Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (left) and Tesla CEO Elon Musk
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="3" > journey to the sea of stars</h1>
The staircase to the firmament began in Texas. In 2003, the young Elon Musk found the right base camp for his lofty ambition to become a space pioneer. He founded Space Exploration Technologies (Space X) with the goal of reducing the cost of space transportation and colonizing Mars. First, he needed to find a place where he could carry dangerous and noisy rocket testing work—the sparsely populated Texas provided the ideal environment.
Meanwhile, 500 miles away from Texas, another American entrepreneur is looking for a stage to realize his spaceflight dream. Jeff Bezos started his own space company two years before Musk: Blue Origin. But because Amazon was in a business crisis at that time, it wasn't until the situation improved a year later that he really put his energy into the journey of the stars. Unlike Musk, Bezos isn't keen on flaunting his plans with much fanfare. When he bought thousands of acres of vacant land in 2004, few expected it to be linked to the rocket program in the future.
Thus began the contemporary space race. There is no struggle between national interests, political theories, values, or even technology, but rather a power showdown between two science fiction-obsessed billionaires who can already buy anything they can buy on Earth with their money, and thus set their sights on the infinite sky.
A group photo of Musk and Bezos before the space race
Born in South Africa, Musk, 49, runs Tesla, the world's most capital-worthy car company, and is also the co-founder of PayPal X.com. Bezos, 56, a billionaire who graduated from Princeton University and worked on Wall Street, quit in 1994 to start his own company, now the American Internet giant Amazon.
Starting out in the weeds of the Texas wilderness, two aerospace industry giants were born. Space X and Blue Origin's sprawling factories house thousands of employees, even larger than Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The two companies compete for everything, with profits, assets, the owner's own value, and their sci-fi dreams invariably. Musk's "Falcon 9" name is derived from the "Millennium Falcon" in Star Wars, and the dummy model "Skywalker" placed by Bezos in the space capsule has the same name as the Star Wars protagonist. Over the next decade, the two companies will reap the rewards of space business opportunities, and their businesses will cover Internet communications, satellite surveillance and space travel.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > the cosmic business war started</h1>
Nasa has subcontracted the work of transporting astronauts to low-Earth orbit to musk and Bezos companies. Starting with a few minor conflicts, the competition between the two companies in space will gradually become an epic business battle, and only one can completely shake off the other.
Former NASA executive Lori Garve has dealt with both. She said that although they have publicly expressed the hope that they hope to save the fate of human extinction through the outer space migration program, their motivation may not be so lofty, "actually similar to two little boys fiddling with their beloved toys." ”
Before the space business war began, Bezos and Musk also had a brief friendly cooperation relationship. In 2003, Thomas Svetec, an adviser he had worked with, arranged a dinner party. Although the atmosphere of the banquet was harmonious, it was not long before the two rich men went their separate ways to open up the space market. Musk recalls: "I made a lot of good suggestions at that time, but he (Bezos) didn't say anything about it. Technically, he's clearly gone awry. ”
In addition to the difference in concept, the conflict between the two is also reflected in the competition for technical talents. In 2008, one of Musk's engineers joined Blue Origin after leaving Space X. The company immediately consulted lawyers to sue the engineer for violating labor contracts, alluding to Blue Origin's attempt to steal trade secrets by recruiting former Space X employees.
Bezos played a Starfleet officer in Star Trek.
Although the lawsuit was withdrawn, the fuse was set on fire. In 2013, Space X attempted to monopolize access to the Kennedy Space Center 39A launch pad in Florida. Blue Origin, a rival bidder, lodged a formal protest with the government, saying space X's move was suspected of an industry monopoly. Musk countered this claim, sending an email to Space News, ridiculing Bezos bluff, "If Bezos can provide NASA-compliant manned space equipment in the next five years, then we are happy to meet their requirements and give them the 39A launch pad." Musk said bluntly that the probability of this happening was about the same as seeing a "unicorn dancing in a tube of flame." Space X eventually won the lawsuit, with Musk employees placing 100 inflatable unicorn dolls on the 39A launch pad to celebrate.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > you chase after me, open and secretly fight</h1>
Soon after, Bezos and Musk turned to another plan: to use unmanned ships as reusable rocket landing platforms. Bringing rockets back to Earth for reuse is undoubtedly a good way to reduce costs, but it is technically very difficult to achieve. However, if unmanned ships are used as landing platforms, even if the rocket deviates from the established orbit and crashes on the vast sea, it will not cause casualties. Bezos filed a patent for the idea. Musk challenged this in court, saying that the discussion of the plan "has lasted for half a century" and is not unique to the Bezos family.
