The New Space Race

Think billionaires and outer space and three names quickly come to mind: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson.

It turns out, though, that they have plenty of company. There are 13 others among the world’s 500 richest people who have an investment in a space enterprise, according to data compiled by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and consulting firm Bryce Space & Technology. While technology tycoons dominate, the list also includes casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who’s backing a lunar mission, and Mexican retail and banking billionaire Ricardo Salinas, an investor in satellite network OneWeb.

You can read the rest @
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-21/outer-space-obsession-moguls-worth-513-billion-join-the-race

If and when humanity ventures into space, it should not be done as a wealth-seeking venture or as a way for the rich to escape the living hell they have created here on Earth.

And our journey into space should be guided by a moral code such as the Prime Directive:

In the fictional universe of Star Trek, the Prime Directive is a guiding principle of the United Federation of Planets prohibiting the protagonists from interfering with the internal development of alien civilizations. The Prime Directive has been used in five of the six Star Trek-based series. This conceptual law applies particularly to civilizations which are below a certain threshold of technological, scientific and cultural development; preventing starship crews from using their superior technology to impose their own values or ideals on them.[1] Since its introduction in the first season of the original Star Trek series, it has served as the focus of numerous episodes of the various series. As time travel became a recurring feature in the franchise, the concept was expanded as a Temporal Prime Directive, prohibiting those under its orders from interfering in historical events.

Source - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Directive

Sadly, since humanity has no such moral code here on Earth, it's unlikely we will limit ourselves in such a way when we travel to other planets, solar systems, and/or galaxies.

And that is why all ETs, if they can, will prevent us from ever leaving this place. We are FAR too great a threat to them and their ways of life.