Space X's phenomenal success opens new frontiers for Private Players in Space Science

Space is a fascinating realm. Incidentally any milestone in space exploration catches the imagination of young and old alike. On Feb 6^th Space X, launched the World’s powerful rocket carrying a pay load, the original cherry red Tesla Roadster electric car playing the Space Oddity destined for the red planet Mars. Unlike conventional rocket launches that carry satellites slated for different orbits or interplanetary space travel, the rocket hoisted a car driven by a mannequin Star Man making it more special. To brandish rocket’s incredible load carrying capacity, Space X wanted a huge payload and what best could have served its business interests other than choosing its own product. They zeroed in on roadster, the revolutionary electric car of Musk to promote its brand and technological proficiencies.

Falcon Heavy lifted off from the NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre Cape Canaveral, the place from where powerful Saturn V rockets for Lunar Mission 1969 took off. Clearly, the third stage of Falcon blast off over performed steering the Roadster beyond the heliocentric orbit of the Mars into the asteroid orbit. Roadster having missed its original destination, will now orbit between Mars and Jupiter for eternity and might eventually turn into space debris. But this iconic launch Space X Falcon Heavy has created a history. Till 1991, Cold war rivals US and Soviet Union intensely competed to show case their dominance in every avenue and space was no exception. Their fierce competition yielded numerous scientific breakthroughs that drastically changed the contours of space exploration which has been exclusive domain of the governments. Now Space X’s spectacular launch potentially opened the territory of space for private companies.

The launch was phenomenal in terms of technological advancement. Two of three boosters of the rockets descended majestically to the designated launch area vertically are recovered and refurbished for use in next launch. Recovery of the first stage boosters is a tremendous achievement and speaks volumes of Elon Musk’s vision of reusable rockets which can tremendously reduce economies of scale. Reusability of the boosters used in the Falcon Heavy that can carry a payload of 63,800kg to Low Earth Orbits (LEO) is believed to reduce cost of launching satellites by over a quarter. Aside cost reduction, Space X has now set the bar high for its competitors.

Space X’s incredible feat is now renaissance of sorts for space science and exploration. Having already proven its capabilities in delivering cargoes to the International Space Station and successfully carried out 45 missions and planned 70 missions worth $10 billion.  Space X Falcon 9 reusable rockets have been making significant progress in satellite launching business by reducing the cost by 30% or $18.6 million with every launch. Enamored by its achievements, Space X is now working on Dragon Capsule, Falcon Heavy rocket and the BFR rocket system for its ambitious project of carrying humans on inter planetary destinations. Musk has special interest in red planet and Space X is geared up to send humans to Mars by 2019. Overwhelmed by the recent Falcon Heavy near flawless launch, Musk threw a gauntlet, challenging other rivals for a space race. He encouraged companies indicating that Space X, as a commercial entity managed with internal funds of $500 million and prompted billionaires to invest in Space Science.

Though the entry of private players into the arena of space science has been decades long, federal laws prevented them from launching their own satellites till 1984. In 2010, President Obama’s decision of ending the space shuttle program changed the situation opening the territory of Space for private players. Ever since, private companies relentless vied to fill the void imparting a commercial angle to space exploration. Among the prominent early entrants into space science include Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon who launched Blue Origin and billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. In 2015, Blue Origin successfully launched the first reusable rocket. Main stay of these two companies has been space tourism. While Musk was keen on exploring the possibility of putting up human settlements in other planets and space mining.  As of now, Space X has emerged as the leader proving its abilities by placing heavy satellites in low earth orbits at low costs.

Entry of private players has now significantly changed the dimension of space science. Reusable rockets reduced cost of satellite launches and the dream of low cost space travel no longer seems unrealistic. Steadily, an ecosystem replete of private players equipped with new technologies, started blooming across different corners of the World. These include a new genre of smaller satellite launch companies and satellite manufacturers planning to work in tandem with big players. Rocket is akin to hardware, while satellites are the software programs. Private players are slowly replacing the huge geosynchronous communication satellite which are hoisted by powerful rockets with smaller satellites placed in Low Earth Orbits (LEO) to get decent image resolution bringing down the costs to a fraction. Prominent players revolutionizing information technology with small satellites are a Finnish Company ICEYE and New Zealand based Rocket Lab which has it own launch pad on North Island’s Mahia Peninsula. As against the average satellite launch cost of $220 million, Rocket Lab intends to send small satellites for as less as $5million and as frequently as once in a week. They are even employing 3-D printing for building rocket engines.

Parallelly, billionaires across the World are now getting enthused by the prospect of exploring the infinite realm of mysteries, the Space and to use space for the benefit of earth. The list of enthusiastic new entrants includes- Robert Bigleow who intends to send an inflatable hotel to orbit the Moon, Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Starshot initiative to probe the Alpha Centauri (closet star to our Solar System), Larry Page and Eric Schimdt’s asteroid mining mission and Ashurbeyli’s Space Nation project. Ashurbeyli aspires to build first space nation, Asgardia and any individual over 18 years from any part of the World can apply for citizenship. He intends to send arks of pensioners into space and eventually colonize the moon. Investments are now pouring into space sector into the global space economy worth $329 billion with three-fourths coming from private players. Clearly, Space X’s tremendous success has bolstered the spirits of iconic dreamers and inveterate space enthusiasts.

