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Jeff Bezos to Build Space Center
An anonymous reader writes "Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos will build a space facility in west Texas to develop a commercial suborbital spaceship. His space company, Blue Origin, is 'developing vehicles and technologies that, over time, will help enable an enduring human presence in space.'"
One lucky Amazon customer will win a free trip to Mars! w00t w00t!
Am I karma whoring? Possibly. :)
Please don't sue me, Microsoft.
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Amazon founder unveils space center plans
Bezos' Blue Origin venture to build West Texas rocket facility
By Alan Boyle
Science editor, MSNBC
Updated: 4:58 p.m. ET Jan. 13, 2005
[Image: Jeff Bezos, who heads Amazon.com and is bankrolling the Blue Origin space venture, strikes a pose at the Seattle headquarters of Amazon.com. Andy Rogers / AP file]
AFTER YEARS OF WORK BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has gone public with a plan to build a suborbital space facility on a sprawling ranch under the wide open skies of West Texas.
Bezos' Seattle-based Blue Origin suborbital space venture is starting the process to build an aerospace testing and operations center on a portion of the Corn Ranch, a 165,000-acre spread that the 41-year-old billionaire purchased north of Van Horn, Texas. Over the next six or seven years, the team would use the facility to test components for a craft that could take off and land vertically, carrying three or more riders to the edge of space.
Blue Origin's team has been laying the groundwork for the hush-hush project from a 53,000-square-foot warehouse in Seattle, but this week's announcement fills out a puzzle that previously could only be guessed on the basis of isolated rumors. Blue Origin has been the most secretive of several space ventures bankrolled by deep-pocketed private backers -- a club that also includes software pioneer Paul Allen (SpaceShipOne), Virgin Group entrepreneur Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic) and video-game genius John Carmack (Armadillo Aerospace).
Details of Bezos' plan were first reported in this week's edition of the Van Horn Advocate, the community's newspaper, and confirmed Thursday by Blue Origin spokesman Bruce Hicks.
Contacts with FAA
Bezos told the Advocate that Blue Origin already has contacted the Federal Aviation Administration, which plays a lead role in regulating nongovernmental launch facilities. FAA spokesman Hank Price confirmed that Blue Origin was in the midst of the pre-application process for a launch site license.
But Hicks said Blue Origin was just starting to work on getting the necessary clearances. "Obviously a lot of work needs to be done, including the environmental assessment work, the FAA work and so on," he told MSNBC.com.
Hicks said the first elements of the facility, including an operations building, an engine test stand and storage tanks for fuel and water, could be built in the next year or two. The facility, along with all the buffer zones required for safety, would take up "maybe 5 percent" of the Corn Ranch acreage, he said.
Hicks said Bezos and Blue Origin's other principals, program manager Rob Meyerson and launch manager Ed Rutkowski, were not available for comment Thursday.
Bezos' Southwestern roots
With an estimated worth of $5.1 billion, Bezos is ranked No. 82 on Forbes magazine's latest list of the world's richest people. Amazon.com, the company he founded in 1994, is one of the world's leading online merchants. Bezos still serves as Amazon's president, chief executive officer and chairman, but in the year 2000 he used millions of dollars from his personal fortune to start up Blue Origin as well, following through on a boyhood dream.
[Image]
Although Amazon.com and Blue Origin are both headquartered in Seattle, Bezos' roots go back to the American Southwest. He was born in New Mexico and spent childhood summers on his grandfather's ranch in South Texas. Bezos told the Advocate that he learned much from those expe
Comment removed based on user account deletion
So this uh, "suborbital spaceship," has the range to make it to, I don't know... Crawford Texas? Because that would be grand, I have a pretty good idea of what the payload would be as well.
Book your next holiday on Mars with our patented one click shopping!
I don't need a signature.
I am Jeff Bezos. Welcome to my West Texas lair. We will use my Evil One-Click patent to take over the world. Meet my sidekick, Kevin Spacey. I call him "mini-me"...
</Doctor Evil Voice>
Help save the critically endangered Blue Iguana
...if he can manage to get a patent for the "one-click launch button". There's prior art for that!
I mean, look around. When you have several of the worlds extremely wealthy throwing money at something this big, independently (rather than teaming their efforts), you know that A. there's a SHITLOAD of money to be made, and B. that it has more than a snowball's chance in hell of succeeding because of the pure amount of money that is going to be thrown at it.
