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A gold rush in space — the business of space travel

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December 5, 2024

Astrophysicist Gernot Grömer wants to promote space travel. So he founded the Austrian Space Forum. Grömer sees himself as a “shipbuilder” who’s working on making the journey to Mars possible in 20 to 30 years.

To this end, he conducts analog missions here on Earth. For these, scientists known as analog astronauts practice for the journey to the Red Planet, collecting knowledge along the way. AMADEE-24 is the name of the current mission, which will take place in 2024 in cooperation with the Armenian Space Agency in the Ararat region, an environment with Mars-like geology. The film accompanies the mission through its highs and lows. However, the Austrian Space Forum and its many volunteers are not only practicing for the colonization of Mars. Under the direction of Gernot Grömer, they are also working on a nanosatellite that searches for space debris. Space may be infinite, but the Earth's nearby orbits now resemble a large garbage dump. Europe must keep a foot in the door, rather than leaving the space race up to China and the USA: That’s the goal of Augsburg rocket engineer Stefan Brieschenk. He founded the Rocket Factory Augsburg in 2018. He’s working hard, both here and in the far north of Sweden, on a rocket that will soon launch satellites into space from Europe -- at an unbeatable price. The Rocket Factory recycles items from other industrial sectors, including tanks from the brewing industry. A film that sheds light on the opportunities and risks inherent to the business of space.

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