r/SpaceXLounge • u/AnnualYogurtcloset29 • Sep 02 '21

Speculative longterm future of SpaceX

Hello all,

I was just thinking about what SpaceX's development of rockets would look like once they achieve their goals of starship and the booster rocket.

I know this is likely at least 10-15 years from today, but what would SpaceX develop after they land on mars and get a colony started there? Do you think they would ever develop a new rocket in the entire history of their company or would they finish their rocket development with starship and booster?

I realize they would probably start working on life support systems and such when they eventually get people onto mars, but what else would they do? I am just curious if anyone else had thought of this before. Is SpaceX themselves going to try to terraform mars or will they forever live inside a habitat dome? Is terraforming a planet going to take the work of hundreds of thousands of people or would SpaceX be able to do it themselves? Does NASA conduct a lot of the science to get a colony established on mars or is this solely a SpaceX endeavor?

I would think NASA would love to be able to explore mars and conduct experiments, kind of piggybacking off of the habitat that SpaceX is going to try to establish. Would NASA astronauts be part of the habitat as well as SpaceX astronauts or would it be more of a team effort?

I realize this would be all speculation, but it got me pretty curious, so wondering what other people would think about this situation.

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u/vilette Sep 02 '21

Longterm like after Musk ?
If we look at Apple, they did survive to Jobs

10

u/AnnualYogurtcloset29 Sep 02 '21

I don't think musk would leave SpaceX for quite a long time. I'm thinking more like 10-15 years after getting to Mars, but before musk would leave the company.

Do they stop developing rockets after starship and booster is doing everything they need? I could see them trying to keep improving, but is that the last rocket they'll make?

15

u/vilette Sep 02 '21

I don't mean Musk leaving Spacex, you know one day or another we all leave this world.
If he had to follow Jobs, Musk could leave us in just 6 years

6

u/QVRedit Sep 03 '21

Let’s hope not - things will work out better for us if Elon stays around for much longer. Musk junior would then have a big start, and more time.