I know some people are worried about the privatization and commercialization of spaceflight, but I think those are perfectly fine methods of bringing this about. Properly regulate it and do it on a global scale. And always remember that populating space is a human quest, not a Bezos quest. He may get us there, but we all win in the end.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
We can launch all the chimps from Texas into space... now who do we know like that?
Quoth the server, "404."
"His space company, Blue Origin, is 'developing vehicles and technologies that, over time, will help enable an enduring human presence in space.'"
Keeping in mind the porn industry's definition of a "blue" movie. I can definitly imagine how that'll happen.
and from the article:
Blue Origin's team has been laying the groundwork for the hush-hush project from a 53,000-square-foot warehouse in Seattle, but this week's announcement fills out a puzzle that previously could only be guessed on the basis of isolated rumors.
Yeah, sounds like an engineered ploy all the way. Feed the lapdog corporate media a line about how hush hush it is, even while you are making a public announcement about it.
Are Americans EVER going to catch on?
eat shiat and bark at the moon
"Over the next six or seven years, the team would use the facility to test components for a craft that could take off and land vertically, carrying three or more riders to the edge of space."
Carmack Envy.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
I would like to see uncle Sam send Gates, Ballmer and Darl on a space mission to visit our nearest star, "to bravely be the first humans to put their feet on the surface of the sun".
"I know some people are worried about the privatization and commercialization of spaceflight, but I think those are perfectly fine methods of bringing this about. Properly regulate it and do it on a global scale. And always remember that populating space is a human quest, not a Bezos quest. He may get us there, but we all win in the end."
You mean like we're winning with the internet?
Oooooo... so sorry...
That mus+++ATH
NO CARRIER
Hmmm witty sig or funny sig? Maybe elitest techy sig!
Give a geek lotsa money and they wanna build big rockets. Looks like the way into space :)
I wonder who is next ? Any takers ?
well of course he's building his "sub orbital space facility" in TX ... any higher and it would fall down
Bezos seems to be cornerning the markets on futurism and "backing" here. Not too bad a plan, at least for now.
Wow, it must really be awesome to be rich and stupid at the same time. Unfortunately I'm not either of those things so I can't relate.
If I'm rich someday I'm going to build my own zoo! or maybe buy my own army! yay!
India is clearly not cheap enough for Jeff. It's not enough that his customer support people don't understand plain American. Now he doesn't even care if they share the same organic chemistry.
I hate to say this, but the problem with human space travel is that there is just nowhere to go. There are no alien civilizations (or even alien plant life) within reach. There are no habitable planets within reach (unless you count Mars or Venus, but as wastelands go, Antartica is paradise in comparison with either of those in terms of human habitation). It sucks, but it's true.
... kablamazon.com
Has a nice ring to it eh?
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
We all heard the reasoning for abolishing space-exploration (particulary human-based) before, and I think the major flaw in all these 'arguments' why we shouldn't go into space is that they always set economic factors as a premise.
;-)
But, although economic viability is important to create a mass-usuage of space(travel), I fail to see why it should be the only possible motive to start exploring space. It's a pretty narrowminded, materialistic and typical capitalistic view on things. It's the same view that makes progress on medication for very rare diseases, or for diseases that are prevalent in continents that are poor, so slow: corporations can't see how they are ever going to get profit out of it, so they all turn their backs on it.
If ppl (including states) are only going to do something when they are sure of an immediate profitable return, the world has become a sad place. (And we should leave it the sooner
Arguments based on such a viewpoint fail to recognise other incentives apart from economical ones.
The reason why we shouldn't (only) rely on robots? You can explore, but you can not colonise with robots. The will to explore is deeply entrenched in the human race, but with a reason: it has survival advantages.
A species that doesn't colonise new territory and adapt, will perish. I think it's paramount that humans always keep their adventurage spirit and keep exploring and expanding, because the moment we will go "ah, let's sit back in our sofa's and let our robots/droids do it", we're basically finished, even when not being aware of it at that moment.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
I wonder what the good folks down in White Sand have to say about this...they may be ticked off by having too much visibility in the area.
[A rocket launch may scare the shit out of cows!]
...by the 24 century, it will still be turning a profit "Next quarter"
as the corepirate nazis' execrabilious foibles could leave the planet nearly uninhabitable.
some of us po' folk are working on a vessel that floats on almost any suBStance.
there are rumours that the only real way out is up?
for more clarity, consult with/trust in yOUR creators, transporting us through time/space/circumstance since/until forever. see you there?
