Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service.

I'm Rue Abbas, and on today's program, I'll be exploring how business and investment are fueling groundbreaking innovations in space.

If you want to build a rocket, that's on your very high end.

If you're looking to develop your technology to fly it in space to learn

more about it, that can be into tens of 20s and millions of dollars. I'll be exploring the thrilling

innovations driving the space industry forward. For example, when to do the irrigation, what kind

of crop to use, how is the moisture of the soil, all this type of elements and data

and information are basically provided thanks to the Earth observation and satellite imagery

and data.

And I'll be finding out why private investors are so keen to get a piece of the space action.

What you're seeing with Elon Musk and others are the recognition of that

benefit that comes in, the risk up front, but then the reward and a benefit that comes in the end.

The business of space. That's all coming up on today's Business Daily.

Of course, to chart the future, we must first revisit the past.

For centuries, space has ignited our curiosity and pushed the boundaries of human understanding.

A step off a lot now. That's one small step for man. Yeah. of human understanding.

Neil Armstrong's immortal words marked the moment humanity first set foot on the moon. But the giant leap he spoke of

launched a multi-trillion dollar drive for power and commercial success. With countries like the

US, China, India and Russia vying for lunar resources, the growing lunar economy is reshaping geopolitics.

And with commercial space revenues topping $445 billion in 2023, the future of space

holds incredible potential for industries, international corporation and progress.

Today, nearly 80 countries have space programs, and the space economy is booming.

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