ReaL Book, Stage C: Workshop 5, Part 2

Several people who made huge fortunes in other businesses have started aerospace companies.

In June 2012, the Dutch company Mars One announced its plan to establish a permanent human colony on Mars.

The Holy Grail of rocketry looks more and more achievable.

On November 23, 2015, the private spaceflight company Blue Origin sent a rocket to suborbital space and brought it back down for a controlled touchdown in West Texas.

These accomplishments show that developing fully and rapidly reusable rockets—a key innovation that could slash the cost of spaceflight—is far from a pipe dream, advocates say.

The billionaire founders of Blue Origin and SpaceX—Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, respectively—have both stressed that reusable launch systems will be critical to humanity’s quest to extend its footprint out into the solar system.

The difference made by reusable rockets should indeed be dramatic, Musk said.

He has said that such launch systems could eventually reduce the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100, making it economically feasible to create a sustained Mars colony, the ultimate goal Musk had in mind when he set up SpaceX in 2002.

The company’s Grasshopper rocket prototype landed successfully numerous times during test flights over the past few years, though it never came close to reaching space.

Musk and other SpaceX representatives have vowed to keep trying until they pull off this daring feat, and Stallmer said he thinks the breakthrough will come soon.

Indeed, the lower cost and increased efficiency of reusable rockets will have far-reaching impacts in many different fields, Stallmer said.

“Reducing the cost of access to space is going to open up so many new frontiers and really endless possibilities,” he added.

And from the book as his fingers stroked, a voice sang, a soft ancient voice, which told tales of when the sea was red steam on the shore and ancient men had carried clouds of metal insects and electric spiders into battle.

Mr. and Mrs. K had lived by the dead sea for twenty years, and their ancestors had lived in the same house, which turned and followed the sun, flower-like, for ten centuries.

She lay back in a chair that moved to take her shape even as she moved. She closed her eyes tightly and nervously.
The dream occurred.

“The third planet is incapable of supporting life,” stated the husband patiently.

“Never heard that song before. Did you compose it?” he inquired, his eyes sharp.

“No. Yes. No, I don’t know, really!” She hesitated wildly. “I don’t even know what the words are; they’re another language!”