The latest billionaire to signal his interest in the space travel industry is former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The wealthy tech magnate has joined a relatively under-the-radar rocket startup, Relativity Space, as the companys new head executive. On Monday, Schmidt announced at a company meeting that he had made a significant investment in the firm and taken a controlling stake in it, the New York Times has reported. On top of that, Schmidt plans to take the role of CEO at the company. It isnt public information just how much money the tech executive has put into the company. The companys longtime CEO, Tim Ellis, announced on Monday that he would be stepping away from his leadership role at the company. Today marks a powerful new chapter as Eric Schmidt @ericschmidt becomes Relativitys CEO, while also providing substantial financial backing, Ellis wrote on X. I know theres no one more tenacious or passionate to propel this dream forward. We have been working together to ensure a smooth transition, and Ill proudly continue to support the team as Co-founder and Board member. Schmidt, of course, is in good company. Some of the worlds richest men have made it a goal to conquer space, and theyre pouring money into the effort to become dominant players in the industry. The former CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, has Blue Origin, another rocket company, which is responsible for having sent William Shatner into space. Theres also Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX, whoin between ruining the federal governmentwill take any opportunity to remind people that he wants to colonize Mars. Like Musk, Relatively Space is also interested in Mars. The Times writes that the company has a long-term goal of creating an industrial base on Mars, whatever that means.On its website, the company says that it aspires to become the next great commercial launch company. With an ever-growing need for space infrastructure, demand for launch services is continuously outpacing supply, the site continues. Our reusable rockets can meet this demand, offering customers the right size payload capacity at the right cost. Prior to Schmidts arrival, Relativity was having money problems, the Times reports. Having encountered technical difficulties, the firm faced difficulties raising new funding, the newspaper writes.Schmidt left Google roughly 15 years ago, in 2011. Since then, he has done a little of this and a little of that. He has sat on the board of trustees of a number of universities, been involved in various Defense Department initiatives, and dabbled in a variety of different tech businesses. In recent years, hes also increasingly involved himself in the artificial intelligence business. He wrote a book with Henry Kissinger on the subject, owns an AI company, White Stork, which develops automated attack drones that Schmidt once said would assist Ukraine in its war with Russia, and has consistently tried to shape American policy on AI. In that sense, Schmidt has honed in on the two fields that signal wealth and power these days: AI and rockets. That said, his involvement in Relativity represents the first time Schmidt has taken a hands-on leadership position at a tech company since his time at the search giant. Theres one more billionaire to actively worry about.