Elon Musk, redefined success yesterday. His SpaceX rocket crashed to earth within two minutes of launch. He congratulated his team, saying that many lessons have been learned for the next attempt.
I really do not recall NASA having quite so many basic problems with its Saturn V launch rocket in the 1960s.
You might call me, cynical, but I think that might be down to the motivation for the two projects. NASA had a clearly defined public goal, backed by the state.
Musk has an ill-defined private goal, backed by a profit motive, his excessive wealth, and his ego.
I am not, of course, saying that this explains the technical reason for yesterday’s failure. But, at a deeper level it might explain why Musk seems to have so many successive failures.
Maybe there are things for which the profit motive is not suited. Let me just float that idea.
Musk is building rockets faster, cheaper, than NASA. Both driven by that profit motive. He’s bringing down the cost per lb into orbit, grossly lower than Nasa can do it – driven by that profit motive.
Therefore space rockets are something that shouldn’t be driven by the profit motive?
Whut?