The court is once again on Musk's side. However, the actual research and development process has caused a lot of blows to Musk. In 2015, Musk announced that the boosters of the Falcon 9 rocket had reached the goal of recycling and reusing for the first time, and Blue Origin had made similar progress as early as a month ago. Basotle sent a tweet sarcastically, "Congratulations Space X, you're finally on the road." ”
Musk made a cameo appearance in Iron Man 2.
The open battle faded into the background the following year. Just days before Musk planned to put a $195 million satellite into orbit, the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellite exploded during a routine static ignition test, destroying the communications satellite and damaging the launch tower, causing huge economic losses. A depressed Musk tweeted: "This is the most difficult and complex failure Space X has encountered in its 14 years of existence. He hinted that there may be an element of vandalism behind the failure. Subsequently, the U.S. Air Force also intervened in the investigation, but did not find any suspicious points. Even so, Musk remains skeptical about the cause of the explosion.
While Space X was still stalled by the devastation of the launch pad explosion, Bezos unceremoniously threw a handful of salt on their wounds. He announced that he would build a new launch vehicle larger than the Falcon 9. The series of rockets was dubbed by astronaut John Glenn, highlighting Blue Origin's ambitions and proving that Bezos had enough financial strength to compete with Musk.
After making many pleas to the makers of the Star Trek series, sci-fi fan Bezos finally got his wish, playing a "Starfleet" officer in 2016's Star Trek III: Beyond the Stars. Musk appeared in Iron Man 2 as his own figure. Director Jon Feiru said in the closing credits that Musk was one of the inspirations for the role of "Iron Man" Tony Stark.
Like Bezos, Musk is a big star trek fan. He named the company's future-generation launch vehicles the "Starship" series, and specially arranged for a rocket to send the ashes of actor James Doohan, the star trek series's main character Scotty, into space. Musk's willingness to speak openly about his failures has attracted his supporters with courage and straightforwardness.
Bezos's dummy model "Skywalker"
Bezos was often silent in the face of difficulties and rarely gave media interviews. He is more robust and more planned than Musk. Blue Origin has successfully launched and recovered a rocket six times to prove its recyclability for reuse. After each success, they would draw a turtle on the surface of the rocket. This symbolizes Bezos's philosophy of success: in the tortoise and rabbit race, the turtle wins the final victory. "Steady and steady, step by step" is the motto of Blue Origin. Bezos knew that this race was not a sprint, but a marathon. He sat on the golden mountain of his wealth, ensuring that he had an absolute advantage in this game.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" > to drive the game of contemporary space racing</h1>
Partnering with NASA provides Musk with a great start. Bezos is also actively trying to work with government departments. In the bid to co-develop the landing system, the Bezos side won the largest share. He also received $500 million in funding from the U.S. Space Force to help develop the New Glen rocket. Bezos has high hopes for the rocket, hoping that it will make Blue Origin stand out in the fierce space market competition and stand in an invincible position.
Musk's dummy model "Starman" drives a Tesla car.
If you're still wondering how two talented billionaires can compete so aggressively, look at the two companies competing in rocket development. Bezos announced in 2016 that it would develop a larger launch vehicle than the Falcon 9, and Musk immediately said that Space X had designed a superior interstellar transportation system, the "Starship" series. Not to be outdone, Bezos immediately revealed the new Armstrong rocket program, the details of which are still in the secret stages of development. Not only the rocket, but even the dummy model is involved in the contest between the two. In contrast to Bezos' model Skywalker, Musk specifically named the dummy model he sent to Orbit mars after David Bowie's famous song "Starman".
Behind this seemingly ridiculous calculation, there are actually considerable immediate interests worth competing for. This is not a nihilistic thing like asteroid rare metal mining rights, colonial ownership, etc.; On the contrary, in the new era of the Internet, the heat caused by competition can provide a considerable increase in profits for online stores. Whoever can win the RACE for Internet providers is the real winner.
[Compiled from the Uk newspaper The Sunday Times]