Dialog - SPACE New players, new objectives
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
03/2021
THE TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE
dialog
SPACE
New players,
new objectives
We unleash the power
of hydrogen Siemens Energy is a registered trademark licensed by Siemens AG.
We take the next step of the global energy
transition with the hydrogen economy
by converting “green electrons” into “green
molecules”. Thereby renewable energy can
be integrated into industry, energy and mobility.
LET’S MAKE TOMORROW DIFFERENT TODAY.
siemens-energy.com/hydrogen
EDITORIAL
Huge bet on New Space
German consumers are now free to use the beta version of one US space company’s satellite
network, which is to one day provide Internet access around the globe. Another US p rovider –
with corresponding capital in the tens of billions – is poised to launch tens of thousands of low
Earth orbit (LEO) satellites into space to meet the expected billion-dollar global demand for
communication and value-added services. In addition to the high number of lightweight LEO
satellites produced with industrial processes in mind, it's the use of cost-effective, reusable
rocket stages that has heralded a paradigm shift in space travel. As a
result, the launch costs for LEO satellites are expected to fall by up
to a factor of 100 by 2030. Have those of us in Germany and Europe “Space travel is facing
fallen so far behind that we’ll never be able to catch up? a paradigm shift.
When it comes to projects involving LEO megaconstellations, it
does seem unlikely that we’ll ever be able to close the current gap. We need a judo strategy
What we need now is a judo strategy – one that could combine now to avoid falling
German and European technology and application components with
further behind.”
quick action, flexibility and leverage. Satellite-based communications
and value-added services should always be seen as a supplement to
terrestrial systems that guarantees coverage where ground-based solutions would not be eco-
nomical. This clearly presents some interesting ways in which Germany and Europe could
maintain their technological leadership by integrating their own LEO systems into fifth- and
sixth-generation mobile networks. The particular advantages of this approach would be the
direct usability of 5G and 6G end devices and sensors with both terrestrial and non-terrestrial
communication networks and the cost benefits associated with an existing global ecosystem.
At the same time, we need to make full use of the European Commission’s multi-billion-euro
funding framework for innovation and technology transfer in space, especially to support
SMEs in developing alternative technologies and business models.
I hope you find this issue stimulating and informative!
PHOTOS: COVER: SPACEX; PAGE 03: NOKIA
Yours truly,
Dr. Volker Ziegler
Deputy Chairman of the Information Technology Society in VDE
03
CONTENTS
12
A dynamic market worth billions has emerged around space travel. The costs of satellite launches are falling rapidly, and innovative technologies are opening up entirely
new business models. There are promising and lucrative prospects for all the players competing for dominance in space.
30 34
Bear vs. lion, Berlin vs. Munich: Which city has the edge as a hotbed of t echnology? High-flying technology: A new generation of wind energy plants uses airborne
The capital of startups, or the place where big companies gather? components to capture the wind in higher layers of the atmosphere.
04
SPECTRUM TITLE TOPICS
06 DISPATCHES 12 COMMERCIAL
SPACE FLIGHT
30 CITY COMPARISON
Chip design / Hydrogen / Berlin versus Munich: Which of
Blockchain / Education / The competition for the multi- the two cities currently has the
Quantum computing / E-mobility billion-euro market surrounding edge as Germany’s best techno
/ Charging systems / Printed the space industry is in full swing. logy location?
electronics / Standardization Work is underway on reusable
launchers, huge satellite networks
34 WIND POWER
07 PERSONALIA
and ways to transport tourists into
space. Unlike their conventional counter-
Dr. Kathrin Rüschenschmidt / parts, flying wind turbines operate
Dr. Joachim Kabs / Dr. Dirk in higher reaches of the atmos-
Biermann / Ingo Schönberg / 18 SATELLITE INTERNET phere, where the wind is stronger
Ansgar Hinz Remote regions of Germany and and more reliable.
the rest of the world are to finally
receive high-speed Internet access
08 CHECKING IN in the near future. This is being 36 CO2 CAPTURE
In order to achieve the climate made possible by a dense network Direct air capture is considered a
goals of the Paris Agreement and of satellites. source of hope among climate
the German government, the technologies. The process removes
proportion of green electricity greenhouse gases from the
in Germany needs to increase 22 MARS MISSIONS surrounding air and can thus
significantly. But is this even The red planet is a popular place: contribute significantly to the
possible, and is energy self- 2020 saw the launch of no fewer reduction of CO2.
sufficiency a realistic goal? than three missions to Mars. In
addition to the search for signs of
life, these endeavors are also a 38 DRIVE OF THE FUTURE
11 INTERVIEW matter of prestige. According to a VDE study, it’s
Not all waste is garbage! There are only with a clever mix of all the
recyclable resources in much of climate-neutral drive technologies
what we throw away. Resourcify 27 STARTUPS available that the EU can achieve
founder Felix Heinricy explains With unusual ideas and plenty of zero emissions.
how the digitalization of waste innovative spirit, a new generation
management creates both of startups is forcing its way into
ecological and economic value. the New Space market. Let us 40 AWARD FOR VDE
introduce you to a few of them. The FAZ-Institut has honored
companies for fulfilling their social
PHOTOS: PAGE 04: SPACEX (ABOVE), LANDESARCHIV BERLIN (LEFT) + STADTARCHIV MÜNCHEN
responsibility beyond their core
(RIGHT) (COMPOSITE ILLUSTRATION) (LOWER LEFT), SKYSAILS GROUP GMBH (LOWER RIGHT)
business during the coronavirus
pandemic – and VDE is one of
them.
VDE GROUP
42 MEET THE VDE
05
SPECTRUM
E-MOBILITY
Gentle on
your wallet
More electric cars can
lead to falling electricity
prices, but only with
intelligent load management.
