Mad man, Genius, or both?

Marcus House: How is SpaceX Starship Revolutionizing Our World!? The Epic Future Awaits!



Predictions are hard, especially about the future. Thus said the baseball great, Yogi Berra. One thing Musk has, it's this rather expansive and hopeful view of the future. But is it just dreamy, or a realistic possibility? He is well on the way to achieving at least a partly successful goal. First things first, though. He has to get the Starship into orbit. He has to get it to deorbit safely. Once he gets to that point, he will have achieved what a few others have already achieved.

But he wants far more. In order to make this economically viable, the Starship must be fully resusable. This will make each launch cheaper. When that is achieved, he intends to launch frequently. This too, will have the effect of making each launch more affordable. That's because each launch will be amortized over the many launches that are planned for each reusable vehicle. There will be a fleet of these ships. Each will be built inside of a factory. The factory is geared up to mass produce each ship. Of course, mass production lowers costs per ship. Consequently, Musk has conceived of, and now is in the process of executing, an economic plan to make a new profitable industry that will enable the colonization of new worlds. A heady achievement, if realized.

Is this madness? Or is it genius? Such may have been said about many things that we now take for granted. For a brief time in the late 19th and early 20th century, this kind of material progress was common place. Indeed, back in the beginning of the human presence in space, it was considered the normal thing that humans would colonize other worlds. However, in the last 50 years or so, human material progress has slowed down. It is thought that we may have reached humans' "limits to growth". Perhaps Musk will show a way that will disprove that, and a new burst of progress will be realized.

So, is it all just a dream? Perhaps. Or, perhaps there is a more suitable goal that we don't know about yet. Perhaps this, or perhaps that.

We could be living a dream come true. Others may say we may be end up in a living nightmare. Time will tell. I say, onwards and upwards. To our future. May it be a bright one.