Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race

A new space race is underway, with billionaire entrepreneurs partnering with governments to extract resources from space. Elon Musk and SpaceX aim to establish human settlement on Mars, while Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin pursue lunar mining, asteroid resource extraction, and orbital habitats for millions. Despite their different goals, both billionaires share a utopian vision of saving humanity through space colonization. Philosopher of religion and space enthusiast Mary-Jane Rubenstein examines the myths underlying these ventures. She draws parallels to centuries of European colonialism and its destructive consequences. Astrotopia explores why these contemporary space narratives are problematic and presents an alternative approach to space exploration—one that avoids repeating the atrocities of historical colonial projects.