Space, the next entrepreneurial frontier
With the shuttering of NASA’s space shuttle program, many feared the exploration of outer space would wane with it. Instead, innovators have leaped into action, sometimes aiming even higher than government agencies have (at least publicly) dared.
That enthusiasm was on ample display at South by Southwest this week.
At least 15 panels focused on private space travel during the festival. Entrepreneurs proposed everything from a Mars fly-by that would launch in 2018 to building new, privately owned modules on the International Space Station. Someone even proposed a multibillion-dollar reality show following prospective astronauts training for a one-way mission to Mars.
Elon Musk, the CEO of private company SpaceX, hosted one of the most popular keynotes of the week. He detailed his company’s recent mission to the International Space Station and showed a never-before-seen video of a reusable rocket designed to one day blast capsules into space and then safely land itself.
He said he wants to see humans on Mars. In his lifetime. Preferably him.
“I would like to die on Mars,” he joked. “Just not on impact.”