The results of a study by the Fraun-
hofer Research Institution for Energy
Infrastructures and Geothermal Sys-
tems (IEG) and the Fraunhofer Insti-
tute for Systems and Innovation Re-
search (ISI) show a promising trend:
The increase in electromobility will
bring down electricity prices – in-
cluding for private households – in
CHIP DESIGN the near future. The scientists calcu-
lated that with a total of four million
Micro-computing electric cars in Germany and a local
penetration rate of 30 percent among
IBM has achieved a breakthrough. The development of a all the private cars in a given power
two-nanometer chip is an important innovation for the IT grid area, consumer prices could be
industry – and one that the EU is also targeting. around 3.5 percent lower in the year
2030 compared to a system without
IBM has produced the world’s first chip with a processor node e-mobility.
size of two nanometers. Compared to chips with s even-nanometer One prerequisite for this is intel-
nodes, IBM claims this new technology is expected to deliver ligent load management, which can
45 percent more power and consume 75 percent less energy. smooth the load curve and improve
50 billion of these transistors fit on an area the size of a finger- grid utilization with timed charging
nail, and hundreds of individual chips can be packed onto a two- of electric vehicles. Together, these ef-
nanometer wafer (pictured). According to IBM research director fects would lead to a reduction in spe-
Dr. Darío Gil, this innovation can help reduce the CO2 footprint cific network charges for low-voltage
of data centers, quadruple the battery life of cell phones, dramati- electricity. The battery capacity of
cally accelerate laptop performance, shorten autonomous vehicle electric cars is another factor. If it is
response times, and more. used to store and make use of volatile
Ultra-thin nanometer chips are also at the heart of a Europe- energy from renewable sources, this
wide semiconductor alliance launched by EU Internal Market will also reduce the greenhouse gas
Commissioner Thierry Breton. The aim is to double Europe’s emissions of the entire energy system.
share of global semiconductor production from 10 to 20 percent It will lower procurement costs in the
by 2030 with a focus on structural widths between two and five electricity market, as well.
nanometers. In the German FAZ newspaper, Breton explained
that constructing European chip factories is important not only in
view of the current bottlenecks, but because semiconductors are
needed in many areas – including 5G and Industry 4.0.
06
PERSONALIA
+++ 1 DR. KATHRIN RÜSCHENSCHMIDT 1 2 3
is a 2021 Engineer Powerwoman. With this
award, Deutsche Messe honors experts who
have made a special contribution through
their outstanding dedication to scientific and
technical disciplines. Rüschenschmidt holds
a doctorate in physics and is responsible
for managing global projects involving new
4 5
product developments in the field of ma-
chine automation at the energy technology
manufacturer Emerson. Last year, she also
founded the Laatzen chapter of Women in
STEM. She has been committed to diversity
and inclusion in companies since beginning
her university studies. +++ The Forum Net-
work Technology/Network Operation in VDE
(VDE FNN) has a new board of directors. Its chairman search projects. The deputy chairmen of VDE FNN are
is 2 DR. JOACHIM KABS, member of the manage- 3 DR. DIRK BIERMANN and 4 INGO SCHÖNBERG.
ment board of Bayernwerk Netz GmbH, where he is Since 2012, Biermann has been a member of the
responsible for operational network business. Kabs management board at transmission system operator
promotes sustainable network development as part 50Hertz, where he is responsible for system operations,
of Germany’s energy transition, including through his network planning and all of the company’s energy-
contributions to the German Association of Energy and related activities. Schönberg is a founder and CEO of
Water Industries, the German Technical and Scientific the smart meter gateway manufacturer PPC. Continuing
Association for Gas and Water and interdisciplinary re- to serve on the board is 5 ANSGAR HINZ, CEO of VDE.
PHOTOS: PAGE 6: IBM; PAGE 07: EMERSON ELECTRIC CO. (1), BAYERNWERK NETZ GMBH (2), 50HERTZ TRANSMISSION
BLOCKCHAIN
GMBH (3), POWER PLUS COMMUNICATIONS AG (4), UWE-NOELKE / VDE (5), HILCH / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (BOTTOM)
Climate-neutral and transparent
Tracing a CO2-free lithium supply chain?
It’s possible thanks to blockchain.
Electromobility makes a vital contribution to climate protection, but the mining and transport of lith-
ium for the batteries required is often criticized. The Karlsruhe-based company Vulcan Energy Re-
sources plans to use blockchain technology to build the world’s first climate-neutral lithium supply
chain. Vulcan has developed a process that makes it possible to obtain lithium from the
thermal waters of the Upper Rhine Plain without any CO2 emissions. The compa-
ny is working with the English blockchain provider Circulor to make this im-
portant raw material traceable. With their system, it’s possible to record and
evaluate all the data relevant for a fully transparent supply chain. The first
dynamic CO2 measurements in the production process are being carried
out as part of Vulcan’s planned pilot and demonstration plants.
The company plans to start producing zero-carbon lithium in 2024.
In the meantime, it will be preparing its entire supply chain for full trace-
ability.
SPECTRUM
EDUCATION
CLIMATE GOALS
Trend report
Self-sufficient or networked?
In order to achieve its climate targets for 2030, which were recently
shows deficits
tightened, Germany will need significantly more green electricity in The STEM Young Scientists
the coming years. But is this even possible, and is energy self-suffi- Barometer 2021 laments too
ciency a realistic goal? many training dropouts.
DR. PATRICK GRAICHEN, Director, Agora Energiewende One in five STEM apprenticeships
We can and must unleash the potential of renewable in Germany ends short of the finish
energies. To that end, the German federal government line. This was one of the recent find-
should triple its expansion targets for wind turbines and ings of Acatech and the Körber Foun-
double them for solar installations in the current parlia- dation, which take a look at technical
mentary term. This is a realistic aim if we set aside two and natural science education in Ger-
percent of the country’s land for such purposes and many each year for the STEM Young
speed up the approval process. It’s not so much about Scientists Barometer. According to the
energy self-sufficiency as it is about securing Germa- 2021 report, the high dropout rate is
ny’s position as an industrial location. After all, domestic electricity will due to the fact that trainees are not well
always be cheaper than hydrogen imports. matched to subjects or become over-
whelmed by complicated subject mat-
PROF. DR. BRUNO BURGER, renewable energy ter. In addition, just 160,000 training
expert in the Power Electronics, Grids and Systems contracts were signed in the STEM
division, Fraunhofer ISE sector in 2020 – around 21,000 fewer
Germany has now set its sights on a 65-percent re- than in the previous year. According
duction in CO2 emissions by 2030, which is technical- to the Federal Employment Agency,
ly feasible while maintaining constant supply security. though, a quarter of the decline was
We see this in our hour-by-hour model calculations. due to the coronavirus pandemic.