I don't know what Bezos is like as a person, but I guess he's not an attention hog (unlike some Apple/Pixar execs) and he doesn't mind quietly working in the background while his competitor (Burt) steals all the limelight and wins public adulation. One good thing for sure, if Bezos gets his bird airborne, the competition might force Virgin Galactic to lower their $190,000 ticket price :)
Ok, so we learned that it's VTVL. But we still know virtually nothing about it.
Compare it to John Carmack's space effort where you get updates with intimate details about every bolt, valve and crash.
Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
bla bla bla, the classic romantic view. Sorry man, but really think about it, why was America found...for money, why did marco polo go on his quest...for money, etc. To profit is what drives the human race. Humans dont make drugs to help people, they do it because it makes money...lots of it. Such ideas while nice, are blind. Mod me down flamebait or whatever, it must be said.
Whem I'm rich I'm gonna build the Space Elevator. What's gonna be fun is that it won't be built in America! pwned.
I'm selling shares now.
~~Every few years or so I'm accidentally fashionable!
Why are you mirroring an MSNBC Article? They have tons of bandiwdth. You ARE karma whoring, moderate this down.
The Amazon Commercial Suborbital Spaceship?
Okay, so a philosopher, a philologist, and a philatelist walk into a bar...
Building a stupid little ship to put a couple of rich people into suborbit for a few minutes gets us no where in the grand scheme of things. I'm rather dumbfounded as to why none of these guys are trying to bankroll a space elevator. That's when you can do some serious space stuff and become richer than Bill. I've read various places that it could be done in the very near future for as little as $10 billion. When I read that someone isn't dicking around with suborbital vehicles and is behind this, I'll get excited. Otherwise, all this has already been done for the past 60 years.
Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation.
Minable asteroids.
And that's just one of the reasons to go. I think that, when the opportunity arrives, many people will be lining up to colonise Mars. Sure it's a wasteland, but people have given up their comfy homes for the unknown before, to get away from oppressive governments or to carve out a brighter future for them or their kids.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
All the bickering about whether NASA should stop sending astronauts into space and focus more on robotic explorations and space telescopes etc. are all due to the fact that going to space is VERY EXPENSIVE. And at this moment, I'm inclined to side with the pro-robotic anti-astronaut crowd. Spending $1 billion per Shuttle launch (yes, some estimates do run that high) is ridiculous. It's a waste of taxpayer money. You could send a whole fleet of little Mars probes for the cost of one manned Shuttle mission.
But pretty soon we should be able to buy a suborbital ride on Virgin for $190,000. Now if lots of good stuff happens and that $190,000 ticket will buy an ORBITAL ride for one person and 50 pounds of baggage, I'm guessing a whole lots of people will mortage their house and go. Hell, at that price point, about $1 million might be able to get you to Mars. When that happens I'll bet they won't be able to build the rockets fast enough, so many people will be wanting to go. I know I will. I don't have $1 million but when my dad dies I will inherit his house, and it's worth about $1.2 million. It's not even a mansion or anything, it's just an average house in a nicer part of Los Angeles. I will gladly sell it and relocate myself to Mars, permanently :D
Bezos, know - nay, renound - for founding and making a success of Amazon, one of the few successes of the dot com era, and described as "the largest bookstore in the world".
... it's going to *look* like a steam engine ... a nuclear-fusion-powered steam engine.
A success, that is, in selling dead trees in what was supposed to be the age of the birth of the "paperless office". And that over the 'net.
Now I'm all for books. I love books. But Amazon being a success is like Edison being a success selling better gas lamps.
And now this dude, of all people, wants to lead us into [the terrible secret of] space. So - the method of doing so, or the vehicle, is going to be top-notch (snide comments on "one-click-launches" aside). But let me guess
yes, we have no bananas
So far, only one company, Scaled Composites, seems to be successful at this although I did see a reference about a year ago to some other company that towed their spacecraft out into the sea and launched from a floating platform but I don't recall if they've had successful launches.
There's certainly no guarantee that Blue Origins or Armadillo will ever make it into space. It may get too expensive.
"sweet dreams are made of this..."
Has April come early this year?
..take me to space! plz :)
Dude, eat your cheerios and try to smile, it's Friday!
