Commercial space companies in the spotlight

Humanity’s scientific curiosity about the universe is on the rise. The world’s wealthiest people are putting their money into space enterprises. There are several instances, but notable ones include Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bazos’ Blue Origin, and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. So let’s go investigate right now! 

SpaceX. Space X is a company established in California in 2002 which has been making space rockets, and is also working on a project called Starlink. Starlink is a large-scale communication satellite project that enables Internet access even where the Internet is not available. The rockets made so far include the Falcon 1, 5, 9, the Falcon Heavy, and the Starship launch system. They are famous for producing reusable rolet, which brought revolution to the industry. They will be sending humans to the moon, which is part of NASA’s Artemis project. Ultimately CEO Elon Musk, has a plan of Mars colonization. 

Blue Origin is a commercial space company founded in 2000 by CEO Jeff Bezos in Amazon. In 2021, Jeff Beth came and went to space aboard his company’s rocket. Shepard is the name of their main rocket. It is a company that is in rivalry with Spacex. 

Virgin Galactic is a company founded by Sir Richard Branson, famous for Virgin Airlines, with the goal of successful travel in space. It is the only publicly traded company of the three, and Richard Branson went to space in the summer of 2021. They already sold 600 tickets for their space adventure program. 

We are now taking a leap forward to go out into space. Space companies are emerging and competition is heating up. It is important for commercial space companies to make some plans about space exploration because there are limitations when governments do all of the space projects like moon station and Mars colonization. Commercial space companies can run by their budget, not from tax revenue. Also, space companies will not only make a huge profit but it will also enable people to think widely.

By: Yoonjun Song