Race into space 1.13/23/2023 ![]() ![]() SpaceX has been focused on improving the reusability of rocket components (while spending a fraction of what it would cost NASA to put similar rockets into flight), making space exploration cheaper and less wasteful. Musk and Bezos are competing to develop a satellite internet service that could drastically improve internet access and speed for unserved parts of the globe. It's easier than ever to get hot water on demand, to fly airplanes, and to get a life raft that will actually deliver you to safety if you're stranded at sea.īut a scientist need not be a public employee to make discoveries that better mankind. ![]() Sensors developed to measure and remove harmful moon dust have since been used to better detect air pollution here on Earth advances in aerodynamics have made semi-trucks faster and more fuel-efficient than before a more durable polymer material developed by NASA scientists is now used for hip replacements. NASA fans constantly tell us the agency's spinoff technologies have improved the world. Those projects often result in spinoff technologies that eventually trickle down to regular consumers, or solve Earth's most vexing problems. ![]() Competition drives prices down if a bunch of billionaires have cash that's burning holes in their pockets, it's good for them to spend it on astral passion projects. Given this, there's no reason why the government, already deep in the hole, should be the only one authorized to pay for ambitious projects. There's good reason to believe that the course charted by commercial air travel-initially expensive, lengthy, less safe, and reserved for the elite few-will be mimicked by commercial space travel. In Sanders' flawed view of the world, billionaires cause the problems and central planners cough up the solutions-contra observable, real-world results.Ĭompetition in the realm of non-NASA rocket development "has reduced the typical space launch cost by a factor of 20," according to a 2018 analysis that compared the cost of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch to a NASA launch. But he's not really fixating on that part when criticizing the bill on the Senate floor, instead launching yet another jeremiad against rich guys and their cool rockets. It's fair to be critical of the market-distorting effects that public-private partnerships between NASA and commercial space exploration companies may have (just as it's fair to be critical of the way these companies' satellite internet projects routinely sic the Federal Communications Commission on each other in attempts to suppress competition). "This is not something for two billionaires to be directing this is something for the American people to be determining." Bezos, take control of our space efforts to return to the moon," said Sanders in a Senate floor speech criticizing components of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, which might include a $10 billion government contract awarded to Blue Origin. "Frankly, it is not acceptable…that the two wealthiest people in this country, Mr. ![]() Bezos, take control of our space efforts to return to the Moon, This is not something for two billionaires to be directing." /Bi4VcXi08T Bernie Sanders: "It is not acceptable that the two wealthiest people in this country, Mr. Now, it's for Bezos, and Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson, and Captain Kirk/ William Shatner. Not so shabby given that space used to be only the province of astronauts who'd completed years of training, a select few of whom would eventually be lucky enough to see this pale blue dot from high up above. Merely four decades later, he hasn't quite achieved his lofty goal, but he launched himself (and friends) into space via his self-funded space company-something that hadn't seemed possible for pretty much the entirety of human existence, up until a mad-dash billionaire traffic jam earlier this year. In his 1982 high school graduation speech, Amazon founder and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos regaled the audience with his pie-in-the-sky aspirations of building space hotels, amusement parks, and yachts to populate extraterrestrial colonies. ![]()
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