The Next Space Race Is Now
A new era of space exploration awaits
Following the end of The Second World War in the 1940s, international superpowers began testing rocket propulsion systems in aircraft, leading to supersonic planes such as the North American X-15 and eventually to the first Race for Space. Currently, a new competition is stirring between private companies looking to once again venture beyond our world.
Who’s Involved?
While there are many private companies conducting various kinds of work in the space industry, three stand above the rest. They’ve all showcased ingenuity, reliability, and signs for a successful future.
SpaceX
Likely the one most people have heard of, in recent years Elon Musk and SpaceX have absolutely revolutionized the space industry with their innovation and reliability. A few of their spectacular achievements are listed below:
- Tested and developed technology to autonomously land booster rockets, which drastically reduced the cost of an individual launch
- Have launched over 1,500 satellites for a global internet project called Starlink
- In partnership with NASA, they became the first private company to launch humans to space and were a part of the first space launch from American soil since the end of the Space Shuttle missions in 2011
- On track to finish Starship by 2023, a spacecraft that will likely land people on Mars in the future
While SpaceX did get off to a faulty start with their first 3 launches of Falcon 1 ending in failure, their fourth flight went mostly to plan, and without a major catastrophe. Since then, SpaceX has shown incredible reliability, with 124 of 126 missions with the Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy being deemed successes as of June 30, 2021.
For the most part, SpaceX has focused on reliable and cost-efficient flight, looking to transport satellites into orbit for a profit as well as developing a network for Starlink. However, they have recently been expanding into space tourism and are scheduled to transport Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa along with eight other passengers to lunar orbit by the end of 2023.
Blue Origin
Founded by Jeff Bezos in September, 2000 Blue Origin is a private company looking to provide space tourism safely and efficiently. With the backing of Bezos, they have been able to develop their New Shepard rocket, capable of sending 6 people to space for 11 minutes, and landing them safely on the ground afterward.
At the time of writing this on July 18, 2021, Blue Origin has conducted many successful test flights of their New Shepard rocket but has never sent actual humans to space yet. However, in two days they plan to send 4 people to a height of 62 miles above the Earth’s surface. The passengers include Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, 82-year-old Wally Funk, and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. If all goes well then Wally Funk will be the oldest person to go to space and Oliver Daemen the youngest.
Virgin Galactic
Part of the Virgin Group owned by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Galactic is a main competitor to SpaceX and Blue Origin in the race to democratize space. They are focused on the up-and-coming market of space tourism and have already performed a few successful test flights, including one with Branson himself as well as three company employees and the two pilots.
Virgin Galactic is focused solely on space tourism, announcing recently that a ticket for a 1-hour journey to the edge of space costs $250,000, certainly in the realm of possibility for many multi-millionaires and billionaires.
Additionally, Richard Branson has looked to branch out from Virgin Galactic in recent years. Founded in March, 2017 Virgin Orbit is also part of the larger Virgin Group, but aiming to profit from sending satellites and other payloads into space, not involved in transporting humans there.
Differences and Similarities
With all three companies being owned separately and with at least slightly different objectives and plans for the future, it’s understandable that there will be some notable differences and similarities between them.
Similarities
There are many similar aspects of the companies that are competing to privatize space and transform the future of humanity. For starters, they are all being funded by billionaire entrepreneurs who see the growing potential of the space market in modern times. Additionally, they’ve all shown reliability and safety with their launches for the most part.
Both SpaceX and Blue Origin competed to earn a contract with NASA to design and build a lunar lander for the Artemis missions in 2024, with SpaceX eventually winning out. After protesting the decision for many months, Blue Origin may have another opportunity as a bill was recently passed to give NASA an extra $10 billion in funding. In turn, NASA will be required to give another company money for a lunar lander, and that company will likely be Blue Origin.
Differences
A key difference between the companies is their exact goals. As of now, SpaceX are not too concerned with space tourism like the other companies are, but notably do plan to use Starship to take large amounts of people into orbit. Virgin Galactic‘s entire business is to give people access to space for a price, and Blue Origin is a bit of a hybrid, focusing both on tourism and on designing hardware and infrastructure for sustainable use on other planets.
Focusing specifically on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic space tourism, while ticket prices for Blue Origin are not listed but are likely more expensive than those for Virgin Galactic, and the higher price does indeed come with more value. For example, the Virgin Galactic flight starts on an actual plane, a giant mothership in fact. Once that plane reaches an altitude of roughly 45,000 feet the spaceplane will disconnect from the mothership and rocket to a height of just over 50 miles above the surface of the Earth. Including the coast to landing the whole journey will take about an hour and a half.
On the other hand, the Blue Origin flight will be a lot shorter, at only 11 minutes. This is because passengers on Blue Origin’s New Shepard will be transported by a true rocket, not a spaceplane. The autonomous capsule will detach from the main rocket, providing passengers with microgravity for 2-3 minutes at a peak altitude of just over 62 miles above the Earth’s surface. It will then make a descent towards Earth, using parachutes to land safely on the ground.
While they are all thinking of how to thrive in the future, it may be said that Elon Musk and SpaceX are thinking a bit farther down the line in terms of their efforts to build a fleet of Starships and establish a colony on Mars. It may pay off for them, or they may end up running out of funds before they get to that point, although that does seem unlikely.
Who’s on Top?
So, now that it’s been established who the main contenders of the next Space Race are, which one is ahead? Well, it’s a pretty complex answer. Assuming that the Blue Origin flight in a few days from when this is written goes nominally and according to plan, one could make the argument that they may be in a close lead. After all, they would have just demonstrated a safe and likely enjoyable experience for their customers. Additionally, it’s looking increasingly likely that there will be an opportunity for another company to develop a contract with NASA for a lunar lander, and it’s a good chance that company will be Blue Origin.
On the other hand, Virgin Galactic have already conducted a perfect test flight of their spacecraft the VSS Unity and have plans to start making routine flights for paying customers in 2022. Furthermore, Virgin Galactic tickets are almost definitely considerably cheaper than Blue Origin’s, so they may have more immediate interest in the years to come.
While these are all good arguments for Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, it’s hard to discount Elon Musk and SpaceX. They’ve achieved so many historic milestones in private spaceflight and aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. If Starlink is successful and able to fund the development of a fleet of Starship spacecraft as well as infrastructure for colonies on Mars, it may be SpaceX that are leaving their competitors behind. Although, it’s well known that nothing is ever guaranteed in the space industry. For now, we’ll just have to sit back and watch it play out as we gaze eagerly into the night sky, dreaming about the future of humanity.
