Who would have thought that one day, commercial space travel could become a foreseeable realistic dream that might be achievable in the near future? With masterminds such as Elon Musk and Richard Branson working overtime in their race to space, commercial space travel might be viable as an option for future generations to come.
These billionaire tycoons are also looking at ways to make living in space possible one day. Perhaps this may even lead to the development of civilizations on nearby planets such as Mars.
2 masterminds, 2 very different approaches
Richard Branson, head and frontier of the Virgin Group has always been very vocal about his dream to make space travel commercially available for everyone one day. In the race to space, Richard Branson’s vision and his innovative approach could just be the answers we needed to finally make it that much closer to space.
Under the name Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson will bring people so much closer to space with voyages that take people to the very last outer layer of the earth’s atmosphere. For a start, he has expressed his desire to start commercial flights into space very soon. The aim here would be to transport people to a hotel on a space station perhaps, or a luxury retreat in space.
Elon Musk the head of Tesla Corporation on the other hand entered this race to space from a completely different perspective and a different mindset.
Under the SpaceX program, Elon Musk has changed the way in which rockets and spacecrafts function today. Elon Musk has made rockets more durable, which could mean that one day it would be safe for people to travel on rockets without having to be astronauts themselves.
We may live in space soon
Elon Musk and Richard Branson are not only looking at ways to transport people to space on a space tour, but Elon Musk is also looking at ways to make living in space one day become a reality.
Once again, under SpaceX and in the race to space Elon Musk predicts that over a million humans could settle down and build civilizations on Mars by the year 2060.
It might sound something straight out of a science fiction movie, but Elon Musk’s thinking to expand human civilization towards becoming multi-planetary is on the correct path, if we are to ensure the survival of mankind.
As Earth’s resources continue to deplete as a result of a rapid increase in the global population, sooner or later the Earth may cease to be able to accommodate everyone. Perhaps civilizations settled across different planets can evolve and adapt and give hope to the future of mankind.
Elon Musk’s plan to bring people to settle down on Mars in the mid-2020s however it would not come cheap. It would take a long time before normal people can even afford a seat on Musk’s voyage to Mars.
Till that dream actually becomes a reality, we will just have to suffice with watching movies such as Passengers that give a glimpse into what life traveling to another planet might be like.