BY: Haston Lewis
Between his early success with PayPal and his now ubiquitous Tesla Motors revolutionizing the automobile industry, one wonders what CEO Elon Musk does with his free time. Well, in 2002 he founded SpaceX with the intention to "revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets."
In its 12 years of operation SpaceX has recorded multiple historic achievements. In 2008, Falcon 1 became the first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket to reach orbit. In 2010, with the spacecraft Dragon, SpaceX became the first private company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft. Dragon went on to become the first spacecraft from a private company sent to the International Space Station in 2012.
Dragon, a historic spacecraft created by SpaceX.
SpaceX is a pioneer in the commercial space flight industry. Besides its work with NASA, the company has already launched 12 Falcon 9 rockets for paying customers and has at least 30 more launches planned for the future. This is all made possible by the fact that SpaceX develops and manufactures nearly all of the components of it's rockets and spacecraft in-house, up to and including the rocket engines themselves. As of May 2012, SpaceX had operated on approximately $1 billion dollars of total funding of which $200M was provided by private equity, $100M invested by Elon Musk himself and an additional $100M came from other investors. The rest of the firm's funding comes mainly from long-term launch contracts with NASA.
The Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
For the future, SpaceX is focused on developing rapidly reusable launch system. To this end it has developed Grasshopper, an experimental, reusable sub-orbital rocket capable of both vertical takeoff and vertical landing. The technology gained from the experimental Grasshopper program will go towards SpaceX's eventual goal of creating a spacecraft that is capable of repeated space flights, as opposed to current spacecraft which are greatly destroyed by the process of exiting and re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.
It is an exciting time to be a part of the human species thanks to companies like Tesla and SpaceX. Although infantile in the grand scheme of things, this company has already managed to revolutionize and commercialize space travel. One can only look forward to what SpaceX will do next.
Grasshopper is capable of vertical takeoff and landing.
It amazes that not only is the Tesla CEO contributing to developing an electric car market, but space tourism market as well. There was a time where it was crazy to think people could be put into metal objects and flown around, but planes gave birth to that idea. Now we have the opportunity to go into space with the necessary capital. As skeptical as people were about flying in airplanes, I am just as skeptical as flying to space. I'm sure over a couple decades this will be more common place, but as of now I am not sure I would do it if I had the money. Possibly when I am confident in the safety will I embark on this unique experience. Until then, I look forward to learning about new developments with SpaceX and other space tourism companies.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I liked how Mr. Lewis incorporated some of the past creations and showed some new creations which will help us learn more about the galaxy and other planets eventually. Even though I am not interested about flying out of space it is a great creation that has caused some people to interested in space tourism.
ReplyDeleteThis was defiitely something worth reading! The evolution of commercial space transportation was definitely captured in this blog post. Lewis did a great job of informing us about creations from the beginning of space travel and how they've evolved over time. I learn a few new things about future projects and their possibilities. I've never had any interest in anything regarding space travel or the solar system. But, I look forward to hearing more about future updates on travel.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Very well detailed too. I think its crazy to see how far SpaceX has come. Hopefully they are able to create that spacecraft that is capable of repeated space flights. I'm sure they would be able to learn a lot more going farther into space.
ReplyDeleteSpace tourism seems very niche, catered to only the uber wealthy and governments. Besides communication and photography, I do not see why NASA would invest hundreds of millions in being quasi orbital. In any event, because there are parties willing to pay, it will be interesting to see how far they go in the near future. I'm betting that their business will grow towards the flying car. There is a far greater margin for customers in the 200k-5million market including UPS, AMAZON, WALMART, and ALIBABA. These are private companies with millions of customers. Delivering products could be so much more cost effective.
ReplyDeleteMoses, The reason why NASA would invest hundreds of millions into SpaceX company is because they want the results from their reusable launch system technology. According to FedBiz.com "NASA has relied on disposable launch systems for much of its history, with external tanks falling into the ocean during space shuttle liftoffs never to be used again." This is problematic for Astronauts trying to return home, because they must land in the ocean and be rescued after every trip. If SpaceX is able to successfully make the grasshopper stable enough to use consistently, NASA will also this a less costly way of Human-Space travel. This is also beneficial to SPaceX because if launching and landing occurs in the same location, commercial space travel for civilians could potentially become commercial space traveling means.
DeleteThis was certainly a great post. However it brings me to question if human beings have gone too far when it comes to exploration and innovation. Is there a limit to the progress we can make? It is incredible to think of being able to repeatedly visit space to explore the limitless bounds of the universe. Funding will definitely be an issue due to the highly capital intensive nature of this industry. The long term contracts with NASA will hopefully be enough to sustain this trendsetting company.
ReplyDeleteThis post was very interesting. I had no idea Elon Musk was such a visionary. Space travel is becoming more and more of a priority and it is nice to see businesses publicly pursue its importance. I'm truly looking forward to SpaceX's success. Overall, this was a great article and I enjoyed is detailed account.
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy to see that you posted this information. In the past, space exploration has been reserved to a very small group of very specialized professionals. Opening the galaxy to the greater human population is a great step in the progression of our human race. I pray that this because a collective global effort and not another 'space race'. Like Liam mentioned above, the great issue will be sustainability of this program. Space travel is very expensive. The task will be finding affordable solutions to travel. Once again, this article is great because it will force discussions about modern space travel.
ReplyDeleteFantastic post! Hopefully nations will come together like you said and there will not be another "space race".
ReplyDeleteAmazing post! Ithe also greatly executed. I think its crazy to see how far SpaceX has come. can't wait yo see what they have for the future.
ReplyDeleteI think its important to for this to become a global effort as many of my peers have mentioned. It will be interesting to see how expensive the space travel will actually be and what demographic will flock to it
ReplyDeleteA company like these under Elon Musk is what I would want to work for. A company whose work serves a real purpose in the world. But I don't know how people come across opportunities for employment with these companies. Do any of you guys know?
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