For this to happen, however, the country’s installed Meanwhile, the study also found
generation capacity must increase to 140 GW in wind that are too many underperforming
power and 200 GW in solar power, which entails adding an average of STEM pupils in Germany. The skills
9 GW of wind and 15 GW of solar capacity every year. To balance pro- of German elementary school pupils
duction and consumption throughout each day, we need about 80 GWh are now below average compared to
of battery storage. Meanwhile, energy self-sufficiency shouldn’t be the the other EU and OECD countries.
main goal. It makes more sense to work toward a further expansion of Around a quarter of children do not
the European power grid. develop the mathematical skills re-
quired for secondary school. “If
DR. JOACHIM KABS, Chairman of the Forum Network STEM education is in lockdown, we
Technology/Network Operation in VDE and member of need advances in digital education,”
the management board at Bayernwerk Netz GmbH said Olaf Köller, director of the Lei-
The energy sector is already doing a great deal to achieve bniz Institute for Science and Math-
the climate targets that have been set. For me, the fur- ematics Education and head of the
ther challenges that await pose a much more important STEM Young Scientists Barometer. In
question. The focus needs to be on adequate cover- addition to teacher training, he notes,
age going forward – even in periods without wind and the investment in and development of
sun. We won’t get very far projecting average e nergy intelligent learning systems will play a
volumes for entire years. To ensure profitable operations and innovation, major role.
we have to offer incentives for the right investments in production and
consumption plants, as well as in power grids. These are the prerequi-
sites for a reliable and fair renewable energy system.
08
PRINTED ELECTRONICS
Supersmart
on paper
A new process makes it possible
to print electronic components
such as sensors and smart labels
on paper.
Paper is incompatible with convention-
al electronics manufacturing, which is
why it it’s almost never used as a carri-
er material in electronic devices. A Eu-
ropean consortium with 11 partners
has now succeeded in putting print-
HYDROGEN ed electronics on paper in the research
project Supersmart. Specifically, it has
Ray of hope made tamper-proof electronic labels
that are used for things like provid-
The EU wants to push ahead with the production ing information about the origin and
of hydrogen in Europe and is calling for the authenticity of products or monitor-
development of appropriate infrastructure. ing logistics processes. Employing el-
ements such as high-throughput pro-
The European Parliament has spoken out in favor of establishing cess plants in order to facilitate mass
a European hydrogen economy. It recently cited an “urgent need” production was an important part of
to develop infrastructure for the production, storage and trans- the project. Paper is an environmen-
port of hydrogen in order to achieve the climate targets the EU tally friendly alternative to plastic,
has set. This was the conclusion of a report approved by the Parlia- which is typically used as a carrier for
ment, which specified industry along with air, maritime, and heavy electronic labels. An analysis was thus
PHOTOS: PAGE 8: AGORA ENERGIEWENDE (ABOVE), FRAUNHOFER ISE (MIDDLE), BAYERNWERK NETZ GMBH (BOTTOM);
goods transport as the key markets for hydrogen demand. The conducted alongside the project to in-
Parliament sees hydrogen as an important building block and a ray vestigate this aspect. The conclusion:
of hope in decarbonization and the reduction of CO2 emissions paper simplifies the eventual recy-
in Europe. Related technology is expected to eliminate around cling process and reduces waste both
560 million metric tons of CO2 per year by 2050. during production and at the end of a
The report in question also calls for fossil hydrogen to be re- product’s lifespan. The printing pro-
moved from the market as soon as possible. However, the exact cesses applied in the project also con-
role of renewable green hydrogen and blue hydrogen, which is sume less energy and other resources
produced from decarbonized natural gas, is still a matter of dis- than conventional semiconductor pro-
pute among the Parliament’s fractions. cesses. The Supersmart project team
was honored for its work by the Or-
PAGE 9: PETERSCHREIBER.MEDIA /STOCK.ADOBE.COM
Opportunities and challenges of hydrogen technology – an interview with VDE ganic and Printed Electronics Associ-
President Prof. Dr. Armin Schnettler (English subtitles available) ation, a working group of the mechan-
ä https://youtu.be/-Yzwn3fz1L0 ical engineering association VDMA.
Find out about our cleantech services at: More information:
ä https://www.vde.com/renewables ä https://supersmart-project.eu
Would you like to know more about our activities in the field of energy storage?
Then write to: dialog@vde.com
09
SPECTRUM
QUANTUM COMPUTING
Boost for a
futuristic technology
A network of companies is working on
industrial applications that are designed to put
quantum computing into practice. Performance
optimization research is also underway.
As the name suggests, these people are thinking big. Within the
research project Sequoia, more than 20 companies from differ-
CHARGING SYSTEMS ent sectors have founded a company network under the auspic-
es of the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO).
Full power The goal is to collaborate closely on quantum computing devel-
opments and come up with concrete scenarios for putting the
As fast as stopping for gas: technology to industrial use. The network also wants to answer
TH Lübeck is working on the a number of questions: for example, in what areas can quantum
fastest charging station computers bring meaningful benefits? And how far along is the
in Germany. hardware and software development?
Applications such as the optimization of distribution chains for
A combination of charging stations medications or the planning of resource flows in production pro-
and buffer storage could soon lead to a cesses are being discussed. A study entitled “Quantum Comput-
breakthrough in high-speed charging ing for Companies” will provide specific guidance on this subject
systems. Electromobility and power upon its publication at the end of the year.
electronics researchers at the Lübeck Another project is hoping to develop a quantum computer based
University of Applied Sciences (TH on high-frequency-controlled ions. The device is to be scalable to
Lübeck) are working on technology a thousand quantum bits and pave the way for applications that
that can fully charge electric vehicles lie beyond the possibilities of classic supercomputers. The part-
with up to 1000 kilowatts (kW) with- ners involved in the project are the University of S
iegen, Leibniz
in a few minutes. University Hannover and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf,
Roland Tiedemann, professor of as well as the companies Quartic and Eleqtron.
power electronics, and a team led by
research assistant Clemens Kerssen
have already developed a fully func-
tional prototype called FE-Alpha. The
time it takes to fully charge a car al-
ways depends on its size, says Tiede-
mann. “You can charge a 40-kWh
Nissan Leaf in four minutes, for ex-
ample. If the batteries and cables were
designed for it, we could also charge
at 1000 kW.”
