Has Elon Musk revived interest in space? Are we on the cusp of a new space age?

[Vash The Stampede]

We aren't starting one, we're in one. It's happening right now. SpaceX made space access cheap, and that means money, and money will draw more people to space, and that's essentially a snow ball effect. So unrealistic or not, we're here. None of the reasons you gave are reasons that would prevent a space age from blooming.

Cheap for the poorest of rich people. SpaceX isn't exactly trickle down economics.

Much as my eternal optimism would like to think we'll get a Star Trek version of humanity out of a new Space Age, it will more look more like The Expanse than anything else. Corporations and greed will get us into space, and those two things will both keep us going and keep us, well, expanding.

What exactly is there to greed about in space? Minerals? Hate to break it to you but the only way to mine in space is with robots. Rich people in space is just going to get richer, and it's way cheaper to continue to mine resources here on Earth. Greed is what's holding us back from space travel. Why you think we haven't been to the moon for so long? Nothing of value was found on the moon, at least nothing with monetary value.

The future is in fact right now. Moon Base by 2025, Mars by 2040. Those thing will happen, barring some catastrophic collapse of society.

Those things will happen but they won't usher us into a space age. A working Space elevator would, but not a tent on the moon.

Not sure where you are getting you data, but it won't take any change in the economy to get to Moon/Mars. Why do you think our economy would need to change to get to Mars?

Because going into space is expensive. Unless we make some money doing it, we're just doing it for the sake of doing it.

SpaceX is already doing that for us, and not only doing it MUCH faster than the government, they are doing it for far less.

You do know that SpaceX got like at least $5billion in government subsidies? Elon Musks Starlink satellite internet is asking for $16 Billion in Government Subsidies. Cool stuff but I don't see no immediate benefits. I'm not even sure there's long term benefits. The tech is just going to make it cheaper to launch satellites into space.

[Yadryonych]

Has Elon Musk revived interest in space?

No. The new cold war did. Just like the last time when cold war caused space race

[Ihavewaffles]

There's some scary space rocks flying too close to earth for my liking, taking care of them should be priority #1, everything can always be done later..

We need a system of eyes across the solar system n missile batteries to respond..but first we need to colonize all the moons, n mars n get infrastructure n industry going..

Space rocks are an existential threat.

n I don't care a damn about some us3less life like bacteria on mars, venus, europa or wherever, we need to exploit for resources.

[Graeham]

Space is, in theory, extremely interesting. Though at the same time it's pretty far out of reach of the average person.

I'm more invested in the idea of exploring the depths of the oceans.

I miss living near a beach - used to find all sorts of weird things washed up on the shore.

[TommyJ]

I may repeat myself. But many commentators here complain that the cost of space exploration is in their taxes. Only you forgot to mention that private rocketry, private launches of satellites, and cargoes have become much more widespread. There are far more companies that carry out private launches now than the one you are talking about here. They all pay taxes.
At some point, some will go their own way and will be able to strengthen themselves, while the rest will understand that they need to cooperate and receive benefits from all parts of this future cooperation. And it has already been mentioned here that we are already in a new space era. It really is. Considering more than 50 private rocket companies that have emerged over the past 5-10 years. Not counting small student startups.

I see that there are many people here who understand that development in this direction is inevitable. But it seems that some are not at all aware of the global trends in this industry, despite the recent events with COVID.

[Shadowferal]

I may repeat myself. But many commentators here complain that the cost of space exploration is in their taxes. Only you forgot to mention that private rocketry, private launches of satellites, and cargoes have become much more widespread.

Privatization will go only so far. At which point government control is inevitable, and military oversight comes into play.

[TommyJ]

You probably didn't read it very carefully. Yes, the most famous company is working on government orders in collaboration with NASA. But this is not the only space company. Not only on the planet but even on the scale of one country, there are many more of them. Smaller, bigger, but they are all private. And many carry out private orders. So I don't understand all of your ignorant complaints. I would love to see people looking for information on the general health of the space industry before writing angry comments. And you could see with your own eyes that private space is not a distant perspective, but realities + - 10 years

[Shadowferal]

You probably didn't read it very carefully. Yes, the most famous company is working on government orders in collaboration with NASA. But this is not the only space company. Not only on the planet but even on the scale of one country, there are many more of them. Smaller, bigger, but they are all private. And many carry out private orders. So I don't understand all of your ignorant complaints. I would love to see people looking for information on the general health of the space industry before writing angry comments. And you could see with your own eyes that private space is not a distant perspective, but realities + - 10 years

And when your fantasy doesn't pan out?
Because the reality is government control.
And gods forbid if at any time between a private entity gets scrutiny because an accident that affects loss of life or significant widespread damage.

