In the novel "Delta-v", the extraction of asteroids forces us to move in space.

During our show, we looked at the brand new space economy. But if the space economy is perhaps new to us, science fiction has explored it in great detail. The host, Molly Wood, spoke with Daniel Suarez, author of science fiction books such as "Daemon" and "Freedom ™." His latest book, "Delta-v", will be released next week. This is a group of asteroid miners recruited by an eccentric billionaire to revive the space economy.

Suarez was partially inspired by the United Nations report last year that humans have only 12 years to avoid catastrophic climate change. He envisioned a near future in which private companies extract asteroids to obtain materials and water to build settlements in space, which is cheaper and easier than moving to Mars. The following is a transcript of Suarez and Wood's conversation.

Daniel Suarez: If what we are trying to do here is to increase the human presence, to create a platform in an economy we can rely on while helping to repair the Earth's climate, that means we have need resources there. Asteroids are already up there. They contain nitrogen, ammonia, oxygen, iron, nickel and all the resources we need. The false start for many people is that we will bring all these minerals and resources to the surface of the planet. Nothing could be further from the truth. The advantage is largely where they are.

Molly Wood: To be perfectly clear, if you are already operating an asteroid in space and you just have to bring these materials, whether minerals or water, to a colony already in space , which requires less energy.

Suarez Much less energy because, if you look at it, you have to travel 10 kilometers per second to reach the speed of escape on Earth, you have to accelerate massively. But once you're up there, you can easily move hundreds of millions of tons of resources that you find and build huge and wonderful places to live.

Wood: It still seems quite high, although I know you are combining existing technologies with existing ones. What will it take for all this to become reality in this window of 12 years?

Suarez The major obstacle is psychological. If you think back to what we did when we went to the moon half a century ago, it was extraordinary. I think that's what level of commitment. Many people are familiar with the phrase "flyover effect", the idea that when astronauts enter the space and turn to Earth, they are confronted with the reality of frailty and thinness. of this movie that covers the Earth. Each of us is every human being who has ever lived, every culture, everything we know. It develops a sense of unity that they care about all of us. I think that's what we need. We need more people to go into space to discover it, and then work together to explore and repel the human presence in the solar system. Trade is the key for that. Because, again, if we simply send robots to extract asteroids without people living and working in space without establishing new industries, I do not think we are getting the economic growth we would have otherwise.

Wood: You have these six barons from the space. We are clearly Elon Musk.

Suarez I do not say anything, any resemblance to real people is pure coincidence, I assure you.

Wood: I will say that there is a book called "The Space Barons". People are really exploring this idea –

Suarez And these are space titans in my book, completely different.

Wood: Space titans, precisely, these billionaire space titans will advance this vision.

Suarez And take huge risks while doing it.

Wood: And take huge risks while doing it. Is that what it takes? Is there a version of the great man or perhaps, ideally, a great theory of the woman at work here?

Suarez Yes, and to the extent that it's a great man, I think it's partly a cultural artefact. I think the more women will be in a position to do these things, the more I think. I think it's an instinct, an ambition that drives some people to try to change their future, to change the world. I think it is one of the benefits of involvement in the trade. As you mentioned before, I really think that it will be about cooperation, partial competition, but sovereign exploration missions, but also commercial. And there will be friction between these two things. Let's face it, here's a big question: Would it be acceptable for a private company to be the first to land on Mars? In other words, would it upset the nations, the people, that a company does? What about planetary protection, making sure that Mars is not contaminated by microbes? There are many different questions. Would we allow people to exploit? These are big legal issues that need to be explored and, of course, what system of values, which legal system we introduce into space, it will be a very, very intoxicating territory, and it will happen very quickly. I think it will be the types of billionaires who will challenge all accepted conventions. The nations of the world will have to come together and take some determination to put their affairs in order and it will be an interesting thing to watch. And, again, I think these people will make quick changes, and that could be good.

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I've discussed with Daniel Suarez the way in which, in his book, the government is almost totally absent from the conversation. Private space exploration is indeed a small but growing sector. It's not just Space-X and Blue Origin, but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Earlier this month, SpaceIL, an Israeli non-profit organization, launched a low-cost rocket to the moon in hopes of landing and inspiring further exploration. private space.

The Beresheet lander unfortunately crashed. But some experts felt that some parts of the LG could have survived, such as a round reflector that returns the laser light from a NASA satellite, which could help future missions find the site of the NASA. Israeli accident or even serve as a beacon for future landers. It is hoped that a portion of the payload of the LG also survived: the Arch Lunar Library, a DVD-type player containing information about the Earth and a complete English translation of Wikipedia.