The SpaceX Starship will be a wonderous thing, and Tesla is a great car company, but does Elon Musk have the time to keep them on track while trying to figure out what to do with his Twitter unwanted stepchild? He’ll come up with something nifty, like X Corp, to fuddle it through..
The failure of Virgin Orbit to achieve the first successful satellite launch from the UK is disappointing. It puts the opportunities for space business under the spotlight. There is money to be made, but how, and by whom?
Twitter looks to be the most chaotic acquisition of all time, but underneath the madness there may be considerable guile, logic and a long term plan. Experience teaches not to underestimate Musk, but trust him considerably less far than he could be thrown! It might just be brilliant.
It is right to let a small number of very wealthy entrepreneurs fill Earth’s already crowded orbital space to establish non-terrestrial internet monopolies? What are the risks, and are the costs justified? Should orbital space be a public good?
SpaceX remains on course to be one of the most important companies ever, and is driving competition to commercialise space… and some comments about the UK budget.