Anyone who isn't confused really doesn't understand the situation.
ok, my view on the issue is a simplistic one too. we should just wait 50-100 years.
why? because every year passing brings the cost of going up there down, and pure joyriding just to 100km doesn't really serve any real purpose. in 30 years we would have much more cpu power to do simulations, have new materials, know more about space's effects on human body(all this we would have WITHOUT dedicating resources directly to space research). after 10 years we could do in a year advancements that now take 4.
we WILL go to space, but I strongly believe that it's mostly going to happen as a BYPRODUCT of technical advancements made with consumer use in mind. if we don't nuke ourselfs totally(which i doubt wont happen, half-totally maybe but not totally) then in a thousand years going to the space could be done with the equivalent of a bicycle today(a modern bicycle would indeed have been an engineering marvel for a medieval person and tech, not to mention how mind boggling a simple moped would be - or a kit plane).
sure it sucks for us living now who would like to live science fiction life, get to space and whatever... or you could end up really sad like the hopefuls who are hoping that we could make tech to make us live forever before they kick the bin.
btw. the 'why' if it's feasible to go up there is measured in money is that money roughly equals resources(tangible items and worktime), basicly if it really is waste of money it's waste of real things, like food or shelter for someone else or a sportscar, or a civil engineers job and crappy dsl for you. you'd get to the moon a lot cheaper comparetively now(but even moon with current tech is a barren dump and waste of resources - face it, we don't even have anywhere to go to permanently within our reach yet).
besides.. what's so bad about being finished? it's not like it would matter after everyone would be dead when there wouldn't be anyone left to be pissed off about it... but that's largely a philosophical question i suppose.
with the tech yet available to us space doesn't make for a good frontier to start settling, but in 200 years humanity will have gathered probably enough information about human body to supply what it needs in closed environments too(enabling access to space). at this point it makes a whole lot more sense to send inexpensive probes up there, we wouldn't be able to keep ourselfs alive there anyways(nor could i think of anyone who really would enjoy sitting in a tin can for years).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
shipping is free. returning may cost an arm and leg.
Get a life, Slashdorks. You keep modding +5 the same stupid, snide patent jokes every single time any Amazon/Bezos story is posted. It was funny, oh, maybe six years ago. Grow up and move on.
Why does everyone have to start their own space thing? Space travel is freaking expensive -- Jeff would be smarter to partner with virgin galactic, so that they could potentially "get there" 2x as fast with 2x as much money + no impedance from the gov't like NASA runs into.
stuff |
From a trusted source i was informed he is building his own iRocket. Unfortunately for him, once he is in space he will notice that the rocket's operating system is not as stable as his engineers told him. Luckily before the thing blows up he can step into his iPod that savely brings him back to earth. Then he will probably start working on the iRocket Mini, a space vehicle for geeks with a smaller ego.
Now, I do understand your argument of 'maybe later, when things will be cheaper', and it has some validity. But then again, one can not claim the drive for expanding the human presence in space is alive and kicking, when you completely halt (actual) human exploration. And, in fact, the argument used that it's not economical beneficial in regard to robotic probes is ALWAYS going to be true: when hardware/etc costs are going to be only a 10th of today in the future, it STILL will be far more expensive to send humans then to simply send robotic probes.
So the argument is mute, in the sense that, if you accept the premise, it's always going to be true. The real question thus becomes: what do you want to spend on human exploration, first steps or not? Clearly you seem to think the price is too high and a 'waste', while I think it's not. It does not follow, however, that my argumentation is false, while yours is the only correct viewpoint on the matter.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
bezos was involved in that one, too, as I recall....
eat shiat and bark at the moon
Bullshit being returned to its owner?
A special wheelbarrow for a very long nose?
A baggy full of white powder with a note, you dropped this last night?
Talk is cheap, websites are cheap, real estate (in West Texas) is pretty cheap.
Until they start bending tin and launching things they are just another bunch of wannabees.
Nothing To See Here (yet).
The name blue origin implies that all life came from the sea. As we know, evolution is a thory, and not a fact.
Therefore, Bezos should either (1) put a sticker on his spacecraft stating that evolution is a theory and not a fact, or (2) Jeff should change his company's name to "Divine Creation".
Dear Astronauts,
from now on we are shipping to extraterrestial addresses. For example,
Star Wars Special Edition DVD: $20
Shipping options:
1) Soyuz - $50.000 (may get cancelled without prior notice if the Russian Space Agency runs out of money)
2) US Space Shuttle - $150.000 (only with insurance!)
3) Personal delivery by Jeff Bezos in bunny suit - $200.000
If you are living close to an asteroid field, please add a fee of $50.000.
