Silicon Valley reaches for the sky

An experimental, entrepreneurial spirit may be just what space exploration needs

LATER this month, entrepreneur Elon Musk hopes to make history as his company SpaceX becomes the first non-governmental entity to dock a spacecraft with the International Space Station (ISS).

Rewind almost 10 years and Musk was making history of a different kind - selling PayPal to Ebay for $1.5 billion.

Musk is not the only technology tycoon turning his attention to space. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos now runs commercial space outfit Blue Origin. Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt are pouring money into Planetary Resources, which plans to mine asteroids. And computer games whiz John Carmack is chief engineer of Armadillo Aerospace.

Their ambitions are well known but none has yet proved that lofty talk can be matched by action. That is why the SpaceX launch - assuming it goes to plan - will be such a landmark (see "Private firm SpaceX gears up to spark next space age").

An injection of Silicon-Valley-style innovation may be just what space needs. The internet and world wide web were largely invented at government organisations, but they didn't take off until companies like Google got involved. Similarly, to reap rewards in space, commercial entities may be required.

Musk's timing is certainly good. Since retiring the space shuttle last year, NASA no longer has a craft capable of ferrying people and supplies to and from the ISS. SpaceX looks well placed to fill that gap.

Private space companies must not limit their ambitions to running glorified haulage operations, though. As government funding for space science and exploration dries up, the private sector should aim to fill that void too.

So far the signs are good. Already, scientists are planning to rent space on suborbital tourist flights. And when it comes to curiosity-driven exploration, Musk talks the talk with his plans to send people to Mars (New Scientist, 17 December 2011, p 45).

Despite its many flaws and challenges, the internet is one of the biggest success stories of our time: a place where fortunes can be made and that yet retains its spirit of exploration, openness and curiosity. Let us hope its architects can replicate this achievement in space.

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