How about conjuring an image where life beyond Earth seems as welcoming as living on the Hawaiian islands, blessed with mild weather throughout the year? Picture cultivating crops in picture-perfect, tropic-like landscapes under a simulated atmosphere; a semblance of earthly comfort lit brightly by our Sun. Such utopian future is not just a fantasy for Jeff Bezos, the well-known billionaire behind Amazon and Blue Origin. His future projects mankind thriving in these extraordinary space habitats while damaging industries operate away from Earth. Consequently, our home planet, still buzzing with human presence, gradually reverts to its pristine, ecological equilibrium.
Let’s delve into an alternative scenario. In a dystopian future, an uncontrollable asteroid looms upon Earth, threatening a catastrophic impact. The event sends billions of tonnes of terrestrial debris into the sky, triggering an artificial chill that wipes out life as we know it. Earth-dwelling humans are at the brink of extinction. Thankfully, hope blooms 225 million kilometers away, on the heartening horizon of Mars. Humanity thrives in its new, off-planet home that has been adjusted for human inhabitation, courtesy of a technique known as terraforming. This audacious expectation of transforming Mars into a livable realm is envisaged by none other than the SpaceX and Tesla magnate Elon Musk.
Musk’s vision may sound far-reaching and profound, spanning across years, decades, indeed centuries. He believes in turning humans into an interstellar species and creating a ‘backup’ of humanity. Indeed, the majority of his ventures, including SpaceX, Starlink, and even the SpaceX’s subsidiary, The Boring Company, align with his ambitious objective to make Mars a second home for mankind.
The revenue streams feeding Musk’s Mars colonization project trickle from his ground-breaking services like the Starlink internet. Starlink’s profits are planned to fund Starship, an enormous and reusable interstellar vehicle that has been designed to transport big clusters of humans across cosmic distances.
However, supporting life on Mars isn’t a small feat. The survival of humans on the alien planet would necessitate shielding them from cosmic rays, ensuring a steady supply of food, and protecting them from formidable Martian dust storms. Consequently, Musk’s personal wealth won’t be sufficient to back the colossal financial outlay needed for the project.
The Martian lifestyle proposed by Musk could see Tesla’s solar panels being instrumental in battling the excruciatingly low temperatures of Mars, going as down as minus-153 degrees Celsius. The solar infrastructure could help generate sufficient heat for domiciles and produce electricity. Inhabitants might be able to seek shelter inside subterranean caverns excavated by boring machines.
Parallel to Musk’s ventures, Bezos’ Blue Origin also harbors grand spatial dreams and has remained relatively tight-lipped about their timeline. Garnering support from over 10,000 employees and achieving successful launch of its New Glenn rocket as recent as January, Blue Origin matches up in its ambitions.
Bezos nurtures a dream to evict industries causing pollution from Earth. Although to many this idea may sound improbable, Bezos firmly assured in a New York Times interview that the initiative is far from fantasy and is bound to become a reality.
Bezos’ fascination with space isn’t recent. His high-school days in Florida sowed the earliest seeds of his love for the cosmos. Blue Origin’s construction of New Glenn, a heavy-lift launch vehicle, signifies a promising era of affordability in rocket launching. The vehicle is expected to facilitate the deployment of larger payloads in orbit, paving the way for more significant space constructions.
However, it’s important to note that delivering on these grandiose ambitions requires immense public approval and sustained interest. Wherever this interstellar race finally leads, the first to achieve these lofty goals stands to benefit substantially. The frontrunner essentially creates the groundwork that helps others succeed in their endeavors too.
Finally, there’s an undeniable risk attached to the growing dominance of the ultra-rich in deciding the direction of space exploration. The likelihood of a society where decisions in cosmic territories (and perhaps more) are governed strictly by a handful of wealthy individuals is unsettling. It’s clear that such a society wouldn’t bode well for space or for any other realm.