NewSpace
A moon-walk coming soon...

For about fifteen years, the term NewSpace has been making headlines in the specialised press, capturing the attention of states actively involved in this sector and breaking the historic Russo-American monopoly. The term doesn’t imply that « space » has suddenly become « new. » By definition, space itself hasn’t changed one bit. Just like New York, New Orleans, or New Zealand, NewSpace simply expresses a radical shift in paradigm since the almost romantic era of the Kennedy space age, when Neil and Michael made a splash with a few memorable quotes and when words like Sputnik, Gemini, Mercury, or Apollo left their pioneering marks on the fabric from which heroes are made, much like the legendary imprint of a Moon Boot in the lunar dust.

In the three decades following the Second World War, the race to the Moon, because it truly was a race, pitted East against West. The stakes of this race barely concealed an ambition that was more political than technological. The obsession with seeing the stars and stripes, rather than the red flag, flying over the Sea of Tranquility served as a pretext for the conquest of minds on Earth, long before that of the Moon, at the heart of a war as cold as the cosmic void. Then, in 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall took down an already worn-out Soviet Union, much like Gagarin's space suit. In the West, the revolutionary space shuttle tragically exploded mid-flight, much like some of NASA's unfulfilled promises. The powerful no longer wanted to listen to that outdated moonlit sonata, now considered too expensive.

Faster alone, but further together

Bewildered, humanity navigated the turn of the 21st century by discovering social media, surfing to the sound of the sirens of 11th September. The world then became primarily concerned with itself. Space had lost its appeal until a soft, Dolby-quality space tune was heard again. « In 1998, the American Lunar Prospector mission demonstrated the highly probable presence of water in the form of ice at the bottom of craters at the moon's south pole, » comments Peter. And the Launch Services Purchase Act forced NASA to use private launchers for its future cosmic escapades.

The market quickly reconnected with its moonlit vows. In 2002, for instance, with the birth of SpaceX, the first rebellious child, the undertaker of Old Space. From then on, many entrepreneurs rushed into the gap, while unexpected contenders knocked on the door of the exclusive club of space powers: Japan, China, Europe, India, South Korea, Israel, and the UAE.

Another race had started. Reaching the Moon would no longer resemble a tortoise versus hare contest, but rather an international relay marathon, where a mix of cooperation and competition, between states and space agencies, between the public and private sectors, would organise the passing of the baton that would once again tread the lunar surface. In 2004, George W. Bush launched the Constellation programme, aiming to develop new heavy-lift rockets (SLS Ares), new lunar landers and vehicles (Orion), in short, all the technological arsenal needed to safely land four humans on the moon. The Obama administration halted this momentum for budgetary reasons, only for his Republican rival, Trump, to revive the Artemis programme in 2019, marking the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's moon landing. This ambitious series of crewed missions was planned not only to return to the lunar surface but also to venture toward the Red Planet.

« Artemis took the lessons learned from Constellation and added some exciting new features, including the Lunar Gateway, a lunar orbital station that will serve as an intermediate base for astronauts headed to the Moon and later, for those who have booked a ticket to Mars, » says Peter. Since 2010, an entire ecosystem has been buzzing and busy around the building blocks of Artemis 1, 2, and 3: SpaceX of course, but also from rival Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, the traditional giants Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, as well as lesser-known companies like Masten, Maxtar, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Sierra Nevada Corporation; on this side of the Atlantic, Thales Alenia Space, Michelin, Airbus Industries, Air Liquide, the ESA, CNES, and numerous actors from Japan, Canada, China, India... The previous duo of OldSpace has transformed into a symphonic orchestra, and NewSpace has definitively swapped the sheet music of Mr Lonely¹ for Si tous les gars du monde², no doubt found in San Francisco’s³ Blue House.

A lesson in humility

This laudable and admirable hyper activity should not, however, obscure the vastness of the challenges that lie behind the five letters of the word Space. To put things into perspective, imagine that the Earth is not a spheroid with a circumference of 40,000 km, but a small blue ball with a diameter of just one centimetre, like one of those we used to play with in the school playground. Low earth orbits would be positioned like pinheads just 1 mm from the ball, geostationary orbits at 2.8 cm, the Moon would orbit at 30 cm, Mars at 300 metres, and Pluto, the most distant planet in our solar system, would be located 6 km away. Finally, the kilometre counter of the Voyager 1 probe, launched in 1977 and currently the most distant human-made object from Earth, would read 19 km, while our neighbour, Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our little corner of the Milky Way, would shine at a distance of 32,000 km from our ball – the equivalent of a round trip from Paris to Sydney! « Going to Mars would, of course, still be an achievement, but obstacles of an entirely different magnitude await us if we truly want to explore the universe, » sums up Peter.

