The sky is no limit for the man who wants to walk on Mars
By Greg Waldock, Staff Writer
PayPal. Tesla. Hyperloops. Elon Musk is a man of many accomplishments, but his greatest and most impressive passion is for space. SpaceX, his private space agency founded in 2002, was created with the lofty goal of placing humanity on Mars. It was once considered a distant pipe-dream, but Musk and SpaceX have proven themselves to be titans of business and engineering, pushing the limits of spaceflight technologies while generating public enthusiasm for the “Final Frontier.”
With one look at Elon Musk’s career, it’s easy to see why Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark was partly modelled after him. The South African-born, Canadian-educated American has innovated in every field he has involved himself in. From environmental science to internet finances, from public transportation to astrophysics―his wide array of technical expertise mixed with incredible business savvy has made him one of the most important figures in the business world today. And now he’s got his eyes dead set on Mars. The official mission statement of SpaceX, and the personal life goal for Musk himself, is to make the human colonization of Mars possible. This sets SpaceX apart from other private space agencies with its optimism and far-sightedness, a strategy that grabs the attention of both NASA scientists and the global public.
One of their most notable programs has been the Grasshopper project. This was the successful vertical landing of rockets on barges after use, meaning that the extremely expensive first stages of orbital rockets now have a way to be reused and relaunched, saving millions of dollars and sparing the parts from sinking into open water and becoming a pollutant. The spectacular footage of the first successful Grasshopper landing on December 22, 2015, made headlines around the world and further increased NASA’s confidence in the company. A reusable launch vehicle, particularly after the discontinuation of the Space Shuttle program, has been sought after for years.
A significant aspect of SpaceX is the focus on public interest. The company, and Musk himself, maintains a quirky and informal online presence, using reddit and Twitter to communicate directly with users. They’ve also gained attention with their naming conventions; their landing barges, Just Read the Instructions and Of Course I Still Love You, get their unusual names from Iain M. Banks’ The Culture novels. Their most recently announced launch vehicle is nicknamed the “BFR”, and they keep it vague whether it stands for “Big Falcon Rocket” or “Big Fucking Rocket.” Musk’s informal attitude in interviews, in his recent reddit AMA, and on Twitter has also stood out in contrast to the more controlled tones of CEOs and leaders at other space agencies.
SpaceX is not alone in the interstellar arena. Cooperation and competition alike among private space companies is encouraged by NASA, who doles out funding and expertise to companies based on recent successes and failures. Boeing, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, and many others crowd the scene with innovation, bold engineering, and catastrophic explosions―but despite the heavy-hitters surrounding them, SpaceX and Elon Musk continue to be at the forefront of the public mind as a new space race heats up.
