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Space Invaders: the entrepreneurs taking humans into space
- Mojave Air and Space Port in California has emerged as the "Silicon Valley of space exploration," evolving from a small civilian airfield taken over by Stu Witt 13 years ago into the first U.S. commercial spaceport (2004).
- The facility hosts a cluster of pioneering firms—including Virgin Galactic, Stratolaunch, X-Core Aerospace, Scaled Composites, Masten Space, and Interorbital—operating within Cold War-era hangars.
- The commercial space industry has grown from 100 companies worldwide in 2010 to over 800 currently, with projected annual turnover reaching $600 billion by 2030.
- A dedicated reservation airspace above Mojave serves as a primary asset, providing an "elevator to space" for research flight testing.
- Virgin Galactic aims to become the first private company to transport wealthy passengers to the edge of space with their Spaceship Two.
- Virgin Galactic is currently rebuilding Spaceship Two following a fatal 2014 test flight that destroyed the craft and killed a pilot.
- Despite being grounded for safety upgrades, Virgin Galactic has secured bookings from 700 individuals, generating $80 million in revenue.
- Masten Space Systems operates as a self-funded, profit-making business distinct from firms relying on external venture capital.
- Masten holds a $3 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense and serves NASA as a client.
- Masten is developing AI-driven rocket technology capable of vertical landing, enabling reusable spacecraft to operate in locations lacking runways or sufficient atmosphere for winged flight.
- Sean Mahoney, Masten's CEO, states the company is moving beyond one-shot missions to build a sustainable business model for space access.
- X-Core Aerospace is developing a radical new rocket engine led by 26-year-old engineer Jeremy Voigt, who asserts that no existing textbooks cover the specific engineering challenges faced.
- X-Core has a policy where every employee is permitted to fly to space once the vehicle is operational.
- Jeremy Voigt notes that his team has had to invent engineering protocols from scratch due to the absence of established industry standards.
- Recent test launches at Mojave have been characterized by high-risk failure tolerance, with teams prioritizing data collection over immediate success even when systems do not ignite perfectly.
- Industry leaders emphasize that vertical landing technology is essential for future human missions to Mars.
- The broader mission of these private sector ventures is to enable a generation where thousands of people can access space, driven by the belief that spaceflight profoundly changes human perspective on Earth's fragility.