ELON MUSK. SPACE X. E-Book

Austin James

• Herausgeber: via tolino media
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Austin James analysiert das Weltraum-Programm des brillianten Business Leaders Elon Musk. Er fragt nach der Motivation und der Zielrichtung von SpaceX, dem ambitionierten Raumfahrtprogramm des Visionärs Musk und diskutiert die hellen und die dunklen Seiten des neuen Aufbruchs in den Weltraum. Ein Muss für alle, die sich für Elon Musk interessieren. Austin James analyzes the space program of brilliant business leader Elon Musk. He asks about the motivation and direction of SpaceX, visionary Musk's ambitious space program, and discusses the light and dark sides of the new dawn into space. A must read for anyone interested in Elon Musk.

Leseprobe

Elon Musk

SpaceX: Pioneer or Pirate

Austin James

© Copyright 2023 by Austin James

All rights reserved. Without the publisher’s specific permission, no portion of this product may be mechanically, photographically, or electronically reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transferred, or duplicated for either personal or commercial use.

While the publisher and author have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information in this book was accurate at the time of publication, and while it is intended to provide accurate information regarding the subject matter covered, the publisher and author assume no liability for any errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or other inconsistencies and hereby disclaim any liability for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions. All information herein is a matter of public record.

Inquiries: [email protected]

DEDICATION

To the early space exploration pioneers and visionaries who gazed up at the stars and dreamed of venturing beyond our world, this book is dedicated to your enduring legacy. Your ingenuity and courage have inspired generations to push the boundaries of human knowledge and explore the vast expanse of space.

As we look back on the achievements of the early space explorers, we must also acknowledge the potential hazards that were never imagined. The impact of space exploration on our environment and the potential for the militarization of space are challenges we must address if we are to continue exploring the cosmos in a responsible and sustainable way.

This book is a tribute to the pioneering spirit of those who blazed the trail for space exploration and a reminder of our responsibility to protect and preserve our planet’s fragile ecosystem, even as we reach for the stars. May their vision and passion continue to guide us as we venture ever deeper into the mysteries of the universe.

PROLOGUE

The American Dream has birthed many of history’s most extraordinary individuals, from Nobel Prize-winning scientists to brilliant artists to business titans and many more. However, those whose accomplishments are more remembered are the men and women who achieved their success while leaving a responsible footprint on the society it shared. When we think of Henry Ford or John D. Rockefeller, we admire not just their innovations and ability to amass fortunes but also how they contributed so much to American culture and way of life for their generations.

As we work through the third decade of the twenty-first century, an alarming trend in politics and business is rearing its ugly head: authoritarianism. Although it is most evident in many political leaders, we must not ignore how it appears in the world of big business. The uber-rich have increasingly ignored the norms and “rules of the game” to line their coffers further or simply as a desire for control.

Perhaps no better example to study is Elon Musk. His journey from a South African boy with big dreams to controlling much of our Earth’s atmosphere is impressive yet alarming. This book will explore how it all began, how we evaluate his current operations, and ultimately, assess the dangers his business ventures could be for our world.

Although Mr. Musk is at the forefront of private exploration, he is not the only player in the race to dominate the enterprises available in space. He is, however, the best example we can imagine for studying and assessing the dangers that are on the horizon of these ventures. We shall examine his early start-ups that fueled SpaceX and Tesla, his worldwide electric car company. Interestingly, his business goals and practices are very similar in both operations. However, Tesla is a mere infant compared to the long-range plans for SpaceX.

This book reveals nothing that isn’t already in the media. There­fore, there should be very little denial of its allegations, as they have been purported many times. Instead, we hope to combine these allegations into an overview that points to the beginnings of severe environmental issues and potentially catastrophic results for humanity via the militarization of outer space.

This is ultimately the key takeaway from these words we are sharing. Geniuses like Elon Musk often become shortsighted in their vision to become the best or to achieve their dreams. As a boy, Musk dreamed of going to Mars, and that dream remains a primary motivation today with his Mars colonization project. Everything else, from his early days to Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter, has been a tool, a means to an end. He is an ultra-entrepreneur. His dream needs fuel and a lot of it. And it’s not just about capital to bring his vision to fruition. It will take much support from governments around the globe to make the Mars project a reality. Musk is very good at arm-twisting governmental officials to achieve his goals, even though that often comes at a cost to the community or country he is negotiating with.

The most alarming potential danger lurking behind all the development is the impending increase in the militarization of space, using the network of satellites and superpower rockets under development by SpaceX and other companies.