In the future, FE-Alpha will be de-
signed to simultaneously fuel several
electric vehicles just as fast as a gaso-
line or diesel pump.
10WASTE MANAGEMENT
Treasure hunt in the garbage pile
The Hamburg-based startup Resourcify helps companies digitalize their waste management and identify
recycling potential. Founder Felix Heinricy explains how the idea came about.
Mr. Heinricy, what does Resourcify do? throughout Europe for two years. As
We offer a management system for waste and recycla- a result, Hornbach has succeeded
ble materials that enables companies to digitally manage in turning waste disposal into a profit
all the aspects of waste disposal. It provides them with center that generates a seven-figure
a database on waste and recyclable materials in order to amount every year by selling recy-
improve their recycling rate and help them sort out more clable materials.
recyclables. These can then be sold to waste disposal
companies. How did the idea for Resourcify
come about?
Do companies need special software for this? Gary Lewis, the co-founder of Re-
Yes. Our system is connected to a large network of waste sourcify, was an engineer responsi-
disposal partners and other service providers that recycle ble for waste disposal and recycling FELIX HEINRICY,
waste and reusable materials. Most companies manage on a cruise ship. Lots of waste on CCO Resourcify
their waste via Excel, and some even still do it on paper. such ships is not disposed of in ac-
With our system, a producer of waste can exchange data cordance with regulations. One day,
directly with disposal companies. In addition to operational he was supposed to throw a copper
waste management, our network offers the opportunity to engine block overboard. He resisted because he knew that
find better ways to recycle – for example, when a company copper was highly valuable. This is how the idea arose to
no longer wants to incinerate certain waste and is looking establish a platform for recyclable materials – an eBay for
for a suitable recycling service. waste, if you like. That iteration of the concept didn’t really
take off, partly because companies didn’t have any data
What economic benefits does this have in addition to on their waste. That was why we started focusing on mak-
the sustainability aspect? ing this data transparent and visible within organizations.
PHOTOS: PAGE 10: ELENABSL / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (ABOVE), DP / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (BOTTOM); PAGE 11: RESOURCIFY
The Hornbach hardware store chain in Germany offers a
good example. The company has been using our system
STANDARDIZATION
Protecting natural resources
A standardization roadmap from DIN, DKE and VDI shows how
norms and standards contribute to greater resource efficiency.
Norms and standards are already applied in value efficiency. They include the revision or creation of
chains and material cycles, and they also make an criteria and procedures regarding the reparability of
important contribution to the implementation of the products.
German resource efficiency program ProgRess III. In adopting ProgRess in 2012, Germany became
Nevertheless, further action is needed on a number one of the first countries to set itself targets, guide-
of topics, as DIN, DKE and VDI have laid out in lines and action plans for the protection of natural
a standardization map on resource efficiency. The resources. The Federal Cabinet adopted the third
document also identifies requirements for standard- version of the program in 2020.
ization projects with a view to increasing resource
11TITLE SPACE 12
THE RACE TO SPACE
The space industry has long been a billion-dollar market. It thus comes as no surprise that its main ac-
tors are vying tooth-and-nail for dominance. The private satellite industry, where entirely new and lucra-
tive business models are emerging, is turning out to be the real driver of space flight.
BY PETER MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
On March 30, 2020, it was literally raining debris at the ing intact. The Starship already epitomizes a new, second
launchpad of US space company SpaceX in Boca Chica, phase – New Space 2.0, if you will. Elon Musk has unde-
Texas. Fragments of all sizes – the remains of SN11, the niably won the first stage, which was characterized by the
fourth prototype of the new SpaceX Starship – fell from founding of numerous space startups and the meteoric rise
the sky. SN11 had initially risen 10 kilometers into the air of SpaceX. With the highly successful Falcon 9 rocket, he
and, after its engines had been shut down, glided back to wrestled control of the commercial satellite transport mar-
Earth as planned. Instead of straightening itself for landing, ket from Europe’s Ariane 5 launcher, and especially from
however, it exploded in the air before touching down. The the Russian rockets. In less than 10 years, this offering en-
cause: a leaking fuel line. SN11’s three predecessor mod- abled SpaceX to take over two thirds of the world market.
els had exploded as well – but anyone who sees this as evi- Musk is now consolidating his market power, and young
dence of failure is mistaken. It only shows how Elon Musk space companies are launching their own products. What’s
and his engineers approach rocket development: quickly more, space tourism is on the verge of breaking through
and with a strong tendency toward trial-and-error. and the largest satellite networks in history are coming
Musk internalized this approach in Silicon Valley, the together.
global center of digitalization, where he co-founded the on-
line payment service PayPal. In this environment, offer- Space transport: the bottleneck
ing the right product is key; even more important, though,
is doing so faster than the competition and continuing to
of space travel
make improvements after your product hits the market. The most visible and impressive elements of New Space
While considered rudimentary in Silicon Valley, this no- are certainly rockets. This is also where the bottleneck of
PHOTOS: PAGE 12: ESA - D. DUCROS
tion is far more unusual in conventional space travel, which space travel can be found. The Earth exerts such a strong
is part of why the field is sometimes referred to as Old gravitational force that even the most powerful rockets
Space. Musk’s approach is also relatively common in New can carry only a fraction of their total weight into orbit
Space (that is, the new commercial space industry). The as a payload. The Ariane 5, for example, weighs almost
subsequent Starship test flight less than two months lat- 800 tons, but its load-bearing capacity into geostationary
er seemed to prove him right, as well, with SN15 land- orbit – where payloads are actually deployed – is only about
13TITLE SPACE
The futuristic SpaceShipTwo from Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is to accommodate six passengers and two pilots and transport tourists into space at triple the speed
of sound. Branson is working with designers from Rolls-Royce to create the interior.