[TommyJ]

Ooh ... You're kind of boring, dude. He took one phrase and hammered it. There are more than 40 private space companies in the USA alone. Which you, apparently, have never heard of anything. Other countries are also returning to the space race thanks to private companies. Because many governments see private rather than state developments as more promising for themselves. The world is progressing much faster than you can prove anything.

[Shadowferal]

Ooh ... You're kind of boring, dude. He took one phrase and hammered it. There are more than 40 private space companies in the USA alone. Which you, apparently, have never heard of anything. Other countries are also returning to the space race thanks to private companies. Because many governments see private rather than state developments as more promising for themselves. The world is progressing much faster than you can prove anything.

Lol...nice retort...
But cheap rhetoric is just that.
And so....libertarian; full of buzz words and feel-good bromides that are meaningless.
Try again after we get a moonbase up and running.
And while you're waiting forever for that to happen, learn the history of how and what it took to get to the moon to begin with.

[cubby]

Privatization will go only so far. At which point government control is inevitable, and military oversight comes into play.

Why would privatization only go so far? SpaceX has taken approximately $16-20B from the government and accomplished an enormous number of milestones. NASA put $20B into the Orion spacecraft and launched it. Once.

SpaceX $20B:

• Development of Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy rockets
• Development of Cargo Dragon, Crew Dragon, and Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft
• Development of Merlin, Kestrel, and Raptor rocket engines
• Build-out of launch sites at Vandenberg (twice), Kwajalein Atoll, Cape Canaveral, and Kennedy Space Center
• 105 successful launches to orbit
• 20 missions to supply International Space Station, two crewed flights
• Development of vertical take off, vertical landing, rapid reuse for first stages
• Starship and Super Heavy rocket development program
• Starlink Internet program (with 955 satellites on orbit, SpaceX is largest satellite operator in the world)

NASA $20B:

• Development of Orion spacecraft
• Exploration Flight Test-1 basic vehicle
• The Orion capsule to be used for another test flight
• Work on capsules for subsequent missions

All objective evidence tells us privatization is the only path to progress.

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Lol...nice retort...
But cheap rhetoric is just that.
And so....libertarian; full of buzz words and feel-good bromides that are meaningless.
Try again after we get a moonbase up and running.
And while you're waiting forever for that to happen, learn the history of how and what it took to get to the moon to begin with.

Take this up with me, instead, how bout? I love this conversation and I think I bring a different...tone to the discussion.

You're entirely right about the first moon landing and how only a government could have shouldered that herculean effort and cost. But that was then, this is now. And things are almost reversed.

[Shadowferal]

Why would privatization only go so far?

Because at a certain point it becomes an international threat. And military oversight becomes mandated.

[Icelin]

Because it's all just a massive money sink. We don't have the level of technology needed to accomplish anything meaningful other than fulfilling our curiosity right now.

If we could actually colonize something, or bring back large amounts of useful materials, or something, it would be different.

I remember the moon bombing a couple of years ago. That revealed water. I would say that is a useful resource.

"Using simulated moon dirt, they found that under very cold, moon-like temperatures and in a vacuum, a standard household microwave oven would heat the lunar soil, causing ice that had condensed on the soil's grains to change directly from solid directly to gas. By trapping and cooling the gas, they got liquid water."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/n...water-1.788340

Maybe he shouldn't have moved from CA to TX.

He hasn't been the only one. Joe Rogan aside, it's more common than you think it is. When I ask people why they have made the move I usually get "taxes" and costs of living. I ask what they miss. Most say the climate in CA is better than TX. (I wouldn't know this personally..)

I don't feel like this is the first time I heard about a failed launch from SpaceX. At least he is trying. Tbh I was more alarmed by the amount of satellites that were getting launched in the sky from them. "As of 25 November 2020, SpaceX has launched 955 Starlink satellites."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink

[cubby]

Because at a certain point it becomes an international threat. And military oversight becomes mandated.

