By 
Space workers needed.
Growing up in the 1980s watching sci-fi TV series, it wasn’t hard to imagine a future where we would all work and live in outer space. As an adult I realized that these fantasies were fantasies, weren’t they?
With recent technological advances, these childhood dreams could become reality. The UK government alone has forecast more than 100,000 space jobs in the next 5-10 years.
Businesses and governments alike can see the potential of space, which has been demonstrated by allocating funding to space scientists and innovators. If space is the final frontier, the question you need to ask yourself is what space outposts could you work in?
space miners
Recently, the NASA-funded Lunar Research Project discovered evidence of water locked in mineral grains on the moon, which scientists believe originates deep within the moon’s interior. Our knowledge about the composition of planets is increasing as research in projects such as magnetic water provides clues and new understanding of how planets formed.
The planetary geologist could play a vital role in future discoveries of minerals and ores that we could use on Earth. With the Earth’s natural supply of coal and oil dwindling, our next step may be to mine and drill for these resources on the planets in orbit.
It’s not just the fuel resources on the planets that we could mine. There is the possibility of finding gold, starting with a new space gold rush. Gold and silver are formed by fusion within a star. When the earth was being created after the big bang, other stars exploded spreading heavy metals throughout the universe. If gold and silver were created in the core of the earth, everything would melt due to the intense heat, which means that after the earth solidified, the gold and silver hit the earth in the form of a great rain of asteroids. And if these asteroids hit earth, they may have hit other nearby planets as well. Future generations could have the old job of mining for gold or “forty-nine” as they were originally called. The future gold rush will not see people looking for gold in streams; it will be a more high-tech operation utilizing drilling and engineering technology.
space watchers
We have seen an increase in the number of satellites orbiting the earth. These satellites are the eyes of the earth, saving employers time and money. As an example, a construction project manager no longer needs to leave his office to see how the project is progressing. Instead, they can log on to a website whose program is the satellite and send live images of how the project is progressing.
The Google team has seen the potential of space and recently launched their Lunar X-PRIZE, where they want a private company to launch a rocket, land it safely on the surface of the Moon, make it travel 500 meters up, down, or on the lunar surface, and finally send two “Moon-cast” to Earth. The prize is worth $40 million, which is an example of the type of investment that companies commit to investing in the space sector.
A future space work will be the observation of asteroids. We know that asteroids wiped out the dinosaurs and we don’t want the same thing to happen to the human race. NASA recently announced that it will launch a survey telescope to search for near-Earth asteroids. These early warning systems can save thousands of lives in the event of an asteroid hitting the earth. In the US, President Obama has even outlined plans that could see astronauts land on an asteroid.
This paranoia is a real threat, last year more than 1000 people were injured in Russia when a 40 ton meteorite traveling at 33,000mph exploded over a terrified city.
space vacation
Space could be the next destination for tourists. Virgin and Richard Branson are already ahead of the game with this new sector, recently launching the world’s first spaceline: The Virgin Galactic.
This innovative opportunity to spend a vacation in space as one of the first non-professional astronauts is a dream that can now be fulfilled. “The deal with Mojave Aerospace Ventures is just the beginning of what we believe will be a new era in human history, one day making affordable human exploration of space a real possibility.” Richard Branson.
This could be just the beginning. We could soon be vacationing on Virgin space stations or booking lodging on planets using advanced technologies to provide air and water.
Dennis Tito, the world’s first space tourist, recently launched a project to send a married couple into space to circle the planet Mars, a 500-day journey. Costing over a billion pounds, the trip may not be a trip future tourists can afford, but the investment once again shows the commitment that business leaders have when it comes to space holidays.
Future space jobs
At the stage of innovation and testing of any new technology and job sector, it means that we cannot accurately predict the future of these potential space jobs. All we know is that companies like Google, Virgin and Dennis Tito are investing in the space, which means they can see the potential that space can offer. As with inventions like the Internet and cell phones, some skeptics may believe this is a fad, but the possibilities could be endless changing the jobs we’ll be employed in, the way we live,… or even the place where we live.