Post title: "Article text without ads and annoying javascript"
You know, if you would turn off all scripting, like any sensible person would do who has the slightest understanding of security, and if you would use an ad-blocking proxy, like any sensible person would do who has the slghtest concern for his/her privacy, then you would find yourself unannoyed by such trivialities, and could use your time more productively, e.g., bitching at people who post article text without ads and annoying javascript.
going to something useful instead of just stock options and big houses for CEOs. If youre going to waste money anyway why not do it with something both cool and scientifically useful.
You know, he's just doing it to patent independant space travel.
Bezos' ego knows no bounds. It is very unlikely an amature like Bezos will out do Burt Rutan in commercializing suborbial flight. He is already late to the party. Mr. Rutan's team is well funded by billionaires Paulo Allen and Richard Branson, brilliantly innovative, and have a highly successful track record. I wonder if Bezos will combine with the equally lame effort of John Carmack in West Texas? Bezos is wasting his money.
an ill wind that blows no good
Eh. Whatever. Where do I send my resume?
--- Ban humanity.
Bingo! Distract everyone from the truth.
"It's a pretty narrowminded, materialistic and typical capitalistic view on things."
WHOA. WHOA. WHOA.
There is another way to view things?
News to me.
Why choose a site just west of three of the ten most populous cities in the United States?
From Wikipedia:
"Cape Canaveral was chosen for rocket launches to take advantage of the earth's rotation. At the equator, the centrifugal force of earth's rotation is the maximum. The direction of earth's rotation is such that to take advantage of the rotation, rockets should be launched eastward. It is also highly desirable to have the downrange area sparsely populated, ideally an ocean, in case of accidents. Thus rockets should be launched from a continent's east coast as close to the equator as possible. For the United States, Florida is the most southerly east coast location."
While it is true that this site is for suborbital flights, it will still be necessary to expend energy NOT to fly westward toward the population centers.
"News to me."
;-)
That doesn't surprise me much.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
because the moment we will go "ah, let's sit back in our sofa's and let our robots/droids do it", we're basically finished
Vader did it and he was successful.
or so I've heard.
A stay in Space as a tourist is like owning a very expensive handbag made of very precious Amazonian crocodile leather (uh). It's a status symbol, nothing more. And now that the crocs are gone and Antarctic tourism is passe, they need something new.
For the rest, space is what it is, a very cold void for the wealthy.
NASA News Release 05-666 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), announced today that it will enter the online bookselling market. Bob Wadkins, former manager of the Space Shuttle Program's evacuation station (toilet) reading materials management team, will lead the endevour. "We are very excited to explore the online marketing space", said Watkins. "NASA has extensive experience in large dollars projects that take years to reap any tangible results. We think we are perfectly suited for online retail". Outside observers are not so sure. An anonymous Congressional OMB auditor was quoted as saying "This may not work out as NASA thinks it will. NASA has never been very adept at maintaining costs. I seriously doubt that anyone will be willing to pay $1.5 million dollars for a copy of the next Harry Potter book". For more information about the online bookstore, contact NASA in Washington, D.C. using the links provided below.
Ray Bradbury imagined a mostly privated space effort. It was modeled after the Oklahoma land rush aimed at Mars.
One lucky Amazon customer will win a free trip to Mars!* w00t w00t! *Subject to certain rules and restrictions. Hotel and accomodations not included. Winner must sign huge-ass waiver. Return trip fare $500,000,000.
Van Horn, TX is also the home to John Madden's Haul of Fame at Chuy's Mexican Restaurant. Madden always hated to fly, so when he became a broadcaster, he drove to games in his Maddencruiser, hense the Haul of Fame.
Don't ping my cheese with your bandwidth!
... but valuable.
Sure it'll produce failures. But the failures will give you learnings and then success will follow after that. You need the Bransons and the Bezos' to do something different, dammit. 20 different attempts all done the same way aren't statistically significant.
My current sig is Anatole France: "I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to the indifference of wisdom."
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.
Apart from jokes, this is quite possible. Actually there was an article a year or so ago by NASA saying that if required then we could have email addresses like me@domain.com.ea (for earth), etc. Amazing, isn't it?!
If ppl (including states) are only going to do something when they are sure of an immediate profitable return, the world has become a sad place. (And we should leave it the sooner ;-)
what do you think has driven all technology the past 100 years? the past few hundred years? People do things for money, plain and simple.
Apart from jokes, this is quite possible. Actually there was an article a year or so ago by NASA saying that if required then we could have email addresses like me@domain.com.ea (for earth), etc. Amazing, isn't it?!
