The Commercialization of Space

Every method of transportation in history has had the ultimate goal of making it available for all. For example, the invention of the wheel revolutionized transportation . It was applied to wagons, carriages, locomotives, and now automobiles and aircraft. Now, all these methods of transportation are available to everyone. This was only due to commercialization. There is only so much that the government can provide for people. So now comes the question, will there ever be a commercialization of space?

Fortunately, the answer is yes. The past 15 years has seen a huge growth in aerospace startups. However, due to the complexity of space, progress is slow. Some companies are small, such as Masten Space Systems, and others are large, such as SpaceX and Blue Origin. No matter the size of the company though, every single one shares the common goal of opening space to all. Another commonality is that they all stress the importance of reusabilty. Not a single company is planning to throw away any parts. This is the only way to make space cheap and fast enough for a commercial market.

Some notable companies are SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, XCOR Aerospace, and Bigalow Aerospace. SpaceX is currently resupplying the International Space Station and will soon be ferrying astronauts to it.They have the ultimate goal of not just commercializing space, but moving life onto Mars. Other companies such Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR Aerospace are offering sub-orbital flights with stunning views of the Earth and the zero-g experience. But once we get to space, wouldn’t it be nice to stay there? That’s exactly what Bigalow Aerospace doing. They are building expandable space habitats for both government and commercial purposes. Who knows, maybe in 20 years we’ll able to own property or vacation in space.

September 3, 2015September 3, 2015 by russellphd Categories: Exploration, TechnologyTags: exploration, future, rocket science, space Leave a comment

How Lucky are We?

Everyday we face the possibility of illness, fatigue, injury, and even death. When we drive a car, fly on a plane, or even walk, we assume the risk that nothing will happen to us. We hope that a car doesn’t hit us, a tree doesn’t fall on us, our pilot doesn’t nosedive into the ground. Yet with all these possibilities, we all still live our lives by risking it. Why? Because that is how we live.

We may be extremely lucky to make it to the next day, but we are even more lucky that we are here in the first place. Of all the planets and exoplanets we know, only Earth is known to sustain life. Even more lucky, the conditions are just right for space travel. Our current rockets can only deliver about 10% of their liftoff weight into orbit and even less to deep space. This is because our chemical rockets are just barely powerful enough to do so. The gravity on our planet is just weak enough to allow us to send small payloads to orbit and just strong enough to prevent us from launching like and X-Fighter.

This implies that we live on a borderline planet. Borderline from being stuck on the ground and borderline from being in a galaxy far far away. But hasn’t mankind always crossed borders? The ancients crossed the Siberian-Alaskan ice bridge thousands of years ago when they had the opportunity. The Mayflower left Europe to start the America we know today. Now it is our turn to cross borders. We are extremely lucky that our Earth gives us a chance at space travel. If we risk our lives living the way we do anyways, the idea of space travel isn’t that far fetched. Given that we have risked their lives for thousands of years, it would be extremely shameful if we didn’t migrate into space. Maybe it’s destiny.

August 27, 2015August 28, 2015 by russellphd Categories: ExplorationTags: exploration, life, space Leave a comment