Profit from the race to Mars

Over the next five years, the US government plans to offer $6bn of public money to firms developing spacecraft to take people to the moon. James McKeigue looks at the sector, and picks one stock well-placed to benefit from the take off in both the US and Asian space industries.

Neil Armstrong isn't happy. The former astronaut, who in 1969 became the first man to set foot on the moon, reckons US President Barack Obama's plans for Nasa will turn America into a "second-rate, or even third-rate, space nation".

Obama has grabbed headlines by promising to take Americans to Mars by the mid-2030s. But that's not what's bothering Armstrong. His ire is over a more immediate decision: a move to retire the space shuttle and scrap plans for a replacement. This leaves the US without a way to send astronauts into space until at least 2016. Obama's plan encourages the space agency instead to focus on Mars and leave low-earth orbit vehicles to the private sector. It also calls for more technology partnerships between the agency and private firms. Armstrong has said the decision is the start of a "long downhill slide to mediocrity" for the US.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
James McKeigue

James graduated from Keele University with a BA (Hons) in English literature and history, and has a certificate in journalism from the NCTJ. James has worked as a freelance journalist in various Latin American countries.He also had a spell at ITV, as welll as wring for Television Business International and covering the European equity markets for the Forbes.com London bureau. James has travelled extensively in emerging markets, reporting for international energy magazines such as Oil and Gas Investor, and institutional publications such as the Commonwealth Business Environment Report. He is currently the managing editor of LatAm INVESTOR, the UK's only Latin American finance magazine.