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Exercise 3

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Task reminder: Read the passage carefully, then write a one-sentence summary of 5–75 words. You have 10 minutes. Aim for 55–65 words using your own words.

1. Space Commercialisation

The commercialisation of space, once the exclusive domain of government agencies, has accelerated dramatically in the past two decades. Private companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Rocket Lab have developed reusable launch vehicles that have reduced the cost of reaching orbit by more than 90 percent compared to traditional government rockets. This dramatic reduction in launch costs has opened space to a new wave of commercial applications, including satellite internet constellations, space tourism, in-orbit manufacturing, and eventually asteroid mining. However, the commercialisation of space has also raised important questions about governance: existing space law, primarily established by the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, was designed for an era of state actors and may be poorly suited to regulating commercial activities, private property rights in space, and the environmental impact of the rapidly expanding satellite population.


Model Summary

The commercialisation of space by private companies such as SpaceX has reduced launch costs by over 90 percent, enabling new applications from satellite internet to space tourism and asteroid mining, but has also exposed the inadequacy of existing space governance frameworks — particularly the 1967 Outer Space Treaty — which were designed for an era of state actors alone.

2. Urban Farming

Urban agriculture — the growing of food within or on the edges of cities — is attracting significant investment and attention as a potential solution to food security, sustainability, and urban resilience challenges. Technologies such as vertical farms, which use stacked growing layers under artificial lighting, and aquaponics systems, which combine fish farming with hydroponic plant cultivation, can produce food year-round regardless of external climate conditions and with a fraction of the land and water requirements of conventional agriculture. Urban farms can also reduce food transport distances, contributing to lower carbon emissions, and can be established in underutilised urban spaces such as rooftops, warehouses, and vacant lots. However, the economics remain challenging: artificial lighting systems are energy-intensive, and the capital costs of high-tech urban farming facilities are substantial, meaning that urban produce currently commands premium prices accessible only to wealthier consumers.


Model Summary

Urban agriculture, including vertical farming and aquaponics, offers year-round food production with minimal land and water, reduced transport emissions, and the ability to use underutilised urban spaces, but faces significant economic challenges from high energy and capital costs that currently make urban-grown food a premium product inaccessible to lower-income consumers.

3. Gene Therapy

Gene therapy, which involves introducing, altering, or replacing genetic material within a person’s cells to treat or prevent disease, represents one of the most promising frontiers of modern medicine. The technology has advanced from a theoretical possibility to a clinical reality in recent years, with several gene therapies approved by regulators for conditions including inherited blindness, spinal muscular atrophy, haemophilia, and certain forms of cancer. The development of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology has made the precise modification of DNA sequences faster, cheaper, and more accurate than ever before. However, significant challenges remain: gene therapies are extraordinarily expensive, with some treatments costing over a million dollars per patient; delivery mechanisms must be improved to reach target cells efficiently; and the long-term safety of permanent genetic modifications is still being established in clinical follow-up studies.


Model Summary

Gene therapy has advanced from theory to clinical reality, with approved treatments for conditions including blindness, spinal muscular atrophy, and haemophilia using technologies such as CRISPR-Cas9, but remains limited by extraordinary costs exceeding a million dollars per patient, delivery challenges, and the need for long-term safety data on permanent genetic modifications.