IN LATE June, a SpaceX rocket
blasted off from Cape Canaveral
in Florida. As well as the usual
supplies and a few satellites,
it was carrying some curious
items. Among the payload were
a football, six bags of green slime
and an oven designed for baking
cookies. A hodgepodge of objects,
to be sure, but they have one thing
in common: all were sent up by
companies that seemingly have
no business in space, from sports
brands to hotel chains. So what’s
going on?
For decades after the first
astronauts went into orbit, space
was the domain of governments.
It is only much more recently
that companies have got involved.
A firm called NanoRacks, for
example, helps package up
payloads and facilitate
experiments on the International
Space Station (ISS). Then there are
the likes of SpaceX and Blue Origin
that make spacecraft.
These firms are exceptional.
They were explicitly set up to
go into space, are backed by
billionaires and often poached
their first staff from NASA.
The only other companies that
previously went to space were
those involved in fundamental
research, of which there has been
plenty aboard the ISS (see “The
most interesting experiments in
space”, right). Take pharmaceutical
firms, which do experiments
on the space station because
microgravity offers a novel
environment for chemistry.
Crystals grow differently in space,
which can result in new or better
drug properties.
Now, more companies are
getting in on the act. In March,
the Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency announced that car-maker
Toyota would help it build a
moon rover. Toyota isn’t a space
company, but the decision stillmakes sense because a rover is a
sort of car. The marketing benefit
for the company is also clear.
“If a Toyota can work on the moon,
then obviously it’s going to work
on Earth,” says independent
anthropologist and business
consultant Patricia Sunderland.
Now, however, a new era seems
to be beginning, one in which
brands without any obvious link
with space go into orbit – hence
the seemingly random objects
on that SpaceX rocket.
The football was sent by Adidas,
the green slime by children’s TV
network Nickelodeon and the
cookie oven by the DoubleTree
hotel chain. The payload also
included objects from other firms.
This is possible because of a
NASA directive published in Junebeen only a few simple attempts
at cooking raw ingredients.
Cooking could be useful – and
comforting – on longer missions,
such as trips to Mars.
The slime was sent to orbit
because, as a non-Newtonian
fluid that behaves like something
between a liquid and a solid, its
behaviour in microgravity will be
unintuitive. Astronauts will filmthemselves playing with the
slime – hitting it back and forth
with ping-pong paddles, or
blowing it into bubbles. It is an
educational opportunity, says
Michael Roberts, deputy chief
scientist for the ISS National
Laboratory, where the
experiments will be performed.
In truth, though, the main lure
of these experiments is the PR.
“I think we would be naive not to
assume that the long-term goal is
probably more on the marketing
side,” says Roberts.
What’s in it for NASA? The
short answer is money. Past
interactions with companies such
as pharmaceutical firms were
mainly about making the most of
what could be done research-wise
on the ISS. The further opening
up announced in June is a step
towards facilitating a space-based
economy that brings in cash for
the agency.
That is particularly important
right now. Funding for the ISS
comes from several countries,
including Russia, and it is unclear
how long each will keep the taps
on. US funding is set to end in- NASA officials have talked
about handing over their side to
companies at that point. Then, the
agency could still rent out parts of
Sending products into
orbit on SpaceX rockets
may be a good PR movethat allows companies to buy time
and space on the ISS to produce,
test and market their products.
Privately funded astronauts will
even be able to visit the space
station from 2020 – for $35,000
plus substantial launch costs.
But why exactly a company
would want to bake a cookie in
space isn’t entirely obvious.
The companies claim there
are good reasons for dispatching
these objects. The cookies will be
the first items baked in space, in an
oven developed especially for that
purpose. If it works, it could be a
significant step towards cooking
in orbit. Astronauts normally eat
rehydrated food and there have20 | New Scientist | 24 August 2019
Space privatisationNews Insight
$35k
Cost for private individuals to visit
the International Space StationThe new economy in orbit
Companies that have no business being in space are starting to operate there.
Look beyond the marketing spiel and this could be welcome, says Leah Crane“ Why exactly a company
would want to bake
a cookie in space isn’t
entirely obvious”SPACEX/PLANET PIX VIA ZUMA WIRE/SHUTTERSTOCK