10 tons (i.e. 1.25 percent of its total weight). At a starting rienced newcomer with a lucrative supply contract for the
price of up to €200 million, it costs an average of around ISS. As a result, Musk was able to offer Falcon 9 launches
€20,000 to transport one kilo of payload into orbit. And for only €50 million. That’s practically a bargain compared
remember: until recently, the Ariane 5 was still considered to other providers.
relatively cheap. The development of low-cost rockets is For Jeff Bezos, meanwhile, this success story must seem
therefore a main goal of New Space – and of space trav- rather tragic. The space-loving Amazon founder is also
el in general. When Elon Musk emerged on the scene with building a launch vehicle, having founded the space com-
barely a clue about space flight in the early 2000s, he en- pany Blue Origin in 2000, two years earlier than SpaceX.
countered a relatively stagnant space transport economy Now the richest man in the world, he has also invested
that had only been somewhat shaken up recently by the much more money in this project – up to $1 billion a year.
collapse of the Soviet Union and the appearance of Russian Like Musk, Bezos relies on reusability to push down the
rockets on the commercial market. With “only” $120 mil- average cost of launches. Nevertheless, he has not yet suc-
lion in earnings from selling his stake in PayPal, he man- ceeded in launching his heavy-lift rocket New Glenn. In
aged to launch his Falcon 1 rocket into orbit in 2008 after contrast, Musk’s Falcon rockets, including the heavy-load
just three attempts, leaving the industry in disbelief. version Falcon Heavy, have already launched more than
110 times and are now even transporting people into orbit
Faster, higher, further: space travel as on SpaceX ships.
Meanwhile, the launch date of the New Glenn was
a race between tortoise and hare just moved back to the end of 2022, two years later than
Musk was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right planned. This is because Bezos has so far failed to win lu-
time. The US government was looking for cheaper alter- crative contracts for his rocket like the ones Musk has land-
natives as the useful life of its shuttles was coming to an ed. In 2020, Blue Origin was not among the companies se-
end. NASA therefore not only supported SpaceX in de- lected by the US Air Force to launch military satellites into
veloping the larger Falcon 9, but also provided the inexpe- space. The company's bid to at least build the landing fer-
14ry for NASA’s coming moon landings then also failed this
past April. The winner of that selection process: SpaceX. Spaceships for tourists
Although Blue Origin has filed a protest against NASA’s
$2.9 billion decision, it is questionable whether it will suc- Jeff Bezos still has the chance to win at least one com-
ceed. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time that Bezos has petition. In mid-May, after nearly 20 years of develop-
come up short against Musk. ment and 11 years past the originally announced date,
Blue Origin announced that it would launch people into
The Starship – even more bad space in July. The tourist rocket known as New Shep-
ard has actually been flawless in flight, and the capsule
news for the Ariane 6? mounted on it has also landed without a crew sever-
The situation won’t get any easier for the competition if al times.
SpaceX succeeds in building its aforementioned Star-
ship in combination with the booster stage known as Su- Richard Branson, Bezos’s direct competitor in space
per Heavy. Particularly for Europe’s rocket builders, this tourism, would be the one to lose out in this case. The
would make things even more difficult than they already British billionaire began building an orbital glider for six
are. Granted, the new heavy-lift rocket Ariane 6 is almost paying passengers after the stunning success of Space-
finished after 11 years of development. At a cost of €70– ShipOne, which became the first private aircraft to reach
115 million, it’s also expected to be significantly cheaper space in 2004. Since then, SpaceShipTwo has flown to
than its predecessor depending on the variant. The Ari- the edge of space several times during test flights. Fol-
ane 6 is still a heritage rocket, though, meaning it’s techni- lowing two fatal accidents, though, not a single tour-
cally a cheaper copy of the Ariane 5. It’s doubtful whether ist has traveled to space with Branson. And so, despite
the new version will be able to compete with the Falcon 9 the billions spent on development, none of the approx-
and the New Glenn – not to mention the future Starship. imately 600 passengers on Virgin Galactic’s waiting list
The development of low-cost rockets is not the exclu- have paid the $250,000 cost of the almost two-hour
sive domain of the West, either. India also has an afford flight, which includes four minutes of weightlessness. In
able rocket (albeit one built within a state-run program) contrast to “real” spaceships, SpaceShipTwo is just like
and China in particular has a number of new launchers Bezos’s capsule in that it flies just 100 kilometers high
in addition to its Long March rockets, which have already on a suborbital track, following the steep curve of a bul-
reached orbit. While India regularly launches satellites, let shot into space.
however, China has so far been excluded from the com-
mercial business due to the US ITAR technology embar- Coming in second would be a new experience for Elon
go. This doesn't seem to worry Chinese investors, who have Musk, too. SpaceX is also planning to launch amateur
poured hundreds of millions into several rocket startups in astronauts into space with its Crew Dragon ship, but not
recent years. until September. Perhaps the company’s four passen-
In the end, though, space transport is simply a means gers will find the wait easier knowing that they won’t be
to an end. At €4.2 billion, the revenue of the commercial getting just a sniff of space 100 kilometers up, but a real
rocket launch sector is only a fraction of the €300 billion orbital flight around the Earth.
in overall revenue generated by the space industry and its
products. The private satellite industry accounts for by far
the largest share (€230 billion). Alongside scientific curi-
osity – and military espionage – it is the main driver of
space flight. tional oil reserves, and find oil pipeline leaks – all via auto-
matic search algorithms. Here, it’s not the images produced
Space travel for all: miniaturization that are the most valuable, but the digital analysis thereof.
Another cause of the boom is that digitalization and minia-
and digitalization turization in both consumer electronics and space techno
PHOTOS: PAGE 14: VIRGIN GALACTIC
Lucrative business models have been springing up in this logy have made high-performance electronics affordable
field since the turn of the millennium. Whole swarms of for almost everyone. With serially produced electronics
small satellites have appeared at elevations up to 1,000 available off the shelf, even smaller companies can now
kilometers in low Earth orbit. Their number has now tri- build satellites. These devices often weigh only a few kilo-
pled from around 1,000 to over 3,000. Among other things, grams and cost hundreds of thousands of euros instead
these satellites are able to track ships at sea, measure na- of hundreds of millions. The overall development of New
15TITLE SPACE
ISS MISSION: COSMIC KISS
“Working with a fresh mindset”
Matthias Maurer will be flying into space this fall as an ESA astronaut scientist. As Alexander Gest’s successor,
he will be the second ESA astronaut and the first from Germany to fly to the ISS on board a SpaceX spacecraft
from NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. He is currently training for this mission, designated Cosmic Kiss, in
the US.
