“Mars belongs to Elon”
How Elon Musk is planning to create a Red Planet colony
internet that would use inexpensive, low-power satellites for launch by Virgin Galactic. It appears Branson wanted Musk on board, but “was saddened that Elon didn't consider working with Larry and me.”
Instead, SpaceX and Virgin Galactic are charting their own separate paths, and they are both proving to be successful. In October 2017, Virgin Galactic was given a boost thanks to $1 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia, authorised by its new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “This will enable us to develop the next generation of satellite launches and accelerate our programme for point-to-point supersonic space travel,” Branson says. This is, in some sense, another sub-race, because SpaceX is also hoping its rockets will enable point-topoint Earth travel too. Musk has suggested future passengers could wing their way from New York to Shanghai in as little as 39 minutes at over 18,000 kilometres-per-hour (11,372 miles-per-hour).
Branson is also looking to go toe-to-toe with SpaceX in bagging commercial and government contracts. He is doing so with a new space-centred company called Vox Space, based in southern California. It's aim, according to its website, is to “provide the national security community of the USA and allied nations with the ability to launch services for small satellites bound for low-Earth orbit”. Another spin off, Virgin Orbit, will also launch services for small satellites, but those government contracts are a lucrative business. SpaceX offers rockets capable of carrying 22,680-kilograms (50,000 pounds) to low-Earth orbit, compated to the 181-kilograms (400-pound) capacity of Vox. It is also designing a spacecraft for NASA.
While Virgin Galactic and SpaceX are not competing with each other to be the first to Mars, they are going head-to-head in other areas. So, while, SpaceX isn't planning on launching its first mission to Mars before 2022 (a timescale even Musk readily admits is “aspirational”), their other plans should come to fruition sooner. Branson is set to win the personal space race, however, since he is very much on course to be the first of the pair to journey into space.
He is certainly keeping himself fit and active so that he can make the journey, even though he admits that the Virgin Galactic project has been one of his greatest challenges. It has already claimed the life of test pilot Michael Alsbury when the first version of the SpaceShipTwo disintegrated over the Mojave Desert in 2014. Virgin Galactic has since received its operating license from the US Federal Aviation Authority, and Branson is also taking part in centrifuge training, which involves being spun to a high speed in order to simulate the feeling of gravity. His body is prepared for the likely strains of space travel.
Musk, on the other hand, is far less likely to be on his spacecraft to Mars in the early stages, although he does want to go eventually. “I'd have to have a really good succession plan [for SpaceX], because the likelihood of death is very high,” he explains. He is understandably worried about not seeing his children grow up and he frets that investors may decide, in his absence, not to continue with the
Mars plan. But he has said that he wants to die on Mars: “I can't think of anything more exciting than going out there among the stars,” he smiles.
One thing's for sure, though, these are fascinating times for both Musk and Branson, and it's heartening to see that the pair are so passionate about space and it's exploration. The levels of investment in their respective endeavours truly brings them together, and there's no suggestion that a bit of healthy competition is a bad thing. With so many clever scientists and engineers working on the various projects, and two driven bosses, we will inevitable reach new heights. The future is indeed looking bright.
“I can't think of anything more exciting than going out there among the stars”
elon Musk