The Washington Post has a feature called “In Theory” which takes a look at various, off-the-usual-beat topics. This week that topic is space exploration, and they led with this unusually accurate and comprehensive article on the challenges faced by both commercial and government funded ventures:
The privatization of space exploration isn’t new. Much of the United States’ work in space is already accomplished through government contracts with private companies: Lockheed Martin won the contract to build and launch the New Horizons probe, and NASA chose SpaceX and a few of its rivals to resupply the International Space Station through 2024. Still, the primary objective for these projects was to serve the interests of science and discovery rather than the goals of the companies, which is why a growing trend toward commercialization is so notable.
I’d quibble on the term privatization, both because of its negative connotations and inaccuracy. But commercialization, with all its attendant advantages and disadvantages, is right on. That’s the only way anyone can see the solar system being developed inside ten generations, if at all. There’s just no other viable path outside of a renewed, and so far undeveloped, public appetite for space exploration surpassing the moonshot days.
Going to Mars using souped up Apollo methods would be like getting across San Francisco Bay in a stone-age kayak and deciding your next logical destination is Hawaii. And Mars is easy compared to most of the solar system. It’s not that we’re tiny, it’s that the solar system is really big and we need new spacecrafts, new power sources, and lots of new technology in general to take it on, regardless if the crew on-board or on the ground wear government insignia or corporate logos.