Have you already met your crew? the SpaceX spaceship, I wear every- the other, I’m very pleased that these
Sure. We’re already training together. day clothes like I have on now. I have new players are involved. They go
Recently, for example, I was underwa- to wear a helmet in the other space- about their work with a fresh mindset.
ter with my commander, Raja Chari. ships because I could always hit my This results in very efficient solutions
We were training for a spacewalk. head somewhere; a tried and tested and pushes the old traditional players
part is added every so often during to pick up the pace of their develop-
What about your spaceship? construction. ment again.
I’ve already seen the Crew Dragon
twice in the clean room in Hawthorne, With a space budget that’s so
California. The capsule is still under much smaller than that of the US,
construction. does it really make sense for Eu-
rope to continue developing com-
Are you working with any SpaceX mercial space flight?
engineers? Well, Europe’s space budget is still
Yes. The technicians in the clean room the second largest. I think its new
always give me the details on how the approach, which gives startup com-
ship works. Communicating directly panies the chance to develop small
with them is important and motivating. rockets, is the right one.
Not that I have a lot to tell them – I
don’t have their expertise. So it’s reasonable to have commer-
cial rockets alongside the Ariane
A spaceship is packed full of elec- and Vega?
tronics. How much of it do you un- You’re trying to draw me out here! My
derstand? “New players personal opinion is that if you have
Understanding it is one thing; being
are pushing two competing suppliers, you’re more
able to tinker with it is another. When it likely to get a fair market price than if
comes to the electronics, we don’t go
the pace of you only have one.
beyond the control panels. The Crew development.”
Dragon capsule can be flown from the MATTHIAS MAURER, Elon Musk also wants to transport
ground. We only have to check some ESA astronaut and tourists into space. What do you
member of Crew-3
pneumatic valves on occasion, which think of this idea?
involves opening the cover flaps. When I’m up there, I’ll probably meet
as many as five tourists. Who’s go-
You’re familiar with the Soyuz ing to take care of them in case of an
training model in Cologne. Is the What role does commercial space emergency? Psychologists examine
Crew Dragon different? travel play in your work? ESA’s astronauts over and over again
The design of the interior looks like On the one hand, I think commercial to see if we can stay calm in extreme
an iPad: white, metallic, maybe a lit- players may not have very much ex- situations. That’s one point where
tle black and gray. The interior is very perience. We all know that space trav- I wonder how much people have
ergonomically designed. When I enter el is tough and a lot can go wrong. On thought through these tourism plans.
16A Crew Dragon capsule docking on to the International Space Station. After around six months on board the ISS, the four astronauts of Crew-1 returned safely to Earth
in May of this year. It was the first regular mission with crewed space transporters from Elon Musk’s company.
Space is clearly reflected in the investments being made in comes on average. All the more surprising is Blue Origin’s
startups – that is, in the amounts of money not being di- announcement of its plans to launch some of the satellites
rected toward established space companies. Between 2000 in Amazon’s future Project Kuiper network with Boeing
and 2005, space startups took in almost a billion euros, and and Lockheed Martin rockets instead of its own. Whatever
that number increased to six billion in the subsequent six the reasoning behind this is, Jeff Bezos will be crossing the
years. Young companies in the sector then received nearly finish line behind Elon Musk yet again.
the same amount in 2019 alone. At the same time, both the
number of newly founded space startups and the number Click to view the live streams of the SpaceX test site in Texas:
of investors have multiplied. It’s no wonder that SpaceX is ä www.youtube.com/LabPadre
also involved in the satellite revolution. In just three years,
the company built around 1,670 satellites and shot them Test flights of the Blue Origin rocket New Shepard can be seen here:
into low Earth orbit. The goal of the resulting network, ä www.youtube.com/blueoriginchannel
dubbed Starlink, is to provide broadband Internet from
PHOTOS: PAGE 16: ESA/SABINE GROTHUES; PAGE 17: NASA / SPACEX
space (see page 18). SpaceX also has an extremely sol- Official Facebook page of ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer:
vent investor you may have heard of: Google. The compa- ä www.facebook.com/ESAMatthiasMaurer
ny started by tech billionaires Larry Page and Sergey Brin
has invested nearly $1 billion in Elon Musk’s outfit. This is Facebook Astro Chat with Matthias Maurer:
a logical move from the omnipresent search engine opera- ä https://m.facebook.com/watch/544873375637658/423222985
tor’s point of view, as it enables Google products to reach 0181405/?__tn__=C
their recipients directly.
A large satellite network also makes sense for a space
transport company like SpaceX. Besides funding Musk’s PETER MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
plans for Mars in the best-case scenario, it gives SpaceX a is a science journalist and author. In his book Goldrausch im All (“Gold Rush in
way to make efficient use of its transport capacity. After all, Space”), he describes the rise of Elon Musk and the revolution of private companies
the more often a rocket flies, the cheaper each launch be- in space.
17TITLE SPACE SATELLITE INTERNET To the furthest corners of the Earth Satellites in low Earth orbit could one day bring the Internet to digitally neglected regions in Germany and around the world. With his Starlink satellite network, Elon Musk is already in the beta phase of providing Internet access from space. Other companies such as Amazon are also involved, however, and one of the challenges they face has to do with receiver antennas. 18
BY MARKUS STREHLITZ
While the coronavirus pandemic has exposed Germany’s creases to 1,584. This could be the case by the beginning
weaknesses in terms of digitalization, the network cover- of next year.
age in the country had already been a topic of much dis-
cussion. There are still too many gaps where Internet users A race for more satellites and
don’t have sufficient speed and bandwidth. The fact that
many regions around the world have similar problems of-
higher data transfer rates
fers little comfort. Indeed, many remote parts of the globe Germany’s Federal Network Agency provides information
cannot access the World Wide Web at all. on the data transfer rates users can expect in the country.
A solution for this could come from space. When no In March, it reported that the rates between user terminals
fiber optic cables are available, satellites can take over the and satellites were measured at about 100 megabits per
transmission of data. It is not a revolutionary idea: satellites second for downloads and 25 megabits per second for up-
have been beaming the Internet down to Earth for many loads. The mean latency time was 40 milliseconds.
years. Those already in place, however, are located in geo- A user in the US, meanwhile, reported in a tweet about
stationary equatorial orbit (GEO) at an altitude of around a speed test showing 130 megabits per second. This elic-
36,000 kilometers. The advantage is that one satellite can ited a reaction from the very top, also via Twitter. Elon
serve relatively large areas, meaning just a few are required Musk promised that the speed would double to around
for complete coverage. 300 megabits per second and latency would be reduced to
around 20 milliseconds. He also tweeted that a majority of
When it comes down to milliseconds, the Earth would be able to access the Internet via Starlink
by the end of the year. Musk wants to achieve full coverage
there can be no long latency times by 2022 at the latest.
