Elon Musk Is Revolutionizing Space Travel with SpaceX

SpaceX is a company that was found by Elon Musk. When he was in his 20’s he started SpaceX after selling PayPal to eBay for 1.5 billion dollars. He is co-founder and CEO of multiple companies such as Tesla, SolarCity, and the obvious SpaceX. He has invested nearly all of his fortune into his companies multiple times. He has gambled his money in the industry nearly becoming bankrupt when SpaceX and Tesla failed to deliver multiple times.SpaceX became mainstream in the last few years because of his ambitions in revolutionizing space travel, something that had not changed in decades.

Elon and his companies have been doing some really intriguing things lately. He has been in the public eye for some time now for the incredible innovations his companies have made in the tech industry. SpaceX is an American private aerospace manufacturer that has been developing a technology that allows rockets to be reused after launches, a technological breakthrough. He set the bar higher by pushing the envelope further than anybody has ever done. SpaceX is the only private company to ever launch a liquid propelled rocket into orbit. Launching a rocket into space is a difficult task especially when your funding isn't as big as government-funded agencies like NASA. Government space agencies have been launching rockets the same way since the first successful rocket launch back in 1950. For decades rocket launches cost hundreds of millions of dollars. SpaceX came up with a way to bring costs down by hundreds of millions by reusing rockets thrusters these are the boosters where the thrust is throttled through. NASA can spend anywhere from 100 to 260 million dollars per launch. This means new rockets and most importantly more millions every time they are going to launch something into space.

On the other hand, according to Journalist Dagogo Altraide says “Elon's methods are drastically cheaper”. It cost SpaceX right around 57 million dollars to make a Falcon-9 rocket, and it burns 200 thousand dollars or fuel per launch. Think about it this way. Once that rocket pays for itself it will cost SpaceX another 200 thousand dollars per launch. Compared to NASA's 200 million. If you ask me that is definitely a breakthrough in space travel. Not to mention the way they have innovated the way rockets thrusters are recovered. It looks like something straight from a movie. Elon said it himself “you can tell it’s real because it looks so fake”. SpaceX developed a technology so advanced and revolutionary that they now have the most powerful rockets being used today, the “Falcon Heavy”. It makes 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and is substantially cheaper than any rocket that comes even close to it. There is no other rocket that has the ability to be reused and that can carry twice the weight of its closest competitor.

These are all great facts but why should we care about this? We the people should care about this because they have changed the game by opening up so many doors and possibilities. SpaceX will be the new catalyst for a space race. Many technologies that we use on a daily basis come from NASA. Many of the sensors on our phones, computer mouses, solar panels and even artificial limbs we will not have if it weren't for space travel research from NASA. From what we have seen from competition comes rivalry, someone always wants to be ahead of the other by a long shot. Technology only ever improves when there is a demand for it to change and move forward. SpaceX will be that catalyst to make this happen. Our tax money goes towards NASA for research and space exploration. As I stated before NASA rocket launches cost hundreds of millions more than SpaceX launches. Now, what happens when SpaceX starts sharing this technology with the world. This will make space travel so much cheaper and it will allow NASA to explore more into space and develop new technologies. NASA has around 19 billion dollar yearly founding that comes from the taxpayer. They don't have the ability to launch those expensive conventional rockets as much as they wish. SpaceX is going to offer Moon tours by the next year through the Falcon Heavy. Although this will be for extremely wealthy people the option will be there if you have the money it is something to look forward to because Elon wants to democratize space travel and make it accessible to the average Joe.