people,
44
and his launching of a Tesla car into space became an impressive symbol.
45
Beyond entertainment and human idealism regarding space exploration,
Musk remains an entrepreneur who has made great use of the financial system. In
2015, Google and the Fidelity Fund invested more than $1 billion into SpaceX,
making the company’s potential stock quotation skyrocket to $20 billion. These
loans will be repaid with due interest.
Musk is certainly aware that the business of astronautics, including a possible
landing on Mars, hardly pays back the huge investments required to get there. Yet
he is committed to it and has the support of NASA itself. But if governments see
astronautics as a means of geopolitical and strategic supremacy, for an entrepreneur like Elon Musk, it represents a way to create other companies that do not
exist today and whose services will become so profitable as to make several billion dollars.
While we can be hopeful, we must remain realistic about the possibility of
colonizing the red planet in the near term. Perhaps we can do so with future terraforming plans, where we might thaw the water of the Martian poles and then
insert bacteria capable of producing oxygen and forming a breathable atmosphere
for humankind.
46
But are there any specific reasons to go to Mars so soon?
A geopolitical confrontation like that which informed the Apollo missions does
not seem likely to generate a modern space race to Mars. The costs of the Apollo
project exceeded $200 billion, but a landing on Mars could easily take a sum five
or ten times greater. There are certainly reasons detached from politics to explore
the Moon and the planets, including scientific discoveries and the search for other
forms of life in the Universe. But if these are the ultimate goals, it is difficult to
counter the argument for more effective robotic space exploration, rather than
human exploration.
The missions with unmanned probes are achievable with a financial investment acceptable for the economies of the most industrialized nations, while a
mission with astronauts greatly increases the complexity of the project and consequently the costs. How can we justify spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to send humans on Mars if we will soon have robotic systems
capable of processing enormous amounts of information and moving autonomously in the coming years?
Advocates of human exploration believe that it is essential to have the versatility
and independent judgment of humans, who observe the conditions around them
and can react to circumstances accordingly. However, humans are very fragile.
They continually need food, water and air, can only live in a narrow range of temperatures and cannot survive well in a vacuum or in a radioactive environment. And
44
https://www.spacex.com/mars.
45
http://time.com/5136400/spacex-elon-musk-tesla-space/.
46
http://www.lastampa.it/2017/01/04/scienza/saremo-marziani-rUIqD0Cbbtqih6bkwmq0WM/pagina.html.
Mars: Next Stop? 133
44
and his launching of a Tesla car into space became an impressive symbol.
45
Beyond entertainment and human idealism regarding space exploration,
Musk remains an entrepreneur who has made great use of the financial system. In
2015, Google and the Fidelity Fund invested more than $1 billion into SpaceX,
making the company’s potential stock quotation skyrocket to $20 billion. These
loans will be repaid with due interest.
Musk is certainly aware that the business of astronautics, including a possible
landing on Mars, hardly pays back the huge investments required to get there. Yet
he is committed to it and has the support of NASA itself. But if governments see
astronautics as a means of geopolitical and strategic supremacy, for an entrepreneur like Elon Musk, it represents a way to create other companies that do not
exist today and whose services will become so profitable as to make several billion dollars.
While we can be hopeful, we must remain realistic about the possibility of
colonizing the red planet in the near term. Perhaps we can do so with future terraforming plans, where we might thaw the water of the Martian poles and then
insert bacteria capable of producing oxygen and forming a breathable atmosphere
for humankind.
46
But are there any specific reasons to go to Mars so soon?
A geopolitical confrontation like that which informed the Apollo missions does
not seem likely to generate a modern space race to Mars. The costs of the Apollo
project exceeded $200 billion, but a landing on Mars could easily take a sum five
or ten times greater. There are certainly reasons detached from politics to explore
the Moon and the planets, including scientific discoveries and the search for other
forms of life in the Universe. But if these are the ultimate goals, it is difficult to
counter the argument for more effective robotic space exploration, rather than
human exploration.
The missions with unmanned probes are achievable with a financial investment acceptable for the economies of the most industrialized nations, while a
mission with astronauts greatly increases the complexity of the project and consequently the costs. How can we justify spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to send humans on Mars if we will soon have robotic systems
capable of processing enormous amounts of information and moving autonomously in the coming years?
Advocates of human exploration believe that it is essential to have the versatility
and independent judgment of humans, who observe the conditions around them
and can react to circumstances accordingly. However, humans are very fragile.
They continually need food, water and air, can only live in a narrow range of temperatures and cannot survive well in a vacuum or in a radioactive environment. And
44
https://www.spacex.com/mars.
45
http://time.com/5136400/spacex-elon-musk-tesla-space/.
46
http://www.lastampa.it/2017/01/04/scienza/saremo-marziani-rUIqD0Cbbtqih6bkwmq0WM/pagina.html.
Mars: Next Stop? 133