Space: the billionaires’ playgroundprivate space companies have relied on government contracts, and particularly military funding, to make themselves both rich and indispensable to state powers. Space is a placeThere is a tendency for people to believe that space, in all its wild expansiveness, is beyond the realm of humankind. Some of these people are professionals at government agencies or private companies, but most are not space workers at all. Instead, private space companies have relied on government contracts, and particularly military funding, to make themselves both rich and indispensable to state powers. Government contracts have been a reliable source of income for private space companies since the first military surveillance satellites.