Back in the 20th century a space race was held between the US and Soviet Union. Nowadays governments are no longer the big players when it comes to space exploration, since private corporations have taken their place. Two biggest of them SpaceX run by Elon musk and Blue origin run by Jeff Bezos, have quite different approaches when it comes to that issue. But which one is better, and has more chances of a success ?
Let’s focus on Musk’s SpaceX first. I don’t think there is a person at least a little interested in business, that hasn’t heard about Elon Musk. His industry portfolio varies from electric cars, neurotechnology to space exploration. When he sold PayPal in 2002 for 180 million dollars, Musk invested 100 million in SpaceX and the rest in Tesla. At the beginning the company struggled a lot with funds and was at the edge of bankruptcy. After several unsuccessful rocket launches and destroyed spaceships, NASA saved the company by providing a 1,5 billion dollars contract. This allowed SpaceX to develop, and in may 2020 the corporation successfully sent 2 NASA astronauts to the ISS. But what are SpaceX more distant plans?
Elon Musk believes, that earth may experience a natural disaster, therefore his idea is to relocate human kind to other planets. His ultimate goal is to colonize mars, because as he states is the only way to prevent human extinction.
Amazon’s founder intentions for space are slightly different. Blue Origin has no business in mars colonization. Bezos believes that earth is irreplaceable, and must be preserved for future generations. That’s why rather than focusing on new planets colonization, Blue origin plan is to search in space for new resources and create massive space stations on the orbit.
A common goal for both companies is the reduction of space travel costs. Both agencies try their best to lower the cost of sending a rocket to space, leading to an invention of reusable rocket, which are the biggest cost of space travels. Leader in that sector seems to be SpaceX, with 133 successful missions compared to Blue Origin’s 21. Moreover Musk’s corporation is yet the only private company to send people to the ISS.
Then which company will take us to space sooner ?
In my opinion SpaceX will initiate space commercialization, and will be the first company to colonize places beyond Earth. For me idea of using existing planet seems more realizable than building giant floating space colonies. But sending humans to new environment isn’t the only purpose, space tourism, further space exploration and searching for new resources are also crucial factors. Because of that, ongoing overpopulation and climate crisis, I wouldn’t exclude Blue Origin. I believe that both companies will become potentates in space industry.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=517lbPB9Mfg
https://www.slashgear.com/769775/spacex-vs-blue-origin-who-is-winning-and-why/
https://www.ft.com/content/096f0ae2-b487-4ddd-9338-44b088d43ce1
Both ideas of saving civilization from extinction are very futuristic. However, it seems to me that Elon Musk’s idea is more realistic to implement. I think it is cheaper and safer than the blue origin concept. Personally, I am very curious if any of these ideas will be realized in my lifetime. And surley both of the companies are potentates in space industry.