Commercial space travel is about to become a reality brought about by many private companies bent on taking their earthbound successes into space. The FAA has been open to granting permits to private companies to travel into space for several years now. NASA has been working with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to deliver supplies to the space station. NASA is also working in conjunction with SpaceX to facilitate the exploration and colonization of Mars. Musk has a goal to take humans to live on Mars in about ten years. It is hoped that cooperation between various corporations and NASA will lead to the colonization of Mars by 2025.
NASA is building partnerships with several commercial industry corporations including ULA Orbital/ATK and many others through programs called NextSTEP and NextSTEP 2, in order to advance the rapid development of propulsion, habitats, satellites and more. Selected companies are working in partnership with NASA, developing the technology needed for mankind to probe deep space. They will be focusing on both Mars and the space around the moon.
Elon Musk of SpaceX has the goal of beginning the colonization of Mars in the next decade. He plans to make commercial space travel and colonization a reality in his lifetime, according to The Washington Post. Mr. Musk is the mastermind behind both Tesla and SpaceX. He is one of the most brilliant minds of our time. An innovator and businessman, Elon has a track record of making dreams a reality and turning his plans into tangible results. Comparing his project to the colonization of America, Mr. Musk explains why he thinks people will agree to move to mars.
“The months-long journey is sure to be hard, risky, dangerous, difficult, [but] just as with the establishment of the English colonies, there are people who love that. They want to be the pioneers.”
Commercial space travel with the goal of eventual colonization of Mars is being facilitated by Elon Musk, SpaceX and a variety of companies under NASA’s NextSTEP program. The project allows NASA to combine their own efforts with teamwork and delegation to private companies who are committed to their mutual goal of transporting potential pioneers to Mars.
Companies working through the NextSTEP program are partnering with NASA to build actual size, on the ground habitats and test them for safety. This private and public partnership allows various corporations to develop different aspects of different projects with the common goal of deep space exploration and colonization. The six prototypes will be developed by six different companies including Boeing. They will be responsible for design analysis, demonstration, and testing according to The Te Cake.
Commercial space travel, including travel, transport, and colonization under the NextSTEP program, is a cooperative effort. The companies signed on through the NextSTEP corporation, are working on projects intended to facilitate the development of extraplanetary travel technology quickly and efficiently according to NASA. The human race will no longer be earthbound, and they will have corporations to thank for designing these projects. Not all the projects are similar. Lockheed Martin worked to build new parts for the ISS. The space shuttle transported these parts to the ISS. The Sierra Nevada Corporation is working on inflatable fabric space habitat components to attach to interplanetary travel vehicles.
NASA and NextSTEP partner Orbital ATK is working to make launch vehicles more comfortable for long term habitation, while Texas-based NanoRacks will be responsible for conducting a feasibility study, involving the conversion of an existing launch vehicle’s upper stage, which is the propellant segment, into a pressurized inhabitable volume, or livable area, in space.
Commercial space travel including exploration, transportation, and colonization through NextSTEP is being managed by NASA under the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. The purpose is stated to be the building of prototypes. These prototypes are being designed to make the habitation of Mars and perhaps eventually other planets possible. These are vital when SpaceX takes human beings off the Earth and onto another planet for the first time.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is preparing for a launch their Falcon 9, which will launch the JCSAT-16 satellite into space, according to NASA Space Flight. This latest Falcon 9 is tasked with lofting the JCSAT-16 satellite into its Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GEO) on August 14, once again involving the first stage making a landing attempt on the drone ship. Elon wants to develop spacecraft that are reusable, rather than waste all the parts, on every trip. This would make travel to another planet more affordable. Ultimately, though, Mr. Musk’s goal is to colonize Mars. Part of Elon’s plan is affordability. He wants ordinary people to be able to afford to travel to Mars if they want to move there.
Elon Musk wants to develop spacecraft that are reusable, rather than waste all the parts, on every trip. This would make travel to another planet more affordable. Ultimately, Mr. Musk’s goal is to colonize Mars. Part of Elon’s plan is affordability. He wants ordinary people to be able to afford to travel to Mars if they want to move there.
Commercial space travel, exploration, and transportation by Elon Musk, SpaceX, NASA, and companies working through the NextSTEP program are part of a plan to colonize Mars within the next decade.
[Photo by NASA/Getty Images]
