
But we can’t celebrate just yet.
The launch pad for SpaceX’s rocketing success is under suspicion. As it turns out, they didn’t get to space without crushing a few skulls – literally.
An investigation conducted by Reuters last year found that there were over 600 unreported injuries at SpaceX since 2014, including crushed limbs, amputations, electrocutions and one fatality.
This highlights an unsettling lack of oversight at the company, and a blatant disregard for worker safety. With space travel being one of the most novel and dangerous fields a person can work in, we should demand that space agencies take the highest precautions to ensure the well-being of their employees.
But our demands mean nothing – since SpaceX is not government-owned, they don’t risk losing funding when these kinds of atrocities come to light.
According to PitchBook, an organization dedicated to analyzing capital market data, SpaceX has 275 investors, with Elon Musk owning the majority share – a total of 54 per cent of the company. As the CEO, founder and major shareholder, Musk’s main obligations are to himself and his company’s profit margins.
Because of this lack of accountability, allowing private companies to lead the space race can have deadly consequences. In fact, we’ve seen that it already has.
On top of issues with worker safety, a recent report investigated the political conditions that led to SpaceX’s quick development in South Texas. The company’s presence in the area has shaped local policies and economics, in a way that some locals described as unfair and unchecked.
A secondary concern is the motivation of these private companies. Scientific exploration isn’t their primary objective – they’re trying to create demand for their services and products in order to generate higher profits.
While government-funded organizations may not always have the purest of intentions, they have to at least pretend to be driven by public interest. Private companies don’t.
The situation calls to mind another recent expedition, one that met with a less positive fate: Titan, the privately-owned OceanGate submarine that sank last year, killing five people. On September 17 of this year, testimonies from employees revealed extreme concerns within the company – lax safety measures, lack of third party input, and blatant disregard for expert assessments. This is the same lack of accountability that is becoming evident in Musk’s SpaceX.
The Titan submarine holds a dark mirror up to Polaris Dawn, showing the possible consequences of rushed expeditions driven by commercial interests.
We have seen countless times what happens in the quest for the best bottom-line: over-exploitation of resources and a system that doesn’t value human time. Just look to the wastelands that were once rainforests; rich ecosystems turned to mines or oil rigs; the sweatshops of the fast fashion industry.
As private companies start catching up in the space race, policies and regulations need to catch up too. The five UN space treaties that currently exist do not account for private agencies with corporate agendas. While we wait for new ones to be drafted, we need to pay attention to what goes on in these private agencies who aren’t beholden to public interest.
And while we consider what actions should be taken, or whether any should be taken at all, we have one important question to ask ourselves. Do we want our presence in space to be as destructive as it is here on Earth?