I think people conflate two different
things here when they talk about the
moving frontier of space exploration if
you’re going to advance a space frontier
you have gone farther than anyone has
gone before
to me that’s advancing a space frontier
anything else could be an engineering
frontier and of course there’s overlap
between the two
so SpaceX launched when it to orbit came
back and landed that’s great we’ve never
done that before
now we ask who is going to advance the
space frontier the history of this
exercise the high risk with little
promise of economic return for doing it
first the history that exercise tells me
that governments do it and they assign
the tasks and the patents get made and
discovered to accomplish these
previously untapped goals once that’s
quantified then you have private
enterprise come in and make a buck off
of it the first Europeans to the new
world were not the Dutch East India
Trading Company it was Columbus sent by
Spain Spain had other objectives they
have a baseline of time much longer than
a quarterly report or an annual report
it’s a clink tree countries can make
those kinds of investments particularly
if the long term return on that
investment is for the greater glory of
the country itself I don’t see SpaceX as
being like the private company that’s
going to take us to Mars they could do
it on a SpaceX rocket that’s not a new
thing the relationship between NASA and
all the rest what would be new is if
SpaceX said we’re going to Mars and we
don’t need any governmental help and
we’re going to do this as a complete
commercial exercise I just don’t see
that happening imagine the conversation
I’m CEO of a company and I want to be
the first to put a colony
on Venus but I’m a private company so
I’m bringing investors and they asked me
questions they say how much does it cost
I don’t know but more than has ever been
spent in space before okay there’s a
dangerous yes people will probably die
what’s the return on the investment I
don’t know probably nothing for a long
time that’s a really quick meaning the
government can say we want to go to
Venus because that strategic value
possible long-term economic value that
venture capitalist investors don’t have
the patience to wait out so I’m just
trying to be practical here and the way
civilizations have behaved ever since
there’s been civilization
things here when they talk about the
moving frontier of space exploration if
you’re going to advance a space frontier
you have gone farther than anyone has
gone before
to me that’s advancing a space frontier
anything else could be an engineering
frontier and of course there’s overlap
between the two
so SpaceX launched when it to orbit came
back and landed that’s great we’ve never
done that before
now we ask who is going to advance the
space frontier the history of this
exercise the high risk with little
promise of economic return for doing it
first the history that exercise tells me
that governments do it and they assign
the tasks and the patents get made and
discovered to accomplish these
previously untapped goals once that’s
quantified then you have private
enterprise come in and make a buck off
of it the first Europeans to the new
world were not the Dutch East India
Trading Company it was Columbus sent by
Spain Spain had other objectives they
have a baseline of time much longer than
a quarterly report or an annual report
it’s a clink tree countries can make
those kinds of investments particularly
if the long term return on that
investment is for the greater glory of
the country itself I don’t see SpaceX as
being like the private company that’s
going to take us to Mars they could do
it on a SpaceX rocket that’s not a new
thing the relationship between NASA and
all the rest what would be new is if
SpaceX said we’re going to Mars and we
don’t need any governmental help and
we’re going to do this as a complete
commercial exercise I just don’t see
that happening imagine the conversation
I’m CEO of a company and I want to be
the first to put a colony
on Venus but I’m a private company so
I’m bringing investors and they asked me
questions they say how much does it cost
I don’t know but more than has ever been
spent in space before okay there’s a
dangerous yes people will probably die
what’s the return on the investment I
don’t know probably nothing for a long
time that’s a really quick meaning the
government can say we want to go to
Venus because that strategic value
possible long-term economic value that
venture capitalist investors don’t have
the patience to wait out so I’m just
trying to be practical here and the way
civilizations have behaved ever since
there’s been civilization
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