But since almost all the major locations in the solar system go by their latin names shouldn't it be ".te" for Terra, and ".lu" for Luna?
Just think of the possibilities -- a lunar flight, with a gender-diverse crew. Yes, we could have Amazon Women on the Moon!
Neal Stephenson works for Blue Origin as a consultant. Reference here.
beware the jabberwock, my son! the jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Options:
1) Pretentious "Euro" use of periods (.) for USD - $ 10.000
2) Sense of Humor - $50.000 (May not be available to all customers)
3) Karma - None available
Perfect! Now where's Ed Wood when you need him...
We're practicing our labials.
...it's about going places here on earth, much faster. While it's fun to dream with starry eyes about the possibilities of sending the ultra-rich to Mars or some sort of 2001-esque orbital Hilton, I'm amazed that very few people have been discussing the closer-to-home application of this technology. Think of it as Concorde: the next generation. I think this may be Branson's real strategy here... imagine London to Tokyo in 4 hours!
We all heard the reasoning for abolishing space-exploration
What's worrying is that there are people out there who actually think they have the right to ban others from going into space. Don't want to go into space? Fine - don't go? But when it comes to others going into space, bugger off and mind your own business.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
Here's my submission, which has some more information:
After years of secrecy and much speculation, Blue Origin has finally announced its plans to build and operate a privately-funded aerospace testing and operations center in West Texas. The company, run by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is "currently developing a sub-orbital space vehicle that will take off and land vertically to take three or more astronauts to the edge of space." Flight operations could begin as soon as six years from now. Hopefully this will be a significant step towards Bezos's dream of enabling "an enduring human presence in space."
An elevator starts to look way more complicated to pull off than touching off one more rocket, and this one with a private logo on the side. I love the idea, always have, but for a private investor to throw money at that would be early. If it's going to get done, it'll be at the level of money governments throw around, won't it?
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
ah but later you wouldn't need the money(resource) equivalent of keeping 100 000 000 people fed for it, instead you'd just need 10.
:) a toy, but it would have been far too expensive to build 20 years ago, now it was possible to develope it for a toy.
like robosapien
anyways.. I don't think that we can accelerate the technical knowhow needed to _survive_ in space so fast that it would make sense to go to space yet, in the true frontier sense of things(to do settlements that were self sustaining).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
"To profit is what drives the human race."
No; profit is *one* of the drives of humans. And I'm all for stimulating that drive too, which is why I'm very happy about the succes of Spaceship1 and I hope Branson can pull it off to make an economical viable fleet of spaceplanes.
But your wrong to think it's the only drive. The men who climbed the Mont Everest didn't do it for profit, Jaque Costeau didn't reserch the seas for profit, CERN wasn't build for profit (and that costs billions too, btw).
Exploration on itself is a drive of the human race too, even if it's a pure academic form. The quest for scientific knowledge, just having fun, to gain more power, profit, honor (or social status); all these things drive people, and it would be wrong to generalise and think or claim only one thing drives people (or is it worth).
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
Perhaps, but the figure of 100 000 000 is arbitrary chosen. With the same validity, one could say: ah, yes, but why not wait another 100 year, so 10 ppl don't have to starve for it? And then you go to 1 in a hundred, 1 in a thousand, etc.
Thus, as I said, it only depends on what you think it's worth it, when using that reasoning. At one moment, you'll have to decide: yes, it is worth it (or not). In that respect, I would claim spacetravel is far more worth it then spending hundreds of billions on the military. If they would slash half of that, with the finances that could be would become available, one could easily pay for space-exploration, better education and better housing, elevating the standard of living for 10000000 people and a hald dozen other things, at once.
Seems to me, however, people seem to accept that money-spending for developping better weapons, even when it is a lot less positive for the human race.
Ofcourse, I'm not pleading to 'go for it' right here and now. We need to walk before we can run, obviously, and robot exploration and scientific research certainly should develop further. But I can't imagine our knowledge of human space-exploration/colonisation will augment all that much if we solely send robots up. And 'cost', well...even the precursors of robosapien were exhorbitant expensive...yet, if they hadn't build it, and waited untill it would become dirtcheap, the question remains if we would have an affordable robosapien today.
--- "To pee or not to pee, that is the question." ---
So, CEOs of Amazon and Virgin are going to space. At least we'll have constant entertainment up there.
Not a "Space Periphery"?
Thanks for checking my comment posting history. Have a nice day!
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