WHEN THE HEAVENS WENT ON SALE

Outer space is open for business according to this energetic account.

There was a time when the space race was controlled by superpower states vying for advantage and prestige with massive rockets. These days, private companies are looking at the lucrative opportunities of space travel. Bloomberg Businessweek feature writer Vance, the author of Elon Musk, believes that the pivotal year was 2008, when Musk’s SpaceX became the first private company to build a low-cost rocket and launch it into low orbit. Other billionaires poured money into similar projects, and within a few years, venture capitalists had jumped onboard. The unifying theme was a belief that government space agencies had become mired in suffocating bureaucracy and were unaware of the advances made in consumer electronics and off-the-shelf equipment. “Trying out an idea in space no longer required congressional approval or some wild-eyed dreamer willing to risk his personal fortunes,” writes Vance. “It just required a couple of people in a room agreeing that they’re willing to spend someone else’s money on a huge risk.” The author follows several companies that made advances with small rockets launching minisatellites for purposes ranging from weather forecasting to advanced communications. Vance was able to visit several launch sites and interview most of the key players. Several of them are alarmingly eccentric, but they all have the sense of being part of something historic. One of the most interesting ideas is for a space-based internet to connect people without access to fiber-optic cables, which would require a network of thousands of satellites. That’s a difficult proposition, but the use of the SpaceX Starlink system during the Ukraine war shows the potential. Although some of Vance’s stories go on for longer than needed, he ably captures “the spectacular madness of it all.”

With enthusiasm and solid research, this book is an entertaining, informative look at cutting-edge technology.