There is also a disadvantage, though: the long distances in- Although Starlink has already made considerable pro-
volved make for relatively high latency times. Many appli- gress, it faces serious competition in the LEO sector. One-
cations that are already important today or will be critical Web is a company that already has one bankruptcy behind
in the near future require low latency. This includes on- it, but 182 satellites in space, as well. In its initial phase, it
line gaming, autonomous driving and industrial applica- plans to increase that number to 648 as part of its Five to
tions. Every millisecond counts for today’s online brokers, 50 program, which involves providing regions of the Earth
as well. Hopes in this area are therefore hinging on opera-
tions in low Earth orbit (LEO), which take place at an al-
titude of around 1,000 kilometers. A number of ventures Lasers: a key to success in LEO
are aiming to corner the market for Internet access from
space with LEO satellites. Laser technology will be an important factor in the suc-
Starlink, the satellite project of Elon Musk’s SpaceX cess of LEO broadband projects. Its advantage lies in
program, is certainly generating the most hype at the mo- the large amounts of data that can be transferred with
ment. The high level of public awareness is not only due little power. Because the technology allows only point-
PHOTOS: PAGE 18: SONG_ABOUT_SUMMER / STOCK.ADOBE.COM (COMPOSITE IMAGE)
to Musk’s colorful personality and knack for stirring up to-point communication, it is particularly interesting as
publicity for his own projects. There is simply no denying an option for interconnecting satellites. One problem this
that Starlink is leading the pack of LEO broadband pro- could solve relates to how an LEO satellite can only cov-
jects so far. At present, 1,300 of its satellites are already in er a small area of the Earth at any given time. It would
space at an altitude of 550 kilometers. A total of 12,000 are therefore require a relatively high number of ground sta-
planned in the first expansion stage, and that number will tions to ensure a constant connection between the In-
grow to 42,000 in the long term. In the US alone, around ternet and a particular satellite. An alternative would be
10,000 gateways have already been set up to relay Inter- to link multiple satellites using lasers. In Tesat and My-
net data to and from satellites. naric, Germany has two companies that are advancing
Starlink is now available (to beta testers, for the mo- this technology. Together with the German Aerospace
ment) in the US, Canada, Great Britain and Germany, Center, Tesat has developed an extremely small laser
among other places. The company recently announced terminal that is only ten centimeters wide and ten cen-
that more than 500,000 users have signed up for the ser- timeters high. A corresponding prototype has been cir-
vice. The experts at Quilty Analytics expect Starlink to en- cling the Earth since January.
ter a commercial phase once its number of satellites in-
19TITLE SPACE
north of the 50th parallel with Internet from space. In the ent in order to achieve a sustainable customer model. The
long term, OneWeb wants to have even more satellites than analysts see the economics of ground stations as the main
Starlink – 48,000, to be exact – and offer speeds of up to challenge for Jeff Bezos’s project, as well.
one terabit per second. Amazon has therefore focused on developing a phased
OneWeb is owned by the British government and the In- array antenna that is as compact and cost-effective as pos-
dian company Bharti Global. The satellite operator Eutel- sible. It is succeeding, as well – according to Amazon itself,
sat also recently announced its plan to acquire a 24 percent anyway. The company claims that at just 30 centimeters in
stake in the company. Eutelsat already offers Internet from diameter, its antenna is three times smaller than those used
space at speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, but via in conventional designs. Amazon has announced that re-
a geostationary satellite. ducing weight, size and complexity is the best way to keep
Meanwhile, OneWeb is not the only company compet- the production costs of ground terminals in check.
ing for Starlink’s dominant position, and Elon Musk is not The first prototypes of this in-house development re-
the only tech celebrity who wants to conquer space. Jeff portedly proved reliable in tests. A speed of 400 megabits
Bezos also aims to bring Internet access to the people via per second was achieved, though in communication with a
satellites. Amazon’s Project Kuiper is to start by launch- GEO satellite. Amazon is thus promising even better per-
ing 236 satellites into low Earth orbit. The problem is that formance in the future.
none of the Kuiper satellites is in place yet. While Ama-
zon currently lacks its own means of transport, Musk can The EU’s direct line to national
use SpaceX to launch his Starlink satellites into space. The
company’s Falcon 9 rockets have already proven reliable in
governments could help
numerous launches, 25 of which took place last year alone eliminate disadvantages
(see the article starting on page 12). Making Internet access from space as simple to use and
Amazon’s space program, Blue Origin, is not there affordable as possible is crucial to the success of these var-
yet. This is why Bezos is planning to launch the first Kui- ious projects. Starlink, OneWeb and Kuiper are all focus-
per satellites into LEO on an Atlas V rocket from United ing on the private user market, where individual consum-
Launch Alliance. Amazon recently signed a contract for ers will think long and hard about how much they are ready
nine launches with ULA. “We designed our satellites and to spend on satellite broadband. In Germany, the Starlink
distribution system to work with several different kinds of package is currently only available to a selected group of
launchers,” says Rajeev Badyal, Vice President of Techno beta testers. At the end of 2021 (or perhaps not until 2022),
logy for Project Kuiper. “This gives us the flexibility to use the service will be open to anyone willing to pay €499 for
many different rockets and providers to launch our satel- the satellite receiver and router and a €99 monthly usage
lite system.” fee. Sandro Scalise expects the growing market to have a
positive impact on costs. “The more offers there are, the
Amazon’s advantage: LEO satellites more prices will fall,” he predicts. And there are many other
companies seeking to enter the market besides those men-
need mobile terrestrial antennas tioned here.
