Will private companies take over or at least grow up to the large government-funded space programs? The history of maritime, railway and aerial transport tells us that once the new ground had been broken, private enterprises sooner or later became more efficient than the pioneering efforts of government sponsored programs. But will that apply for space travel as well, or are space and other planets too alien and to go there will always require too much investment from small and/or profit-seeking companies? And will the Puli ever bark on the Moon? The Common Sense Society invites everybody for a panel discussion and Q&A session about these topics to the Ybl Palace at Budapest, at 7 pm on June 27^th. The event will be held in English. You can find the full invitation below.

Outer Space: The New Frontier for Private Enterprises

In an attempt to fill the innovation void left by limited government-funded programs, ambitious entrepreneurs are shooting for the stars, literally. Encouraged by the recent successful launch of the SpaceX shuttle to the International Space Station, proponents of private space exploration speak excitedly about possible tourist excursions to Earth’s moon, mining valuable resources from asteroids, and colonizing Mars. Skepticism abounds, however, with critics arguing that the free market is not well suited for long-term, complex, and high-cost investments such as space exploration.

To better understand this emerging trend, CSS has invited key individuals involved in the future of space exploration, including Tibor Pacher, head of the Hungarian private space travel company Puli Space Technologies (currently competing for the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE), László Molnár, astronomer and blogger at “Knights of Cydonia Region” and András Gschwindt, project leader of the Masat group at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

This event is open to the public: non-members are welcome to attend for a suggested donation of 1000HUF.