Societies and their leaders often turn a blind eye to a storm even though it is just over the horizon. Politically, the most obvious example is Hitler’s campaign to conquer and command most of Europe. More recently, Ukraine is, in many ways, a redo of Hitler’s ambitions. Putin intimidated the world’s powers to let him take over Crimea in 2014, thinking that would appease him. But instead, it just whetted his appetite. In 1945 and, God willing, 2023, it took and will take a concerted effort by the major democratic countries to stem the tide of aggression and make it so it can’t happen again.

This is our situation with the explosive nature of space technology. Although on the surface, it appears to benefit humanity with internet satellites and exploratory scientific missions into outer space. This technology will soon be weaponized to become lethal weapons of war. The autocrats of Earth today will be mere dwarfs compared to which country or private group becomes the autocrat of outer space.

We will close the book with a vision. A vision of a world that utilizes outer space for the common good of all countries and races. A vision of commonly regulated space rules that don’t turn it into a junkyard of space debris and don’t create environmental havoc on our planet Earth. A vision of Elon Musk’s Mars colonization project as a shared project of many nations and peoples. Outer space should not be the next gold rush. Instead, it should yield benefits for all.

PART ONE

The Birth of SpaceX

CHAPTER 1

Elon Musk – From Teen Entrepreneur to the World’s Richest Man

South African Roots

Who hasn’t dreamed of becoming a millionaire? According to an interview with his father by the AFP, it was undoubtedly Elon Musk’s ambition, as cited in the Economic Times Panache. Errol Musk was a strict disciplinarian, adhering to many of the same habits he experienced in the military. This uber-macho upbringing, always to be the best, fueled the preschooler Elon’s aspiration to become the wealthiest man on the planet.

His father often remarked about how unusually mature Elon was when he was as young as four-years-old. He would speak his mind without regard to what others might think (early-Twitter rants) and preferred to hang out with the adults in the room rather than play with children. In one instance, he reportedly explained to an older man that he planned to become a millionaire. The adult laughed and told him he was just going to be disappointed. Elon told the man, “You’re stupid!”

Born in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 28, 1971, Elon Musk was the oldest of his two other siblings. His mother, Maye, was a Canadian model and dietitian native to South Africa. Errol Musk had many career and financial interests, most notably as a property developer and owner of an emerald mine near Lake Tanganyika. The family enjoyed a wealthy lifestyle and were active opponents of Apartheid. Maye’s father was a single-engine pilot who dared many record-breaking flights like Lindberg of the United States. At that time, there was much violence in South Africa. Elon could not walk down the city streets without witnessing resistance to Apartheid and the crackdowns by the local police.

Musk was the object of bullying because he became known as a loner and didn’t make friends easily. Many have speculated that his fear contributed to his aggressive and arrogant behavior as he grew more powerful in business. Early on, he developed a habit of telling people what he thought they were doing wrong or how he thought their thinking was incorrect. He was very black-and-white about most things, and he truly believed that he was smarter than most, if not all, of his peers. He rarely exhibited any emotions, much less fear. Once, he was outside with a cousin, and she told him she was afraid of the dark. His response was, “Dark is just the absence of light.” You can imagine that didn’t calm her fears any. Be it his school friends or teachers, this air of superiority certainly didn’t win him any friendship medals.

“They got my best (expletive) friend to lure me out of hiding so they could beat me up. And that (expletive) hurt,” Musk said. “For some reason, they decided that I was it, and they were going to go after me nonstop. That’s what made growing up difficult. For a number of years, there was no respite. You get chased around by gangs at school who tried to beat the (expletive) out of me, and then I’d come home, and it would just be awful there as well.” 1

Around age ten, you would often find Elon alone in his room, obsessed with computers and learning to program, and even selling one of his early video games just a short while later. His early private schooling in South Africa prepared him for the rigors of his more formal education.

His childhood friends remember him as constantly reading. Musk would read anything on the library shelf, but mostly anything about science and how to make things. His allowance didn’t allow him to buy all the books he wanted, so he often hung out at bookstores, and you could spot him there sitting on the floor reading a book.

One of his early teachers, who spoke anonymously, recalled Elon as a brilliant lad, although somewhat arrogant, particularly around those he felt “superior” to. An occasional scuffle was often the result of an argument over who was right about something. In his early years in school, he was bored a lot and ended up failing some subjects. However, he never failed again once he learned that he would have to retake the class.

