Human innovation has been the driving force of change since the dawn of civilization. Once we invent something incredible, the next step is to improve upon it. In the last few centuries the factor of improvement has been based on affordability. This can be seen in today's society with the invention of the telephone, television, and computer.
Once these items were invented, the next logical step would be to make them easier to produce and more affordable. We are a society driven by profit and the only way to increase profit is to decrease the cost of an item. Why buy a product for $300 when we can get it $5 cheaper elsewhere? This has been the basis for all inventions since the beginning; this is due in no small part by the introduction to private business. The free market economy many countries use today has birthed some incredible innovations from pre-existing technology. The television used to only have black and white colors, the telephone used to need a landline to function, and the computer used to be as large as an entire room. Innovation with the decrease in cost has made technology grow and the competition within a free market economy has only added to the desire to innovate.
Over the last decade the private world has begun to delve into space, a frontier once only controlled by the three largest superpowers in the world. Since NASA first sent a man to the moon till now, so many innovations have been made in the field. However one key factor never changed; it is ridiculously expensive to send anything into space. As of right now, NASA's current propulsion technology can send one kilo to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for $18,000. This is expensive considering that's an entire year of college for some of us. However that is only one kilo; now imagine all the weight of the shuttle, the fuel, the cargo, the passengers; the number as one could imagine climbs significantly.
However, SpaceX, a private space company, has begun huge projects of their own. They have been teaming up with NASA for years by using their rockets to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) and have recently been testing out new propulsion technology. Last week was a huge week for SpaceX because they used their new Falcon 9 rocket to send cargo into LEO. What is impressive about this launch is that they were able to make the huge fuel tank of the rocket land back on Earth, unscathed. Since the beginning of space flight, NASA has been letting the massive fuel storage containers detach in LEO and slowly drift into orbit or fall back to Earth where it would be destroyed. This means that every time NASA wanted to launch another shuttle, they would need to manufacture new fuel containers, which drives up the cost of the mission.
SpaceX has created a rocket, the Falcon 9, that can be completely reused for each mission. This decreased the cost substantially, however, it is not the only thing SpaceX is doing to lower the cost of space flight. Their Falcon 9 is loaded with the most powerful thrusters in the field. This means that they can produce more power from their thrusters with less fuel. This also makes the cost of sending cargo into LEO less expensive. Finally, SpaceX manufactures all of its own parts; every piece of equipment is created by SpaceX. This differs from NASA who sends other companies contracts to build specific parts for them. By eliminating the 'middle man' from the equation, the cost of manufacturing all of the supplies drops significantly. This all helps drop the price to send a kilo into LEO to only $2,700.
NASA is still a crucial part of the space industry, and will be for a very long time; however, adding a private corporation into the mix will push our technology to the next level significantly faster. The less expensive it is to get into space the more our world will reap the benefits. NASA and SpaceX are doing incredible things and the goals for future space exploration are now becoming more and more of a reality.
