¿Por qué el tema ha cobrado relevancia?: Jeff Bezos (57 años), el segundo hombre más rico del mundo después de Elon Musk (49 años), anunció que dejará su cargo de director ejecutivo en Amazon durante el segundo semestre de 2021 para dedicarse a sus proyectos personales. Su empresa espacial Blue Origin, enfocada en impulsar el transporte orbital, es la que concentrará la mayor parte de su tiempo y entusiasmo.

¿Qué significa este anuncio?: según la revista estadounidense Forbes, Blue Origin está luchando por ganar la competencia con SpaceX -empresa de Musk- para desarrollar un módulo de aterrizaje en la Luna y volver a llevar humanos dentro de pocos años.

¿Legado o huida?: Aparentemente, un poco de todo. “Para los multimillonarios, el futuro de la tecnología consiste en su capacidad de huida”, escribió Douglas Rushkoff colaborador de medios como The New York Times. El profesor universitario también explicó que “el objetivo es trascender la condición humana y protegerse del cambio climático, los grandes flujos migratorios, las pandemias globales…” (ctxt.es)

Quién es quién en la carrera espacial: los logos de la NASA compiten con los de las compañías privadas que han resucitado la carrera espacial.

Elon Musk: conocida como Space X -llamada por todos Starlink- fundó su compañía espacial en 2002. La mayor ambición de este empresario ha sido enviar vuelos tripulados a Marte con el fin de colonizar ese planeta. “Yo quiero morir en Marte, pero no de un impacto”, aseguró en una entrevista a BBC.

Jeff Bezos: su empresa aeroespacial se llama Blue Origin y fue fundada en el año 2000. Desde ese entonces, su visión ha sido construir un futuro donde millones de personas estén viviendo y trabajando en el espacio.

Richard Branson: el empresario sueña con democratizar de tal manera los viajes espaciales, que en el futuro sea viable para cualquiera ir a la Luna. Su compañía Virgin Galactic logró lanzar un vehículo tripulado con dos astronautas a 82 kilómetros sobre la superficie de la Tierra.

Larry Page: el cofundador de Google está a la cabeza de Planetary Resources cuya misión es encontrar recursos -como agua- fuera de la Tierra.

¿Cuánto cuesta un “emprendimiento espacial”?: desde hace unos años, Bezos ha estado liquidando anualmente alrededor de 1.000 millones de dólares en acciones de Amazon para financiar Blue Origin. El empresario, Elon Musk, comenzó SpaceX en 2002 con un capital de 100 millones de dólares procedentes de su fortuna tras la venta de PayPal, de la cual fue uno de los fundadores.

Why has this issue become relevant? Jeff Bezos (57 years old), the second richest man in the world after Elon Musk (49 years old), announced that he will be leaving his position as CEO of Amazon in the second half of 2021 in order to devote himself fully to his personal projects. Blue Origin, his space company focused on advancing orbital transportation, is where he will be spending most of his time and enthusiasm.

What does this announcement mean? According to the U.S. magazine Forbes, Blue Origin is fighting to win the competition with SpaceX – a Musk company – to develop within a few years a module capable of landing humans on the Moon and returning them to Earth.

Legacy or escape? Apparently a bit of both. “For billionaires, the future of technology lies in its ability to provide an escape,” wrote Douglas Rushkoff, a contributor to media outlets such as The New York Times. This university professor also explained that “the goal is to transcend the human condition and protect oneself from climate change, large flows of migrants, global pandemics …”Ctxt.es

Who’s who in the space race? NASA’s logos are competing with those of private companies that have revived the space race.

• Elon Musk: Known as Space X – called Starlink by everyone – founded his space company in 2002. This entrepreneur’s greatest ambition has been to send manned flights to Mars for the purpose of colonizing that planet. “I want to die on Mars, just not on impact,” he quipped in an interview with the BBC.
• Jeff Bezos: His aerospace company is called Blue Origin and was founded in 2000. Since then, his vision has been to build a future where millions of people are living and working in space.
• Richard Branson: This entrepreneur dreams of democratizing space travel in such a way that in the future it will be feasible for anyone to travel to the Moon. His company, Virgin Galactic, succeeded in launching a manned vehicle with two astronauts aboard 82 kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
• Larry Page: The Google co-founder is at the helm of Planetary Resources, whose mission is to find resources – such as water – outside the Earth.

How much does a “space venture” cost? For the past few years, Bezos has been selling about US$ 1 billion worth of Amazon stock annually to fund Blue Origin. Elon Musk, the entrepreneur, started SpaceX in 2002 with US$ 100 million of capital from the sale of PayPal, a company which he cofounded.

Chile’s role

• The satellite war: In recent months, Elon Musk has deployed small satellites that will be part of a global broadband system designed to deliver internet to the entire planet. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos not wanting to be left behind developed “Project Kuiper,” which is capable of providing Internet from space.
• The SpaceX plan: In Chile, the Undersecretary of Telecommunications (Subtel) received an application from the Tibro (Orbit spelled backwards ) SPA subsidiary to locate seven terrestrial satellite stations in our country. According to the document, these would be located in Coquimbo, Pudahuel, Talca, Puerto Saavedra, Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas.The idea is to establish connections from these locations to the satellites that Musk launched to deliver broadband to the planet, but from space.
• Amazon founder’s idea: For its part, Jeff Bezos’ multinational intends to initially install eight terrestrial satellite stations, also known as Amazon Web Service (AWS) Ground Stations, in our country. The company has purchased a piece of land in Cabo Negro, very near to Punta Arenas, for this purpose.
• Why Chile? Because it is the best place from which to test satellite internet to remote and poorly connected parts of the Earth.