By Isa Martinez
Staff Writer
SpaceX hit a record-setting launch after sending 143 satellites into orbit on Sunday, January 24. Founded by Elon Musk with the intention of reducing space transportation costs to begin the colonization of Mars, SpaceX is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation services company. The mission, Transporter-1, carried 10 satellites for Starlink, SpaceX’s internet network, and 130 various customer satellites. 12th-grade student and president of the astronomy club at MAST Academy, Artemis Theodoris, had a few things to say about the potential future of this industry.
“This is only the beginning of a new age and the opportunities are limitless,” she said.
Along with the Transporter-1 mission, a group of SpaceX astronauts broke another record. Their stay at the International space station officially superseded the 84-day mark in early February, a milestone which was initially set by the Skylab 4 crew in 1974. The Crew-1 astronauts, Shannon Walker, Victor Glover, Micheal Hopkins, and Soichi Noguchi, were sent to the International Space Station in November 2020 on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, and they are scheduled to stay at the station for around six months.
As can be expected, there is underlying competition in the space industry. Over the span of a few years, small satellites, ranging from the size of a cell phone to the size of a refrigerator, have gained relevance. In order to offer more convenient launches for these satellites, several new rocket corporations have promised to build smaller rockets. These companies, including Virgin Orbit, have successfully sent their scaled-down rockets into orbit to begin commercial services.
The company sent their LauncherOne rocket, carrying 10 of NASA’s miniature cube satellites, into space on January 17, 2021. The rocket departed from California soil underneath the wing of its carrier plane identified as Cosmic Girl. In comparison to previously vertically launched rockets, Virgin Orbit’s takeoff approach aimed to improve stability and resilience. The proposal to incorporate further missions which would release small satellites has never been done before, and indicates how much enthusiasm has developed in the field.
Jeff Bezos also seems to be making progress in the industry with his private space company known as Blue Origin. Their goal is to carry their first passengers on a ride to the edge of space’ within the next few months. Blue Origin completed the fourteenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket capsule in January 2021, finalizing the steps necessary to send its first crew to space. While Jeff Bezos confirmed that he would step down as CEO of Amazon and instead become the executive chair of the company, he has no intention of retiring.
All of these fundamental developments are leading up to one thing: the possibility of ordinary citizens traveling to space. SpaceX has already announced the Inspiration4 mission, an all commercial astronaut mission to space. Inspiration4 is set to launch its Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket with four passengers by the end of 2021. Founder of Shift4 Payments, billionaire Jared Isaacman, will provide the funds for the trip and take on the role of mission commander. Isaacman will be donating the other seats to everyday citizens who will have to participate in SpaceX’s astronaut training before the launch. The rocket is set to orbit the Earth every 90 minutes so passengers are able to see the Earth during its sunrises and sunsets.
“I am personally very excited for the prospect of being able to travel into space like an ordinary vacation to the Bahamas,” Theodoris said.
These advances in the space industry are making their marks in history. In the future, we could be colonizing Mars and creating a whole other world there. Slowly but surely, we are reaching goals which had been previously deemed impossible.