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Monkey clones raises ethical concerns of human cloning

The alarming pace of discoveries which garnered momentum with unraveling of structure of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) the basic blue print of living organisms in the year 1953 has transformed Life Sciences. This phenomenal discovery besides cracking the fundamental unit of inheritance (genes), ignited the latent curiosity of manipulation of genetic material among scientists. Incidentally the collective efforts accelerated the genesis of a gamut of molecular biology techniques culminating in the evolution of new branch of study, Genetic Engineering which encompasses all the processes aimed at altering the genetic code of an organism. Till 1970s, selective breeding was widely practiced to manipulate genetic material. Initially, biomedical techniques like artificial insemination, invitro fertilization (test-tube babies) were included under genetic engineering. The discovery of restriction enzymes in 1968, an indispensable tool for gene cloning accelerated the pace of genetic engineering. Eventually genetic engineering invariably refers to gene cloning.  Cloning refers to the process wherein a target DNA (gene) is inserted into a circular piece of DNA or plasmid of a bacterium and generation of hundreds of identical copies of gene. DNA cloning is used in production of biopharmaceuticals, gene therapy and gene analysis. The term cloning became immensely popular when scientists at University of Edinburgh cloned the sheep Dolly in 1996.

In fact, Dolly had three mothers: one provided DNA, another egg and the third one was a surrogate mother. Using the technique of somatic cell nuclear technique (SCNT), nucleus from the mammary gland is inserted into an unfertilized egg, whose nucleus was removed. This hybrid cell was implanted in a surrogate mother. The success of Dolly prompted scientists to use this technique for other animal species like dogs and pigs. While cloned animals are widely hailed as symbols of scientific excellence, the fear creating designer babies and an army of clones began to haunt the scientific community.

On 24^th January China announced the creation two cloned monkeys Zhong Zhong, Hua Hua, the first primate clones developed with a technique similar to one used in Dolly. To achieve this humongous feat, scientists at Institute of Neurology (ION) Shanghai made few modifications. They erased chemical modifications of DNA that potentially turn the embryonic cell into a specialized cell. Similarly, they used DNA from fetal cells and added few factors to turn on genes responsible for embryonic development. They thus created 79 clone embryos and implanted them into 21 surrogate mothers and obtained two clones of long tailed monkeys, Macaca fasicularis. Cloning primates is extremely arduous and has abysmally low success rate.  Scientists across the World lauded their Chinese counterparts on their outstanding achievement who unabashedly expressed concerns that this technique might be used to clone humans. Besides humans the subclass of primates (the big brained mammals) includes monkeys, apes, lemurs, bushbabies and lorises.  Allaying fears, scientists at ION clarified that they have created the clones to study genetic factors responsible for Alzheimer’s disease. By creating a population of genetically identical monkeys’ scientists want to deactivate the genes responsible for causing diseases individually and study its effect. Besides there is huge demand for cloned monkeys to test drugs.

Primates have been preferred models for studying human mental disorders and degenerative diseases. Hundreds of monkeys are used to investigate Parkinson’s disease. Incidentally, genetic closeness and similarity makes the study of primates significant and informative. Genome sequencing revealed that humans are 96% similar to the apes. A section of scientists believe that the latest development is highly significant since SNCT technique can be used to save endangered animals.

Human cloning includes therapeutic cloning and reproductive cloning. Therapeutic cloning involves cloning of human cells or tissues for medical purposes like transplants while reproductive cloning is about making an entire clone of a human being.  

Amidst burgeoning reports of production of various animal clones and rapid advancements in genetic engineering international community contemplated the possibility of elaborating a convention for addressing the concerns on human cloning. Accordingly, in 2005 UN General Assembly has adopted a declaration urging member states to prohibit all forms of human cloning “in as much as they are incompatible with human dignity and protection of human rights”. But the declaration was toothless since it was non-binding and owing to the ambiguity of wordings, countries failed to arrive at a consensus. Compelled by the urgency to address the ethical concerns of cloning, countries began to urge UN for a binding treaty for prohibiting human cloning. As of now, countries are still divided with each country legislating its own laws. As of 2015, seventy countries are reported to have banned human cloning. EU, Canada explicitly bans human reproductive cloning. India doesn’t have specific law on cloning. It allows therapeutic cloning and use of embryonic stem cells and issued guidelines banning reproductive cloning. UK grants licenses to Universities for carrying out research on diabetes, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease and permits research on human-animal hybrid embryos. As of now US promotes stem cell research and development of pluripotent stem cell lines not involved in creating a human embryo.  Though there are no federal laws banning human cloning completely, human reproductive cloning is banned in fifteen states while three states prohibit use of federal funds for the same.

With the development of primate clones, human cloning seems to have moved away from the realms of science fiction to a real possibility. Currently, certain sections of scientific community fervently back therapeutic human cloning for its potential benefits in organ transplanting. Similarly, childless heterosexual couples suffering from genetic disorders are pitching for reproductive human cloning.

Human cloning while offering promise of ameliorating genetic disorders like cystic fibrosis, Down disease, Tay-Sach’s disease can enliven slew of fictional realities of designer babies and genetic upgrades like smarter babies posing serious ethical concerns. It is a tight rope walk. In absence of a binding international concerns, nations are free to make their own legislations and issue guidelines to laboratories. Crux of regulating human cloning lies in strict enforcement. In any case, scientists must exercise discretion and shoulder the responsibility of defining their research activities for the betterment of society.

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