Monday, November 6, 2023
As the era of “NewSpace” takes hold, corporations and private capital are increasingly involved in space science, exploration, and conquest. Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Professor of Religion and Science in Society at Wesleyan University, explains the escalating NewSpace race as a mythological project. Grounded in God’s gift of the Promised Land (Canaan), this mythology backs the corporate-military seizure of the solar system. The question, then, is whether there might be a different approach to exploring outer space. Is there a way to visit or even to live on multiple planets without ransacking them? And might we find ways to heal our ravaged Earth in the process?