Interestingly, Elon had an early interest in climate change. In a debate at school, he advocated for abolishing the use of fossil fuels. In addition, he was fascinated by solar energy and early windmill technology.

Maye divorced his father when he was nine, so Elon chose to live with Errol. In later years, Elon has often been quoted as saying he had an unhappy childhood with little elaboration. His father was evidently not very easy to live with and was very strict with him. His father had rigid ideas about what he should do and become, but those were not Elon’s dreams.

He would often daydream about going to America. He was intrigued by what he saw on television there and knew he could be whatever he wanted to be if he just lived there. When Elon was seventeen, his father had a child with his much younger stepdaughter. That was a breaking point for Elon, who soon left South Africa to immigrate to Canada via a Canadian passport by way of his mother. He was not in the USA yet, but just a few years from going there.

Canada and USA Bound

When Musk came to Canada in June 1989, he worked various laborer jobs. He attended college for two years before moving to the United States and studying physics at the University of Pennsylvania. After receiving his degree there, he attained another degree in economics from Wharton in 1995.

During this time, he interned at two Silicon Valley startups, the Pinnacle Research Institute and Rocket Science Games. After completing his degree at Wharton, he was accepted for a Ph.D. program at Stanford University. But he soon decided that he was ready to enter the business world.

Musk had always been a planner, and you can see that by looking at the trajectory of his educational path from physics to economics to business. This combination nurtured who he was to become, a technological wizard and economic powerhouse.

Early Business Ventures: Seed Money for SpaceX

Much like a man that Musk admired, Donald Trump, Elon benefited from having a fairly well-to-do father to fund his early ventures. In 1995, he started his first company, Zip2, with his brother Kimbal and Greg Kouri. Their early capital came from his father, and a well-healed board of directors gave it the legitimacy needed. It was quite an innovative startup, offering various city guides and maps on the internet, which Musk coded himself in their small Palo Alto office. Their business multiplied exponentially with The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune contracts. Finally, it became such an enticing venture that Compac bought it for $307 million in 1999, and Musk took home $22 million himself. However, it was apparent that Zip2 was just a steppingstone in his mind. He had no desire to grow the company anymore. In fact, he was bored by the rather mundane subject matter, and once he established the program for how it should most effectively operate, the magic was gone for him.

Flush with that cash and other investors, Musk next created X.com, an online financial services and email payment platform. After just a few months, the golden boy found himself with over 200,000 customers. Although successful, his investors were wary of his experience and chose to replace him as CEO with Bill Harris of Intuit. One wonders if the investors were shortsighted and if it might have become even more successful with him at the helm. This began a pattern for Musk, where he soon found himself lacking the control he wanted over his businesses. X.com merged with another online bank, Confinity (PayPal), and although he became CEO once more for a short stint, the board of directors removed him in 2000, and they focused on PayPal services and named the company as such. Once more, the magic of the business was gone for him.

Musk is a builder, ready to move on once something is in order. Then, in 2002, eBay bought PayPal for $1.5 billion in stock, and Musk’s worth from that increased by $175.8 million. Once again, a windfall laid the groundwork for Musk’s bigger ambitions.

Musk never lost the dreams of outer space from his youth. Mars had always fascinated him and he became obsessed with building greenhouses on the planet. He wanted to buy used ICBM missiles to take the plant-based payloads to Mars, so he began shopping for a good deal. His best offer was $8 million from a company in Russia, which he rejected. Instead, he knew he could build new, cheaper, better rockets and gambled $100 million of his money on starting SpaceX. And so, the journey began.

Never one to be satisfied with a single iron in the fire, Musk has amassed much of his fortune from other ventures he started after the birth of SpaceX. Each has its own story, but an overview of one will give insight into a business practice pattern that has developed with Musk over the years.

Perhaps the most visible is Tesla, Inc. Musk joined the company board one year after its inception with a $6.5 million investment as the majority stockholder and eventually became its CEO in 2007. It has the distinction of being the most valuable carmaker and reached a market capitalization of $1 trillion (only six have done so in U.S. history). However, his reign at Tesla has been marked by lawsuits filed by the SEC for insider trading due to Musk’s tweets. Although he never admitted fault, he agreed to settlements and paid a fine of $20 million. In addition, his actions have been highly criticized in the press as manipulative and misleading.

Perhaps the most notorious was his very public effort to purchase Twitter. We will examine this one fully in a later chapter, as it illustrates how Musk negotiates in business and life. It represents the best and the worst of how he tried to gain control of something. This saga will most likely not be resolved at the time of this book’s publication, but it could be the subject of another volume in itself.

