Each month we round up some of the top stories in space, entrepreneurship, innovation, finance and technology.
Here’s our round-up for December:
Find Your Startup’s Equivalent of Elon Musk’s Mission to Mars
Musk’s bold bet to colonize Mars is a lesson in future-focused innovation as highlighted in this article by Entrepreneur Magazine.
Space Startup Raises $90 Million to Start Moon Ads by 2020
Japanese companies are planning to kick-start the lunar economy by backing a local startup’s mission to land on the moon by 2020.
Read more at Bloomberg.com
Jeff Bezos just launched a dummy called ‘Mannequin Skywalker’ into space and safely returned it to Earth
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the secretive rocket company Blue Origin, has successfully test-launched a rocket system with a dummy and several experiments inside. Bezos tweeted a video showing the seventh successful launch and landing of New Shepard, a rocket-and-crew-capsule system that Blue Origin scientists and engineers have quietly been working on for years in the desert of West Texas.
Read more here.
Lead image: Mannequin Skywalker’s ride to space. Credit: Jeff Bezos/Blue Origin
UK aims to become space startup haven to achieve growth target
“The U.K. plans to become a haven for space startups from all over the world as it aims to grow its space industry to control 10 percent of the global market by 2030. According to Graham Turnock, the chief executive officer of the U.K. Space Agency, to achieve the ambitious growth target the U.K. will look to grow existing companies, support the creation of new ones, as well as encourage firms funded elsewhere to relocate to the U.K. by providing competitive early stage financing.”
Read more on SpaceNews
UAE looks to Mars for STEM inspiration
The UAE plans to send a probe to Mars in 2020 — — the Arab world’s first mission to another planet. More ambitious still, there are plans to develop a human settlement on Mars by 2117. The Emirates’ space program is a bold move, joining a growing list of nations exploring our solar system and beyond
Read the full article at CNN.
Made In Space turns to On-orbit Metal Manufacturing
Made In Space, a startup best known for operating 3D polymer printers on the International Space Station, is developing tools for on-orbit metal manufacturing that could be ready for launch in 2018.
“Our broad objective at Made In Space is to bring as many manufacturing technologies to bear in space in order to enable better crewed and robotic missions,” said Andrew Rush, president and chief executive of the Moffett Field, California-based company. “We can do a lot with polymers, but just like we experience in our daily lives, we need a whole suite of manufacturing techniques to produce useful objects.”
