The space race is on for some of the biggest names out there. Leading
technology giants like Amazon.com, SpaceX, Microsoft, Virgin Group, Google,
and Facebook are all getting in on the action.
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos, the world’s second richest man after
Microsoft’s Bill Gates, is funding rocket company Blue Origin to the tune of
$1 billion a year. Blue Origin has been putting together a rocket factory in
Kent, Wash., for several years. The company also plans to launch its rockets
from a NASA launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the near future.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who also heads SpaceX, is overseeing space flights
with the mission of eventually making it to Mars. A new version of the ship,
Dragon 2, next year will send astronauts to the International Space Station
still in orbit around planet Earth.
A Morgan Stanley analyst even
claimed that Tesla could lose Musk’s attention as he devotes more
time to his SpaceX intergalactic travel company, with the possibility of an
alliance between Tesla and SpaceX in the future.
“Investors widely expect Elon Musk to, over time, devote increasing
amounts of his time and talents to SpaceX, raising the very real question of
who could replace him at Tesla,” Jonas wrote. “A combination of efforts
between the two firms could address this important issue.”
The two companies will play on this alliance during a TV commercial that
will be broadcast in January. A SpaceX rocket will carry a Tesla Roadster
sports car owned by Musk as payload when it travels toward Mars.
While an avid fan of vehicles running off renewably produced electricity,
Musk’s Dragon flights are powered by Falcon 9 rockets running off of LOX
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Bill Gates’ old business partner, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, sees a
large opportunity in offering shared rides to outer space. SpaceFlight,
backed by Allen, is already booking payloads on flights and has bought up the
capacity of a SpaceX rocket that can be shared by paying customers.
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson’s has already spent more than $600
million to help get commercial passenger flights into suborbital space by the
end of 2018.
Branson’s Virgin Galactic spaceflight company will be bringing hyper-fast
airline flights to get from places like Boston over to Beijing. Its vehicles
will likely fly at a top speed of Mach 2, about twice the speed of sound - or
about 774 mph. Branson sees Virgin Galactic someday providing luxurious
flight experiences to passengers going to places like Mars.
A study published in August by
Bloomberg profiled some of the world’s wealthiest entrepreneurs
who’ve invested in space travel startups and technology innovations.
Bill Gates is investing in Kameta, supporting efforts to bring the
company’s mTenna satellite technology to market, with is designed around
bringing communications to cars, planes, and boats.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is helping
fund SETI, a University of California, Berkeley, project. One of its
efforts has been Breakthrough Listen, which is looking into the existence of
extraterrestrial lifeforms.Related: U.S.
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While these entrepreneurs see value in software, electric cars, social
media, e-commerce, and airlines, each of them expects space travel to account
for a growing part of the global economy. Thousands of residents of planet
Earth have expressed interest in living on Mars, and there’s a growing market
for rare metals that must be extracted from asteroids, comets, and other
planets.
There’s also the appeal of offering hyper-fast trips to wealthy passengers
willing to put down thousands on a trip around the Earth’s orbit. Since 2001,
a Virginia-based company called Space
Adventures has offered multimillionaires the opportunity to ride on
a Russian flight to the International Space Station.
Earlier this year, Musk announced a bold new mission for SpaceX during
2018. Two unnamed passengers will be flying a roundtrip around the Moon. It
will be the first private enterprise to offer that trip beyond
government-funded astronaut space flights.
By John LeSage for Oilprice.com
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