While Starlink is clearly ahead in space right now, Amazon The EU may also be joining in. A study is currently
could even the score with its technology on the ground. examining whether a separate EU network of LEO satel-
According to Sandro Scalise, department head at the In- lites would be feasible. Various companies, including Air-
stitute of Communications and Navigation at the German bus and the satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space, are
Aerospace Center (DLR), the greatest challenge with LEO currently being discussed as potential participants in a cor-
concepts is the ground terminals involved. Unlike GEO responding project.
satellites, LEO satellites do not stay in fixed locations. This Whether it makes sense for the EU to enter a market in
means that the antennas on the ground also have to be mo- which large companies have already invested a great deal
bile in order to track one satellite and switch to the next. of money seems like a point worth discussing. As Quilty’s
“That makes ground terminals complicated and expen- analysts have pointed out, however, European space com-
sive,” explains Scalise. Such terminals use phased array an- panies differ from their counterparts in the US in that they
tennas, which function almost like a virtual parabolic an- are closely linked to national governments. “This allows
tenna. Starlink has developed its own technology for this, Europe to stay on track despite cost overruns and delays in
but it has not yet proven economical. According to a re- its space projects,” they state in the aforementioned report.
port from Quilty Analytics, the company needs to reduce In addition, politicians and business leaders are aware that
the cost of a single terminal from around $2,500 at pres- European market shares in other space sectors have been
20Internet access from space brings fast data connections to not only urban centers, but also remote regions of the world. Ensuring broadband access via satellite all over
the globe will require an entire swarm of satellites and powerful antennas.
shrinking. Europe will want to avoid a similar situation in net access from space. “Solutions must be found, and they
the case of LEO broadband, which is why experts expect certainly will be,” he says. Scalise expects that there will
the EU to take action in some form. Scalise points out that be a wide range of satellite broadband services “in a few
dependence on a non-European provider is certainly not years” – and that some of the current projects surely will
an attractive prospect, particularly in connection with ap- not last. “There’s enough demand for more than one pro-
plications where security is a major concern. vider, though,” he affirms.
Already a great deal of satellites in orbit To register to use Starlink, sign up here:
ä www.starlink.com
Regardless of whether the EU enters the business or not,
the LEO space will be getting crowded in the future. There
have already been reports of near-collisions between Star-
PHOTOS: PAGE 21: SDECORET / STOCK.ADOBE.COM
link and OneWeb satellites. Amazon also feared that the
SpaceX satellites (altitude: 540–570 km) could come too
close to Bezos’s Kuiper satellites, which will orbit at 590–
630 km. The FCC had to settle the case to avoid the risk
of collisions. SpaceX must now ensure that its own sat-
ellites do not fly higher than 580 kilometers and submit
semiannual reports on their reliability. According to Scal-
ise, however, the increasing traffic density in low Earth or- MARKUS STREHLITZ
bit will not become a major hindrance in providing Inter- is a freelance journalist and editor for VDE dialog.
21TITLE SPACE MARS MISSIONS Heavenly questions Suddenly, everybody wants to go to Mars. Some want to see whether there was once life on the red planet; others are more interested in whether it will be possible to live there in the future. All of them want the same thing, however: fame and prestige. BY MARTIN SCHMITZ-KUHL There are good reasons not to place Mars on your list of three percent nitrogen, with the rest consisting of argon, dream destinations. For example, it's colder there than carbon monoxide, ozone, oxygen, water vapor, xenon and in Antarctica. The annual average temperature is minus krypton. All in all, it’s a rather hostile place. 68 degrees Celsius – approximately 80 degrees colder than Mars doesn’t have much to offer in terms of landscape, on Earth. Other things to consider are the lethal UV radi- either – unless you’re into dusty stone deserts. It does at ation and an atmosphere that's approximately 100 times least have a solid surface, though, which is more than can thinner than ours. It resembles the composition of car ex- be said of Uranus, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune. The most haust fumes: 95 percent carbon dioxide and just under important point in Mars’ favor, meanwhile, is that it like- 22
There’s a lot happening on Mars
in 2021. While the United Arab
Emirates and its Al-Amal probe
(left-hand image) are “only”
orbiting the red planet, China
actually managed to release
a rover there in May (center
image). Only the Americans had
managed this before – and of
course, they once again have
a rover driving around on Mars
now. However, the more note-
worthy aspect of this mission is
that it has successfully launched
a drone on another planet for
the first time (right-hand image).
ly has large volumes of water – just not in inviting lakes to date, only 16 are considered to have succeeded. The 20
and oceans, but frozen into the planet’s crust. This leads attempts that have been made to land on the planet have
scientists to conclude that there could once have been life also had mixed results, with just ten of them achieving suc-
there – or could still be even now. cess. The Soviets were once again the first to pull it off with
Above all, though, the planet is relatively quick to get the Mars 3 probe in 1971; however, contact was lost after
to. While Mars is sometimes more than 400 million kilo- just 20 seconds, probably due to a dust storm. Until the
PHOTOS: PAGE 22/23: AXEL MONSE / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM, RAYMOND / STOCK.ADOBE.COM,
meters away from the Earth, the two planets' orbits put Chinese landing in May of this year, only the Americans
them a neighborly 55 million kilometers apart every 26 had managed to touch down on the sandy surface.
months. Theoretically, a fast spaceship would only need
a good month to travel that distance. In actual fact, Earth The Mars missions have long
and Mars move at very different speeds and follow dif-
ferent paths around the Sun. While Earth needs a year to
been more global than a simple
complete the circuit, Mars takes twice as long. This means East-West competition
a spacecraft has to plan a much longer, elliptical flight path Mars has never been more attractive than right now. In the
that currently takes around nine months. In other words, summer of 2020, no fewer than three missions embarked
NASA/JPL-CALTECH (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT)
Mars can’t be reached quite that quickly after all. on the long journey to the red planet, and all of them have
And yet Mars has been the focus of interplanetary oper- now arrived. This accumulation of missions is not down to
ations since 1960. Marsnik 1 was supposed to be the first mere chance, and it's only partially explained by the fact
rocket to at least fly past the red planet, but the mission that the stars (ahem) had once again aligned particularly
failed, as did the Soviet Union’s follow-up attempts in the favorably. Another factor is that a flight to Mars not only
1960s and 1970s. The West hasn’t always accomplished its results in scientific knowledge; it's also linked to fame and
goals, either: of the 22 Mars missions launched by the US prestige both at home and abroad. While the East and West
23You can also read
