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It's such a shame that so many people with Elon kind of money aren't doing anything to transform us into a spacefaring species. Why doesn't apple have a mars pr

It's such a shame that so many people with Elon kind of money aren't doing anything to transform us into a spacefaring species. Why doesn't apple have a mars program? What the fuck are people doing with all the money? Awesome work by spacex. They are peerless, except if you want to count massive superpower governments as peers.

joering2 9y ago
> It's such a shame that so many people with Elon kind of money aren't doing anything to transform us into a spacefaring species. "Elon kind of money?" Heard of government subsidies? https://ideapod.com/elon-musks-business-empire-fueled-4-9-billion-government-subsidies-businesses-self-sustainable/ https://ideapod.com/elon-musks-business-empire-fueled-4-9-bi... Edit: not taking sides and adding my subjective point to the article; just merely stating fact that Mr. Musk projects are in large part government-funded.
- ricardobeat 9y ago
  Pardon my French, but that’s a load of bullshit in this context. SpaceX is privately funded and only receives money from the government from the launch contracts it sells. That amount is for Tesla and SolarCity combined. To put things into perspective, GM received a $50B bailout, Ford got almost $6B for “energy-efficient” cars, as did Nissan with $1.6B. Finally, almost all of those are loans, tax credits and incentives, not money 'out of pocket'. The goal is always to generate more wealth than was “spent”.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    Also, generally, WTF. Tesla - unlike most others - pays back its government loans on time, in full, with interest. They're using this money the way it was meant to be used.
- xrayzerone 9y ago
  Literally everything Lockheed, Raytheon, ULA, and every other company with a building along the Dulles Corridor is government funded. Not a single one would have private funds as SpaceX did to develop capabilities not specifically requested in a government RFP. TLDR: You have no idea how the government works and why SpaceX is different - GTFO.
  - joering2 9y ago
    Trolling on HN? You must be new, but still good luck with that.
Balero 9y ago
Apple is a publicly traded company which makes consumer electronics. The have investors to pay a dividend back to. It would be a dumb move to switch target to the space sector, which requires a much different company and talent pool. Frankly it would probably be easier, and more sensible to start a company from scratch. If you wonder why all of the shareholders of Apple aren't plowing their money into spaceflight, well it's probably because they're a retirement fund, or just aren't rich. Other people invest in making this world a better place, see Bill Gates, or other worthwhile causes, of which spaceflight is just one.
lwansbrough 9y ago
I think I'd consider Blue Origin a peer.
jcranmer 9y ago
Because they're too busy trying to save millions of people in third-world countries to care about first-world problems. Less snarkily, the pitch of Elon Musk is surprisingly selfish--he's basically doing this as much so he can get to Mars as anyone can. By contrast, people like Rockefeller and Carnegie in the past are largely responsible for endowing public culture in the form of museums, concert halls, public libraries and the like, and the modern day equivalents like Gates and Buffett are attempting to eradicate malaria from the world. Nevertheless, you should reserve ire for those who have the ability to do philanthropy and fail to engage in it in any form as opposed to those whose philanthropy isn't in the areas you'd prefer.
- xrayzerone 9y ago
  This is a joke right?
  - mcv 9y ago
    He's got a point. Gates is fighting disease. I'd say that's at least as worthy a goal as going to space. Different billionaires have different goals, I guess. Branson wants to go to space too. The Koch brothers are trying to ruin the US. Soros is overthrowing communist regimes. Larry and Sergey want to stop ageing. Billionaire hobbies, I suppose.
nickik 9y ago
Elon does not have so much money. SpaceX was buissness he started and he put all his money into it. He has only become really rich since.
cookiecaper 9y ago
Space is exciting, but we have plenty of earthbound problems that deserve attention too (and which need to be solved to enable/improve things like the FH launch). Not everyone can be Elon Musk, nor should they try. There is much to do with our feet on the ground.

joering2 9y ago

> It's such a shame that so many people with Elon kind of money aren't doing anything to transform us into a spacefaring species. "Elon kind of money?" Heard of government subsidies? https://ideapod.com/elon-musks-business-empire-fueled-4-9-billion-government-subsidies-businesses-self-sustainable/ https://ideapod.com/elon-musks-business-empire-fueled-4-9-bi... Edit: not taking sides and adding my subjective point to the article; just merely stating fact that Mr. Musk projects are in large part government-funded.

ricardobeat 9y ago
Pardon my French, but that’s a load of bullshit in this context. SpaceX is privately funded and only receives money from the government from the launch contracts it sells. That amount is for Tesla and SolarCity combined. To put things into perspective, GM received a $50B bailout, Ford got almost $6B for “energy-efficient” cars, as did Nissan with $1.6B. Finally, almost all of those are loans, tax credits and incentives, not money 'out of pocket'. The goal is always to generate more wealth than was “spent”.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  Also, generally, WTF. Tesla - unlike most others - pays back its government loans on time, in full, with interest. They're using this money the way it was meant to be used.
xrayzerone 9y ago
Literally everything Lockheed, Raytheon, ULA, and every other company with a building along the Dulles Corridor is government funded. Not a single one would have private funds as SpaceX did to develop capabilities not specifically requested in a government RFP. TLDR: You have no idea how the government works and why SpaceX is different - GTFO.
- joering2 9y ago
  Trolling on HN? You must be new, but still good luck with that.

Balero 9y ago

Apple is a publicly traded company which makes consumer electronics. The have investors to pay a dividend back to. It would be a dumb move to switch target to the space sector, which requires a much different company and talent pool. Frankly it would probably be easier, and more sensible to start a company from scratch. If you wonder why all of the shareholders of Apple aren't plowing their money into spaceflight, well it's probably because they're a retirement fund, or just aren't rich. Other people invest in making this world a better place, see Bill Gates, or other worthwhile causes, of which spaceflight is just one.

lwansbrough 9y ago

I think I'd consider Blue Origin a peer.

jcranmer 9y ago

Because they're too busy trying to save millions of people in third-world countries to care about first-world problems. Less snarkily, the pitch of Elon Musk is surprisingly selfish--he's basically doing this as much so he can get to Mars as anyone can. By contrast, people like Rockefeller and Carnegie in the past are largely responsible for endowing public culture in the form of museums, concert halls, public libraries and the like, and the modern day equivalents like Gates and Buffett are attempting to eradicate malaria from the world. Nevertheless, you should reserve ire for those who have the ability to do philanthropy and fail to engage in it in any form as opposed to those whose philanthropy isn't in the areas you'd prefer.

xrayzerone 9y ago
This is a joke right?
- mcv 9y ago
  He's got a point. Gates is fighting disease. I'd say that's at least as worthy a goal as going to space. Different billionaires have different goals, I guess. Branson wants to go to space too. The Koch brothers are trying to ruin the US. Soros is overthrowing communist regimes. Larry and Sergey want to stop ageing. Billionaire hobbies, I suppose.

nickik 9y ago

Elon does not have so much money. SpaceX was buissness he started and he put all his money into it. He has only become really rich since.

cookiecaper 9y ago

Space is exciting, but we have plenty of earthbound problems that deserve attention too (and which need to be solved to enable/improve things like the FH launch). Not everyone can be Elon Musk, nor should they try. There is much to do with our feet on the ground.