Legal Entanglements

Elon Musk has faced and still faces a bellyful of lawsuits. Records show ten+ pending suits involving Musk’s companies, although most are not directed at him personally. They include sexual harassment, faulty mechanical systems, and a pyramid scheme. However, like ex-President Donald Trump, Musk takes these lawsuits as just a normal part of doing business. He is generally quite successful in either delaying the case or winning the ruling.

In an interview with Howard Fischer, a former senior trial counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission, he said it’s not uncommon for corporations of this size to have multiple lawsuits pending, “In Musk’s case, it’s probably worse because he fosters an aura of noncompliance and disrespect for authority and for social norms.”

Many of his most troubling legal issues involved Twitter. The FTC investigated antitrust violations by his large purchase of Twitter stock prior to making his purchase offer. The deal was so unorthodox that Twitter shareholders sued both Musk and Twitter over it.

Another Twitter issue resulted in lawsuits over his 2018 tweet that he was taking Tesla private. This resulted in Musk being ousted as chairman of the board and a $40 million fine.

And his company’s legal challenges don’t just revolve around Twitter. Multiple lawsuits are in place now, alleging racial discrimination and sexual harassment. In addition, his “smart” cars are often in court over faulty issues and injuries.

But perhaps the most amusing one so far comes from another tweet about Dogecoin that started as an internet joke about cryptocurrency. Musk promoted that SpaceX “is going to put a literal Dogecoin on the literal moon,” which made him the subject of a lawsuit alleging his “pyramid scheme.”

One does not have to research too hard to find a long history of legal entanglements that Musk and his companies have faced. The same genius that brought Musk to where he is today may ultimately be his undoing. However, never underestimate him – he usually wins in the end.

If you look back at the very beginning of Musk’s imagined world when he was a child, then walk through the various companies he has created, you will see patterns that offer explanations for some of the more negative aspects of how Musk operates his companies, how he treats people working or competing with him, and how he views himself.

You have to admire his unbridled tenacity and drive in a world that often rewards those characteristics with ridicule and disparagement. As a child, his visions were seen as mere fantasies of a small boy and rarely encouraged. His friends were few and far between, and he never really learned to collaborate. One could speculate that this was the genesis of his arrogance and unwillingness to work as a team within his own companies or even with his competitors.

In subsequent chapters, we will explore these issues as a foundation for our theories as to what the crystal ball will foretell if Elon Musk is allowed to self-nurture himself with successful ventures that potentially harm society without checks and balances on him.

CHAPTER 2

SpaceXLaunch

An Overview

SpaceX stands for Space Exploration Technologies Corpo­ration. Besides being a mouthful, its business primarily builds spacecraft to transport people and equipment into space. Its stable includes the Falcon 9, Cargo Dragon, Falcon Heavy launch vehicles, rocket engines, manned spacecraft, and Star­link communications satellites. The latter will be a considerable subject later in this book since, to date, it has launched nearly 3,000 satellites.

The Starlink program, launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, aims to provide high-speed internet access to remote areas around the world. While the program has gained attention for its ambitious goal of connecting the world, recent updates to the program suggest a more concerning development: the potential militarization of Starlink.

In particular, the updates to the Starshield program, which targets US national security agencies and the Department of Defense (DOD), have raised concerns about the potential use of Starlink for military purposes.

The Starshield program is designed to provide secure communications for government agencies and military personnel. According to SpaceX, Starshield is a “layered system of defensive measures” that protects against both physical and cyber threats. This includes measures such as encryption, intrusion detection, and “hardening” of Starlink ground stations to protect against physical attacks.

The goal of Starshield is to ensure that government agencies and military personnel can communicate securely without fear of interception or disruption. This is a critical requirement for national security and military operations. The need for secure communication has only grown in recent years with the rise of cyber threats and geopolitical tensions.

However, the updates to the Starshield program suggest that SpaceX is not content to simply provide secure communications for government agencies and the military. Instead, the company appears to be moving towards a more active role in national security and military operations.

For example, recent reports suggest SpaceX is developing a “satellite-to-satellite” communication system to allow for more secure and resilient communication between military satellites. This could potentially give the US military an edge in space-based operations and increase greater coordination and flexibility in military missions.

In addition, SpaceX has reportedly been working with the US Air Force to test the use of Starlink for military applications. This includes using Starlink to provide secure and resilient communication for military aircraft, as well as potential use in remote sensing and other military operations.

