The two richest people on the planet are heading for a showdown in space.
Elon Musk versus Amazon founder Jeff Bezos: they both launched prototype rockets on the same day, a rivalry with billions of dollars at stake.
SpaceX’s Starship is fuelled by Musk’s extraordinary appetite for risk. He innovates through failure, and the seventh test flight didn’t go entirely to plan.
Contact was lost with the upper part of the rocket eight minutes into the flight and engineers will be studying the data to work out why.
But the booster, which had already separated, successfully returned to base.
On the last test flight it ditched in the sea after a technical glitch. This time it descended at supersonic speed, slowed to hang in mid-air and was safely grabbed by ‘chopstick’ arms on the launch tower.
It’s not just for show. Re-usable rockets are the key to driving down launch costs.
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Bezos will also use rocket parts multiple times.
His company, Blue Origin, succeeded in reaching orbit with its own heavy-lift rocket, New Glenn, at the first attempt.
That’s impressive, but plans to land the booster stage on a ship in the Atlantic didn’t work out. Like Starship, it’s a work in progress.
On paper Musk has already won the space race with his rival.
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Last year his rockets accounted for half of all launches worldwide.
But Bezos will be sanguine. He’s in this for the long game.
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Not only will New Glenn launch his constellation of broadband satellites to compete with Musk’s Starlink, he already has defence contracts.
And like Musk he has contracts with NASA to take crew and cargo to the moon.
We are entering a new era of space exploration. And the tech bros that made their fortunes on Earth are preparing for new opportunities in the stars.
