The Ultimate Trip

Although we have sent unmanned spacecraft to Mars and other parts of our solar system for decades, humans haven't ventured more than 650 kilometers from Earth since 1973. However, there is increasing interest in sending new missions— both robotic and manned—into space. Unlike in the past, this renewed interest is not primarily being driven by government agencies. Instead, private companies are leading today's new age of space exploration. Astronauts and supplies from the United States used to be transported to the ISS by NASA's space shuttles. But the space shuttle program ended in 2011. In early 2012, SpaceX, a private company based near Los Angeles, sent an unmanned rocket to the ISS. SpaceX and other private companies are now competing to replace the shuttle to become the ISS's main supply ship.

Another company called Planetary Resources—which received backing from Google executives—has developed plans to use robotic spacecraft to mine asteroids for precious metals. One that the company hopes to find is platinum, a metal so rare on Earth that an ounce costs $1,600. Robots will have to travel millions of kilometers to locate and mine asteroids, and this requires technology that doesn't exist yet. However, this isn't stopping companies like Planetary Resources and others from trying. They are investing millions into research, hoping to create tools that will make space mining possible. "This is the beginning of the new space age," says Dr. Mason Peck, NASA's Chief Technologist.

"The energy we see now— the economic motivation to go into space—we haven't seen that before." For centuries, economics has driven exploration. A thousand years ago, merchants risked the dangers of the Silk Road to reach the markets of China. In the 15th century, European ships traveled to new worlds, searching less for knowledge than for gold and spices. "Historically, the driver has always been the search for resources," explains investor Peter Diamandis. If you want people to explore space, he says, create an economic incentive.

Entrepreneur Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, is spending a large part of his fortune on his own space program. SpaceX has developed a rocket that transports cargo to the ISS relatively cheaply. Musk reduced costs by creating reusable rockets—in the same way that we reuse a plane after a flight. People first thought that creating reusable rockets would be extremely difficult, or even impossible, but Musk knew there was no other way to keep costs down. "If we threw away airplanes after every flight," he says, "no one would fly." For Musk, creating reusable rockets has been part of a much bigger plan: He wants to establish a human colony on Mars.

NASA has had enormous success on Mars with unmanned spacecraft, but it has yet to launch a manned mission. Musk says SpaceX could put astronauts on Mars within 10 years, and keep sending them for decades after that. "We can't send one little group to Mars," he says. "We have to take millions of people and lots of equipment to Mars to make it a selfsustaining civilization." It will be the hardest thing that humanity has ever done, but Musk thinks his company can do it and he's eager to see it happen. "It's about making life multiplanetary," he says. "It's about getting out there and exploring the stars."