The Future Of Space Travel and SpaceX Is Beyond Imagination

By-Krutarth Vashi

To infinity and beyond :
On February 6, 2018 at 15:45 hours, the most powerful rocket in the world, Falcon Heavy, manufactured by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral into deep space, and it fired the dreams of a new era of 21 st century discovery. Spearheaded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, SpaceX is already making announcements for the colonisation of Mars and making short trips to the red planet starting as soon as 2022. Amazon founder Jeff Besoz isn’t far behind with his space company, Blue Origin, eyeing lunar colonization after successfully landing the fired rockets on the base. Richard Branson and his Virgin Galactic aims to carve a tourist market by flying holiday makers into space for short trips.

Colonisation on Mars:
The tech mogul in a press release confirmed that his company, SpaceX, aims to land at least 2 cargo-ships on Mars in 2022 for laying the power structure and life support systems.
That’s not a typo — although it is aspirational, Musk said during a presentation at the International
Astronautical Congress in Australia.
However, the space research and exploration needs serious amount of investment. Considering the case of Falcon Heavy, the entire launch cost is estimated to be around $90 mn. But SpaceX thinks it would be able to generate enough capital from its current business of launching satellites and aiding the International Space Station. Elon Musk aims to make the Falcon Rocket reusable so as to bring down the cost of subsequent launches. And his idea has been well supported by space agencies and governments equally.

What’s Next for SpaceX?
Elon Musk declared in February last year that SpaceX will fly two tourists to moon sometime in 2018, which will be SpaceX’s first mission with humans on board. Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration, SpaceX representatives said in the statement.

Hyperloop and Earth travel                                                                                                           During the Astronautical Conference in Australia, Musk said if you are building a ship capable of reaching Mars, the same technology can be used for high-speed transport on earth. Referring to his “in-design- phase” rocket, Musk said the underground travel through Hyper-loop, is capable of travelling at 700 mphmaking the journey time from New York to Shanghai in 40 minutes flat. If successful, this would be a ground breaking success and will forever change the way the world travels. As far as the space exploration is considered, only time will tell which of the visionaries would eventually succeed but it remains an enticing prospect that offers rich rewards to entrepreneurs and to the society.