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Oh go on then, here's a flick through of some of the @newint.bsky.social pages

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Reposted by Nick Dowson

Please check it out at a.nin.tl/spacerace and if that leaves you intrigued, you can get a copy with a discounted subscription, using the code SPACE20 for 20% off

Find out more about the New Internationalist magazine's issue focused on the growing role of billionaire's and the military in space.

The New Space Race

Rod McMillan 🍉 🇸🇩 🇺🇦 📚 @morewretchthansage.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Reposted by Nick Dowson

Been reading my copy - fascinating, but worrying 🚀

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In other words: space is increasingly central to business, war and geopolitics – and the tech billionaires are trying to divide up the pie there, too.

Reposted by Nick Dowson

Myself and a stellar crew of contributors – @notnotrocketscience.com , @peterjhowson.bsky.social and William J Astore – unpacked what’s going on in space for the latest issue of the New Internationalist magazine: The New Space Race, For All Billionaire-kind.

A cover of the New Internationalist magazine features a missile launching out of an atmosphere filled with red-hued clouds with the cover lines: the New Space Race: For All Billionaire-kind

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That flies against many decades of space law and the idea of space as a place for peace. More recently we’ve seen commercial operators acquiescing to the US government’s blackout on satellite imagery of Iran and the Middle East. #war #peace

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That project too could surpass the trillion dollar mark according to independent estimates, and includes proposals to put ‘space-based interceptors’ around our planet – weapons in space that might also be usable as bombs.

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2026 also began with another space-linked story… Trump harping on about taking over Greenland, with one of the justifications given being that the US ‘needs’ Greenland for its Golden Dome missile shield project. #POTUS #NATO

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Share prices have since predictably slid, meaning that millions are not just unwittingly owners of the sometime Nazi chatbot Grok but also likely victims of another transfer of wealth to Musk.

Reposted by Nick Dowson

Rules were specially changed to fast-track the company into the NASDAQ index, triggering automatic buying by a range of funds including pensions.

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Shares confer not just a sliver of ownership of SpaceX’s profitable launch and satellite internet business – sectors where it dominates – but also its heavily-loss making social media and AI subsidiary, xAI.

The Syllabus @the-syllabus.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Reposted by Nick Dowson

This essay traces how US policy lets private firms profit from publicly funded space development, how legal loopholes and token lunar contracts normalize property claims, and how satellite expansion strains orbital environments. By @nickmdowson.bsky.social in @newint.bsky.social

buff.ly

Who owns outer space?

A new space race between billionaires and global superpowers is set to worsen inequality, extend conflict, and harm the environment. But there is another way, argues Nick Dowson.

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Nick Dowson @nickmdowson.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Hi @andyburnham.bsky.social I really hope you're not considering this - given the summer of heatwaves we've just seen how can taking more carbon from under the seas and into the atmosphere be a sensible thing to do? You're at risk of burning a lot of initial goodwill towards your premiership, too

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That sentence carried a lot of zeroes – as did SpaceX’s Initial Public Offering in June, a spectacle of financial engineering, that saw it join stock markets for the first time.

Reposted by Nick Dowson

The AI hype is even making its way into space. Earlier this year the world’s ‘favourite’ billionaire – trillionaire? – Elon Musk announced proposals for his SpaceX to put a million data centres in orbit. #space #musk #AI #politics #inequality

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Oh go on then, here's a flick through of some of the @newint.bsky.social pages

121

Please check it out at a.nin.tl/spacerace and if that leaves you intrigued, you can get a copy with a discounted subscription, using the code SPACE20 for 20% off

Find out more about the New Internationalist magazine's issue focused on the growing role of billionaire's and the military in space.

The New Space Race

133

In other words: space is increasingly central to business, war and geopolitics – and the tech billionaires are trying to divide up the pie there, too.

Share prices have since predictably slid, meaning that millions are not just unwittingly owners of the sometime Nazi chatbot Grok but also likely victims of another transfer of wealth to Musk.

Rules were specially changed to fast-track the company into the NASDAQ index, triggering automatic buying by a range of funds including pensions.

That sentence carried a lot of zeroes – as did SpaceX’s Initial Public Offering in June, a spectacle of financial engineering, that saw it join stock markets for the first time.

132

Nick Dowson @nickmdowson.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Hope you can join me for this!

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Reposted by Nick Dowson

🚀 I'm proud to see this issue come out - and will be hosting a launch event here in Newcastle to celebrate it on Monday, 5-6pm! 🧃We'll have not only an amazing panel, but also a Q&A and refreshments 🎟️If you're in the area, please see more details and register for a free ticket at a.nin.tl/launch

As billionaire tech titans turn space into their playground, the rest of us are getting left in the dust. Meanwhile, Earth’s skies fill with debris and the stratosphere is scorched by rockets. The lat...

Get ready for launch!

Nick Dowson @nickmdowson.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Get ready for launch!