While these developments may seem promising from a national security perspective, they also raise concerns about the potential militarization of Starlink. SpaceX is blurring the line between a commercial space company and a military contractor by actively working with the military and developing technology specifically for military applications.

This is particularly concerning given the lack of transparency and oversight surrounding SpaceX’s operations. As a private company, SpaceX is not subject to the same level of scrutiny as a government agency or military contractor. This raises questions about the extent to which SpaceX’s activities are being monitored and regulated, and the potential risks associated with the company’s involvement in military operations.

There are also concerns about the potential for Starlink to be used for offensive military purposes. While the primary focus of Starlink is currently on providing high-speed internet access, the technology could potentially be used for a wide range of military applications, including surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting.

This raises concerns about the potential for Starlink to be used in conflicts around the world, potentially increasing the risk of escalation and civilian casualties. The lack of transparency and oversight surrounding SpaceX’s activities only adds to these concerns.

While the Starlink program has the potential to provide significant benefits to the global community, the recent updates to the Starshield program suggest that SpaceX is moving towards a more active role in national security and military operations. While this may be seen as a positive development from a national security perspective, it also raises concerns about the potential militarization of Starlink and the lack of transparency and oversight surrounding SpaceX’s activities. It is important that these concerns are addressed to ensure that the development of Starlink does not come at the expense of global peace and security.

Its newest project in 2022 is the Starship. This super heavy-lift launch system will be SpaceX’s transport system’s workhorse in orbital missions and interplanetary. It can carry more payload than any other rocket in existence to date and will eventually make some of SpaceX’s other transport rockets obsolete. Its first launch in 2022 was not without issues, but most observers laud it as the way of the future.

This American-based company is headquartered in Haw­thor­ne, California, and was founded solely by Elon Musk. It began in 2002 with the primary purpose of developing the tech­no­logy and resources to colonize Mars at an affordable price. The term “affordable” was relative, as early estimates ranged in the million-dollar-plus area. As we mentioned earlier in the book, Mars has always been a fascination with Musk. He is determined to be the pioneer in interplanetary colonization, as he sees a somewhat dark ecological future for the planet Earth. What is remarkable is his projected speed at which he sees it happening while he is still young enough to be on that first ship to Mars.

As a private company, SpaceX has achieved many “firsts”: the first private company to launch and recover a spacecraft, the first to go to the International Space Station with its Dragon, and the first to put astronauts into orbit.

As we will discuss later, Musk has been able to dodge many of the rules that govern other companies more associated with governmental agencies as a private company. But, of course, dodge may not be the operative word; let’s try “ignore.”

The speed at which SpaceX is advancing is almost akin to its rockets. In the first four months of 2022, it launched 18 rockets and two manned ships. The focus is primarily on Starlink’s satellite communications, with over 3,000 satellites in orbit as of October 2022. It has also embroiled itself in world politics and conflict, most recently by providing communications services to Ukraine during its war with Russia.

A Look at the Competition

If nothing else, Elon Musk is a fierce competitor. The space technology arena has plenty for him to challenge, and it is no secret that he doesn’t play fair all the time. Let’s just call it ruthless marketing and trade practices. However, not that his competitors are all angels by any means. Each competitor should be considered a potential protagonist when we explore all the potential dangers this industry brings later in the book.

Number one on the list should be Northrop Grumman. Although it is more heavily involved in government military contracts, it far surpasses SpaceX in its activities. With over 90,000 employees, it launches government satellites and detects missile launches for the U.S. Space Force.

United Launch Alliance is not far behind in its capture of the government market. It is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, with revenues exceeding $2 billion last year. Boeing has a distinct advantage here because of its many years of association with the U.S. government. They had the lock on the market until SpaceX sued the U.S. Air Force in 2014 over a contract awarded to ULA without offering SpaceX the opportunity to compete. They have that now and receive those contracts as well.

Rocket Lab’s satellite launch program is less expensive than SpaceX, has a highly advanced launch system, and only launches smaller satellites. As a result, they continue to capture a good portion of the market, with over $120 million in revenue in 2021.

The grandfather of commercial launch services is Arianespace, founded in 1980 in France. It generated over $1.2 billion in revenue in 2021 and is being aided by the European governments to compete more effectively with SpaceX.

Most other competitors are more aligned with private high-dollar private space travel. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic are the most widely known. This will be an exciting arena to watch in the future, although the costs will take many years to make it available to the average consumer.