Interesting, and a bit of a stretch. But good point. Outside of military oversight/protection, why would privatization only go so far?

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Because it's all just a massive money sink. We don't have the level of technology needed to accomplish anything meaningful other than fulfilling our curiosity right now.

If we could actually colonize something, or bring back large amounts of useful materials, or something, it would be different.

I get that it's a slow progression. I just think the 10's of billions of dollars are better spent elsewhere, honestly. Our world has so many problems. And space travel isn't going to solve any of them in our lifetimes.

But we KNOW there are massive resources on the Moon, Mars, and vis a vis Asteroids. So once we get up there, we'll have those resources available to us to at least keep building up structures and habitats and colonies.

And so far the only massive money sink has been from NASA - the private companies, especially SpaceX, have been killing it.

And we will be able to bring back large amounts of materials/resources once we get there, so the "money sink" is worth, objectively.

[Shadowferal]

Interesting, and a bit of a stretch. But good point. Outside of military oversight/protection, why would privatization only go so far?

Look at the ISS. Commanding officers are derived from Air Force...soon to be Space Force. Whereas mission specialist can be from civilian ranks pending background checks.
And does anyone really believe a private entity will just begin building on the moon without the military involved? I'm sure the brass might ask politely, but they won't take "no" for an answer. "But thanks for spending all that money! It would've been hell getting that approved in Congress."

Pfft...wouldn't come a surprise if some private entity is hoping for that sort of tajeover anyway. The equivalent of getting an assload of taxbreaks.

[cubby]

Look at the ISS. Commanding officers are derived from Air Force...soon to be Space Force. Whereas mission specialist can be from civilian ranks pending background checks.
And does anyone really believe a private entity will just begin building on the moon without the military involved? I'm sure the brass might ask politely, but they won't take "no" for an answer. "But thanks for spending all that money! It would've been hell getting that approved in Congress."

Pfft...wouldn't come a surprise if some private entity is hoping for that sort of tajeover anyway. The equivalent of getting an assload of taxbreaks.

The ISS and all NASA projects and missions always had military commanding and piloting because they grew out of military personnel, all the way back to Gemini. There was no reason to change, and all Commanders are Pilots first, and all Pilots come from the military, because, well, they train the shit out of them, and they are the best in the world.

And SpaceX will probably be using NASA commanders and pilots, because they are still the best pilots around. I'm not sure if the second crew SpaceX sent up were present military or retired. SpaceX shouldn't try to build a new training system when one already exists and can be adapted to their needs.

That was a long way of saying "you're right, but so what?". The military/government can almost always take over something because of "national security" so that dog was always going to bark, at some point. And in this case we'd probably want some kind of military protection with a Moon Base, because China will be right around the corner, and if they ever visited, it wouldn't be to borrow a cup of sugar.

What SpaceX is doing is streamlining the bullshit that bullshit and get it ramped up, as we can see from the article and chart I provided. Which is a good thing. And demonstrates that privatization is actually the only path to meaningful progress in space in our modern world.

[umidzevs]

Personally, my opinion is that this is all, just PR. We are not a step closer to space. But 50-60 years was a breakthrough in this matter.

[TommyJ]

Personally, my opinion is that this is all, just PR. We are not a step closer to space. But 50-60 years was a breakthrough in this matter.

I think you mean travel. But in terms of research, launching satellites, clogging LEO, we have made great progress. A lot of satellites and probes have been launched. An end-to-end probe has even been launched, which will pass through the orbit of Neptune and fly to collect information further.
Yes, in terms of space travel, we have not advanced further than the Moon. But is it really necessary?

[Shadowferal]

Personally, my opinion is that this is all, just PR. We are not a step closer to space. But 50-60 years was a breakthrough in this matter.

To be fair, it's GOOD pr.
And it takes away the Musk-y smell of pissing on California.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I doubt it. Its still easier to and cheaper to exploit and ruin the Earth and as long as its someone elses problems (aka the future) than that will pretty much always be the case. No one really cares about it that has the power to stop it because that power comes along with the money that is made by exploiting and destroying the Earth.