American vehicles but a European habitat

Spartan Space, founded in 2021 (« a child of COVID, » jokes its co-founder), is representative of the NewSpace universe. It brings together 11 international team members with diverse profiles: mechanical engineers, AI specialists, space experts, and, like Peter, an underwater engineering expert, an amusing parallel. This small player, compared to others in the field, benefits from Artemis, and that's fortunate, as a launchpad.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has entrusted it with the creation of a secondary habitat, a small inflatable and autonomous lunar hut, « a bit like a lifeboat, » explains Peter. Then he continues, « Why? First, the moon's south pole contains some craters that are constantly in shadow and most likely contain reserves of ice, crucial for establishing a permanent colony on the moon. This area of interest is roughly the size of the Île-de-France region. Secondly, the terrain of this pole is more akin to the Alps than the Netherlands, making it a complex region for regular landings. Thirdly, there are also areas that are permanently sunlit, ideal for a few well-needed solar farms in a place where temperatures range from +120 °C to -240 °C. All of these places, although close to each other, will require future lunar pioneers to travel between water sources, energy sources, and landing sites. »

Space regulations recommend a maximum distance of 10 km between two points of movement. Examples of these mushroom-shaped huts, autonomous but also rechargeable with water, energy, and oxygen, and transportable on the robotic lander Argonaut⁶, will be scattered along the colonists' routes, like the white pebbles of Tom Thumb’s tale, serving as refuges and supply points on long distances. « They are part of the arsenal of 'life-support systems' developed under the Artemis programme to operate in a hostile environment like the Moon, » concludes Peter.

A spartan survival, but guaranteed

EuroHab, is the name of this lunar yurt, a result of collaboration between Spartan Space, Michelin, Airbus Industrie, Air Liquide, Thales Alenia Space, CNES, and ESA, it is packed with AI and technologies to optimise energy, water, and oxygen consumption, recycle carbon dioxide, harness fuel cells, and potentially allow for resupply by a small robot capable of utilising the resources of the lunar environment. The walls of EuroHab are made up of multiple layers of different materials to meet the strict requirements of the lunar conditions.

Spartan Space's expertise is also being called upon in the realm of galactic clothing, particularly in the area of intra-vehicular spacesuits, worn by astronauts inside pressurised modules. « This project, in collaboration with MEDES (Institute of Medicine and Space Physiology of Toulouse or IMPS), recruited an unexpected partner: DECATHLON... a collaboration very representative of NewSpace, » says Peter. Major industries, with recognised expertise like CMA-CGM, Michelin, Air Liquide, are diversifying into space, evidenced by the growing number of SpaceTech events such as the NewSpace Summit and the Paris Air Forum. CNES has even created TechTheMoon, its incubator for startups eager to seize the prize and the moon, proving that a sector is truly taking shape.

Anticipate or jump on the bandwagon, but for what returns?

The question remains about the utility of these investments, at a time when the climate is warming, the biosphere is suffering, transitions are stalling, pollution is exploding, and migrations are causing anxiety... « Space has already given us GPS, earth observation to understand climate change, a reliable, high-speed, ubiquitous internet and many other innovations that we no longer notice. Our current work, based on AI and technology, is helping us progress in energy efficiency, smart housing, CO₂ recycling and capture... the contributions are as numerous as they are discreet and the synergies with polar and underwater research are undeniable, » Peter highlights.

Currently the question is a lot less about why than how. « Despite its efforts, Europe is behind, and the other players are carving out the lion’s share. In a few years, the astronauts returning to the moon will be American, Canadian, Japanese... probably not European. We lack a true vision, a strong political will to get on the train heading to the moon's south pole, » Peter laments.

Will the lunar map show borders?

Indirectly, Artemis also raises questions about law and territorial ownership. Will a crater belong to Japan or the United States? Once a permanent settlement is established on the moon, which legal framework will the colony adhere to? « There is no answer to that question yet. However, an important regulation exists. The organisation that sets up equipment on the moon automatically has a 'safety zone' around its installation, off-limits to other equipment like landers or rovers, » comments Peter. One can easily imagine a new version of the game of GO, in which territorial ownership would be organised by the scattered placement of closely grouped EuroHab modules.

Law often lurks behind technology and the fine line between collaboration and sovereignty is quickly crossed. Even in NewSpace, humanity's old ideas may resurface.

1. Hit for American singer Bobby Vinton in 1964.

2. Song by Marcel Achard written in 1956 for a film of the same name by Christian Jacques.

3. Song by Maxime Le Forestier, released in 1972 in the hippy period.

4. Zones generally known as PSR: Permanently Shadowed Regions.

5. Zones called PEL: Peaks of Eternal Light.

6. Lander developed as part of the Artemis programme.