What's so attractive about space travel that world's richest men fancy?

How many of you have seriously thought about the possibility of human existence on a neighboring planet, especially during the lockdown last year? Not entirely out of curiosity but due to the precarious times we are living in, courtesy the Covid-19 pandemic, I did give a shot to the idea of space travel and ended up researching about it. This is when I stumbled about an interesting fact about two of the richest men in the world.

While I viewed it purely as one of the many ways to survive a catastrophe, what makes Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos invest in space missions so religiously?

Tesla’s boss Elon Musk launched SpaceX, a company wholly dedicated to private space technology, way back in 2002 with an aim to reduce space transportation cost to enable colonisation on Mars. Today, the company is one of the most aggressive players in the arena of space technology, giving a handsome run to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). It has previously sent a number of NASA astronauts to the International Space Station and is open to send private astronauts as well but on a much higher price. SpaceX envisions to send its first ‘all civilians’ crew into the orbit by the end of 2021 under its highly anticipated mission – ‘Inspiration4’.

Elon Musk recently announced that SpaceX will land humans on Mars by 2026. This will be made possible, according to Musk, by investing approximately $3 billion into the initiative. A part of this whopping figure – $850 million – was raised in 2020, the company announced in a regulatory filing.

Musk has earned enough for his sharp business acumen, so much so, that he was declared world’s richest by Forbes magazine in March – pipping Bezos. The constant juggle for the top position has been going on between Musk and Bezos for quite sometime now.

Having said that, one must notice that two of the richest men in the world share common interest in space travel as well. Bezos, who is expected to step down as Amazon’s CEO this year, has been advancing the multi planetary human existence dreams through his company – Blue Origin. Interestingly, Blue Origin’s tagline is enough to highlight Bezos’s vision with the firm, it reads “Earth, in all its beauty, is just our starting place.”

Similar to SpaceX, Blue Origin is working on a roadmap to achieve Bezos’s dream that envisions “low-cost access to space”. It is working towards payload launches, reusable orbit launch vehicles and moon landing technology. The company recently claimed that it was close to “blasting off into space with humans.”

Space colonies, a term introduced by Bezos in 2019, is a dream that encapsulates ‘spinning cylinders floating out there with all kinds of environments.’

“These are very large structures, miles on end, and they hold a million people or more each,” Amazon CEO was quoted saying in several media reports.

Space innovation has definitely experienced a boost with two billionaires giving so much of their time, money and interest in the field. Now, one might wonder where is this interest generating from and why? Maybe, they see it as the next big thing that will help them retain their position of power in the world, maybe they see it as an eventuality to human existence or maybe they know something that we don’t!

The fact that life on Earth is pretty much in a fuss right now with the Covid-19 pandemic taking over the world in ways one couldn’t have imagined, space missions can make sense. An invisible virus is literally controlling human movement today, it has led companies to shut down and millions have lost their lives at the same time. Perhaps, this could be one reason why Bezos and Musk are looking for a decisive roadmap to get off the planet.

But what must be noted here is how, again, a handful of people are deciding the future for the entire humanity. Do we realise the vastness of our dependence on technology which is owned by select few IT moguls of Silicon Valley ? One must value the fact that it wasn’t Musk or Bezos who invented the internet or made space travel possible. It was a collective effort of so many brilliant minds.

Let us not put our fate entirely in the hands of tech titans. This means – we as inhabitants of planet Earth must remain constantly aware of technological developments, read about it and ask questions. We should start imagining better possibilities and look beyond a textbook approach.