Chesley Bonestell, “The Exploration of Mars” (1953), oil on board, 143/8 x 28 inches, gift of William Estler, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Reproduced courtesy of Bonestell LLC.

Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a Tesla!

February 7, 2018

 

2/7/18 – As a symbol of the private sector venturing into the space business, little might rise higher than Falcon Heavy, the giant rocket built and test-launched recently by SpaceX, a company owned by the entrepreneur Elon Musk, and carrying as payload a red electric sports car from another Musk company, Tesla. But this is just one example of an emerging trend. A space analyst recently noted in Issues that with more businesses—and more countries—expanding their activities, the United States, long the dominant player, will need to reshape its space agencies and policies beyond their conventional boundaries.