Washington, DC, September 17, 2024 --  

Billionaire playboys are taking their joyrides to outer space. Wasteful or not, the world might still benefit.

When the four person crew of the private Polaris Dawn space mission successfully splashed down near Florida on Sunday, they'd racked up a number of spaceflight firsts.  They went further from earth than any human since the Apollo moon landing program.  They performed the first four-person space walk, and the first one done by a private company.¹

Space X, which built and operated the rocket and Crew Dragon capsule that sent the astronauts into space, lauded the successful mission as a milestone of Space X CEO Elon Musk's plan to send humans to Mars.  Must seeks to land on the planet by the end of the decade and ultimately build a self-sustaining Martian colony.  Such grand plans are lauded by space enthusiasts while yielding criticism from skeptics and Musk detractors.  Yet, with each success like Polaris Dawn, it is hard to dismiss Musk's ideas entirely.

The Polaris Dawn mission itself was bankrolled by billionaire and aviation enthusiast Jared Isaacman who made his money with the Shift4 payments service.  Like Musk, he is a strong personality who inserted himself as commander of the Polaris Dawn mission as well as the prior 2021 Polaris flight that was the first private space mission.  While not completely without scientific merit, some of Isaacman's activites, including his history of flying fighter planes, joining the two Polaris space flights himself,  and placing a bet on two NFL games from space during the first mission², make him look more like a tech bro blowing his money on cool stunts than advancing science.

Last week's Polaris mission featured its own publicity stunt, but this one was a little less tacky and bro-ey.  This time a Space X employee playing a violin from the capsule to a tune from a Star Wars movie to raise money for a children's hospital.

Such cheap showiness may just be how things get done with private space flight -- businessmen have to raise funds, and captivating public excitement and satisfying the whims of those with the money to get things done can sometimes what it takes to do that.  And to be fair, government-controlled space flight has engaged in similarly useless and self-serving behavior of different types.  Recall when ageing astronaut turned powerful Senator John Glenn lobbied to have himself be given a free ride on the Space Shuttle purportedly to study the effects of space on the aging body. 

But self-serving antics also echo the criticism leveled at Musk's bigger-picture aspirations to colonize Mars.  Is this nothing more than a sci-fi inspired childhood dream of another tech mogul with even more billions of dollars to spend on cool stunts?  Maybe.  But even if it is, some of the technology needed to get to Mars has practical uses.   The cost savings to the U.S. government and commercial satellite operators by Space X's commercial launch vehicle development.  By some estimates, Space X launch costs are 30 times lower that of the retired space shuttle.³

And cost savings aside, there is no question that Space X has made impressive technical advancements.  The idea of a rocket returning to the earth and landing on its tail to be used again originated in n 1950s science fiction.  But Musk's Space X engineers have made it reality.  

The company's giant prototype Starship vehicle has made a number of test flights, although none yet managing to reach orbit.  A new test flight is being readied for the end of this year pending regulatory approval.  

For all of the accomplishments of Space X, the is so closely associated with its CEO that it is impossible to shake off his controversies.  Musk's history of outrageous and ill-advised statements is one problem.  His transformation of Twitter into a platform for extremist views and false claims is another.  And his recent endorsement of former president and insurrection supporter Donald Trump is perhaps most problematic.

Inventors and industrialists have often been strong personalities with extremist views.  Henry Ford's fascist sympathies are the most widely known  example.  But while Ford's ugly ideas rightfully tarnish his reputation, they do nothing to alter his immense technical achievements.

The same is true with Space X and Musk.  Time will tell whether his dreams or reaching Mars will prove an eccentric billionaire's wasteful folly, or a useful vision to channel technical innovation.  As long as Musk can do so with private investors' money, the world may as well sit back and enjoy the show.

Notes:

1. CNN, SpaceX Polaris Dawn Crew Returns Home After History-Making Mission, September 15, 2024

2. Space.com, Inspiration4 Commander Jared Isaacman Places First-Ever Sports Bets From Space, September 17, 2021

3. American Enterprise Institute, Moore’s Law Meet Musk’s Law: The Underappreciated Story of SpaceX and the Stunning Decline in Launch Costs, March 26, 2024