We will discuss the spirited competition between some of these companies later, but let’s consider one concept for now. There has never been an industry that would benefit more than if the different competitors became collaborators and shared their unique skills with each other. Outer space is an enormous adventure, and there is plenty of room for everyone. Space Exploration involves risks to those traveling through it, be they astronauts or private citizens, and more of a sharing atmosphere would certainly aid in diminishing those dangers.

A Look to the Future

As we will see in this book’s future chapters, private and government satellites and cargo shuttle services will be the mainstay of SpaceX’s revenue. Unfortunately, those activities are the ones that harbor some of the most dangerous ramifications if more controls are not instituted.

The technology being developed at SpaceX is beyond many of the rules and regulations which were set up decades ago for space exploration. Although many new rules are on the boards, it is questionable if a universal worldwide consensus can be achieved easily. There will always be rogue countries who will want to flex their muscle, and with outer space, that can be a danger to all of us. For example, what would happen if SpaceX technology came into the hands of a country like North Korea? They already have an enormous appetite for shooting off nuclear missiles. SpaceX’s recent venture with Turkey gives one pause as to who Elon Musk might be willing to negotiate with.

We are certainly not saying that Elon Musk would want to put the United States (or any other nation) in jeopardy by selling technology to a nation like North Korea. But imagine if they stated they were only interested in communication services, which evolved into satellites that could wreak havoc with the infrastructures of countries it deemed enemies? Once good intentions on the part of a provider like SpaceX could easily digress into weaponizing nations with bad intentions.

SpaceX is one of the most forward-thinking corporations in the industry. It is not bogged down by being part of the government, and as such, it can slip through the cracks of the systems designed to watch over these operations. One cannot blame Musk for taking advantage of the relative newness of his industry. The blame should better rest with the government for not exercising better controls over the industry, just as it does for pharmaceuticals. So, until that happens, Musk will continue to advance his operations relatively unchecked.

However, the glint in Musk’s eye is truly about his mission to get astronauts on Mars by 2029. He envisions a city of a million people inside a self-sustaining complex. It will be more than just an insurance policy for an increasingly overcrowded earth, but an inspiration not unlike man’s first landing on the Moon. We have seen all of this in movies and countless books written about it, both fiction and non-fiction. Many share his fascination with this, but few are doing anything about it. As a result, his “pie-in-the-sky” ideas may end up a reality with con­sequences no one can project. Taking man one step closer to potential other civilizations could open up an entire array of new situations, both good and bad. But just like the pioneers who came to America in its infancy, it really is just a matter of, well, why not? We may discover a whole new world on the other side of our universe.

“Why are we doing this?” Musk said at the company’s February 2022 Starship progress update. “I think this is an incredibly important thing for the future of life itself ... there’s always some chance that something could go wrong on Earth. Dinosaurs are not around anymore!” 2

“Life can’t just be about solving problems,” Musk said. “There have to be things that inspire you, that move your heart. When you wake up in the morning, you’re excited about the future.” 2

Although Musk may be a potential space pirate in this author’s opinion, I have to admit I hope he achieves this dream. But only if he can do it in a manner that benefits the environment and humanity.

In this first part, we have given you an overview of SpaceX and Elon Musk. Historians will study this pivotal part of space history for years to come. Nothing has been quite like this since space exploration began in the last century. Is he a space pioneer or a space pirate?

Time alone will tell.

PART TWO

RenegadeontheLoose

CHAPTER 3

Space: AnotherWeaponofWar?

Although this book focuses on SpaceX operations, we by no means will imply that this corporation is our sole concern regarding the ever-increasing military presence in space by other entities and governments. However, we believe that SpaceX is at the forefront of this “space race” and will ultimately be characterized as a leading “bad actor” in those negative results of such programs.

Let’s look first in more general terms at the potential risks and dangers we face with space militarization. First, and perhaps the most perilous, is the potential rise of an arms race in space. Just look at how the past three-quarter-century+ of one-upmanship has put our planet at risk of obliteration at the flip of a switch. The United States and Russia are the key players, with massive stockpiles of missiles and enriched uranium. However, minor players, such as the saber-rattling North Korea, play an almost more dangerous role.

Imagine when the first nuclear weapon is launched into space. This will kick off a cascade of competing countries launching their own weapons and making our once-safe upper atmosphere another battlefield. Immediate risks would result from testing in space and the truly unknown potential catastrophic results from such actions. It would also create an even more strident power imbalance, as only a few nations would have the resources to mount a space force. This state of distrust by the smaller nations would most likely lead to global insecurity and hamper our common goals.

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