November 23, 2024
Free Flow Thinking: What the Success of SpaceX’s Starship Really Means
It’s become increasingly clear that very few people understand what the success of Elon Musk’s Starship really means for humanity, I can hardly blame them, however, as people are busy going about living their lives.
I happen to be one of the relatively few who understand the implications of Starship, but then I’ve been ga-ga over spaceflight since I was five years old and my older brother took me outside, pointed to the moon, old me that their were men up there walking around, I’m fairly confident that is when I was bitten by the bug, the fascination with space, science-fiction, with Star Trek.
Since the early days of SpaceX I must admit that as impressive as the Falcon 9 and Falcon Super Heavy are, it was always Starship that impressed me the most, The world’s biggest rocket, taking people to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond…
The truth is that it is Starship that will transform humanity into the space-faring civilization envisioned by Elon Musk, it is Starship that will carry humanity to neighboring planets and I imagine one day, to the stars.
But why, how can I make such boastful claims? Aren’t I simply repeating words spoken repeatedly by Musk? No, I’m not, well…okay, maybe I am, but I share Musk’s vision, I understand how Starship will change everything. Here, let me share some of my thoughts with you.
It is a fact that before SpaceX, space travel was been prohibitively expensive for everyone other than nation states. “But why was space travel so expensive,: you may ask; good question. The answer is simple, with the exception of the Space Shuttle nearly every launch vehicle was only used one-time. Try to imagine if every train, plane, freighter & passenger ships, tractor-trailers, etc. could only be used one-time; who could afford to travel or to transport goods? While the space shuttles were used multiple times, they were prohibitively expensive to maintain, and they continued using 1970s era computers.
Now enter SpaceX with Starship, a massive ship, or perhaps I should call it a massive transportation system into and throughout space. The entire ship can be used time and time again, and Musk has modeled SpaceX after Tesla, or perhaps Ford and its assembly line, which transformed American manufacturing.
SpaceX is making the cost of traveling into space, the cost of transporting goods into space, so much cheaper than say NASA, that it will enable businesses all over the world to transport both people and cargo into space. With the ability to carry over 100 tons of cargo or 100 people, companies or governments can now ship heavy equipment to mining colonies on the moon and nearby asteroids. Space stations can be easily erected because of the massive amount of materials and equipment each Starship flight can carry. Elon Musk & Gwen Stockwell have not only built a revolutionary ship, they are revolutionizing space travel itself, turning Starship a modern-day freighter ship, freight train, railroad, all rolled into one incredible spaceship.
Suddenly, scientists can setup a research station on the moon, on an asteroid, even a nearby planet. Companies can begin mining asteroids for materials not even found on Earth, just waiting to be discovered, and tourists can travel to a space station orbiting another world. In fact, I can even en vision FedEx setting up shop at stops throughout the Solar System.
Starship just successfully launched Test Flight 6, which proved Starship could ignite in space, and it is expected that the next flight, Flight 7, will be a full orbit. Not one to take small steps it is relatively easy to envision SpaceX sending Starships to the moon and even to Mars, withing 1-2 years. I expect they will start unmanned missions carrying cargo in order to ensure everything needed to begin living on a new world will be waiting on the intrepid volunteers who choose to leave Earth for Mars and I believe there will be many, as crazy as that sounds.
So stay tuned, and join me as I watch and wait as I watch the future I always imagined unfold before my eyes. Captain James T. Kirk, eat your heart out (what a strange expression when you stop to think about it, am I right?).
Jeff W Horton strives to write fun, exciting, revealing, and widely entertaining fiction with a slight Christian flavor.
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